My Story“Fibro-what?” It’s a hard thing, living with fibromyalgia. You try to put on a brave face, and not complain. People who love you try to be sympathetic, but they don’t understand what you’re going through. Though I’m not proud of this, I even found myself wishing that my husband could experience life in my body for just one day. One day of constant pain and exhaustion, slogging through the necessary must-do list and then falling spent on the bed, only to spend a restless night because the pain keeps waking me up. Then maybe he’d realize I’m not just whining. I’m not just a party poop. I’m still the playful and happy person I used to be, but I’m trapped in this pain. Well, that can’t happen. People can’t understand what it’s like living with fibromyalgia unless they too have it. Even then, we all experience it differently. The name is just a label put on a sack of symptoms that have one common diagnostic feature: tender points. Doctors have puzzled over this syndrome for decades. When I was diagnosed, the doctor who made the diagnosis warned me. “There are plenty of people in the medical profession who don’t yet believe this is a real disorder. But it is real. And you can manage it.” It was sad but affirming to know that I wasn’t crazy, and I wasn’t being a cry-baby. That was 1990. Nearly 20 years ago. The term had just been adopted by the medical community. When I was diagnosed, people would say “Fibro-what?”I didn’t know anybody else who had this damned disease. There wasn’t a group I could join, or a specialist I could consult.So I lived with it, and I started to fight back. I went to all manner of holistic health practitioners, read books, tried different supplements and diets, got a different bed. Over the years I learned a lot. I also noticed that, gradually, more people were being diagnosed with the same thing. And fewer people were saying “Fibro-what?” I’ve learned a lot in the two decades of living with Fibromyalgia. I even made pain management my career, becoming a Certified Pain Management Specialist (CPMS) registered with the Natural Therapies Certification Board. But I don’t want to manage my pain. I want to get rid of it!And thanks to new technologies I’ve recently found, that is what I’ve been able to do. Mostly.Am I “cured?” I don’t think you can use that term with this disorder. You see, I believe that Fibromyalgia is a multi-causal condition. Meaning that it is caused by the convergence of a combination of factors. Any one of the factors would cause you discomfort. But combined together, they act synergistically to create a condition that is worse than the sum of its various factors. Clear as mud, right? Let me illustrate. Fifty years ago, laboratories experimenting with chemicals would dispose of the leftover chemicals by dumping them down the drain. Problem solved. Out of sight, out of mind. That was the mentality in the 1950’s. Remember in school, when you were learning about basic chemistry? You put this element with that one, and it creates something new. You mix this chemical with that one, then add a third one, and you get…. Nobody stopped to wonder what witches brew they were creating in the sewer pipes, or groundwater, or rivers and lakes, when they dumped those unused chemicals down the drain. We live in a very polluted world. And just like the environmental consequences of dumping chemicals down a drain, nobody can really say what witches’ brew combination of toxins they have been exposed to. But we are undeniably seeing the results. Where I didn’t know any one with this disorder 20 years ago, now I personally can count at least 30 people among my friends and associates with Fibromyalgia! We may be the canaries in the mine, signaling the collapse of this polluted earth if change doesn’t happen soon. I can’t change the planet, but I can change my own body.I figured out what I needed to do to clean out the toxins and avoid further exposure. This meant making changes in my diet and using new technologies to help me speed up the detoxing process. It meant rethinking the products I use on my skin and in my home.Exercise is crucial for someone with Fibromyalgia, but I never felt I had the “time” for it. Now I know that exercise has to be a part of my daily routine. But it has to be done intelligently, with care not to over-do and pay the price later. I changed the way I think, I started to honor my own feelings and respect my body, appreciate it and care for it. I ended the troubled marriage and I refuse to associate with negative, energy-sucking people. This has been a 20-year journey, and I’m not there yet. But I’ve learned a lot along the way, and I have many good lessons to share with you, if you want to come along with me on this walk to wellness. Education is the first step to healing your pain. I hope this site is helpful to you as you start the journey.
|
