Fibromyalgia

This post is dedicated to all of you living with the diagnosis of fibromyalgia. It was 2009 and I found myself in bed with massive mucus drainage, body pain and eventually I couldn’t get out of bed. I was scared so I went to the ER (I was so sick I don’t even remember how I got to the hospital). All I remember is that it was 9-11, and the TV in the ER room was full of tributes to the survivors and victims of the tragic incident. At some point Dr’s find a mass in my chest and warn me that it looks like lymphoma and that I should start to make plans for my 5 children because I wouldn’t live much longer. I called my best friend, Dannette and asked her if she would take my kids and raise them. She said of course. She and her husband discussed building a room on her house to accomodate the kids. The Twins were 3 and my oldest was 13. It was a rough 10 days. My cousin Kahlil had come to visit me, I had talked to him about our future and how he could become a lawyer and practice together. I had an eerie feeling during our time together, that maybe I wasn’t going to live much longer. Little did I know he would leave me just a month and a half later...

The Dr’s ran several tests which were inconclusive. My blood cell count was off, blood pressure was off the chart, so the last test was a Pet Scan to test for the cancer in my body. Shortly before going to the test I got a visit from Jan Roberts from my church. I remember thinking or saying- I’ve been through enough. There is no cancer. She looked so worried, but by this point I was getting back to my jovial self. I was wheeled down to the basement to do the test. I found out later that this test costs about $20,000 and for many middle class Americans it would not have been an option. I was a full-time graduate student on Medicaid at the time so I was given the test that would determine my fate. Where they expected the image to light up to show cancer, nothing lit up, not even the tumor in my chest. There was no cancer. So that led to my discharge with no diagnosis.

Several months later, still experiencing widespread pain, I saw a rheumatologist who finally diagnosed me with Fibromyalgia. I’d been having these pain flare ups since I had 2 car accidents back-to-back in 2003. I even suggested to my Dr at the time that maybe I had Fibromyalgia but he told me I was too young. My flare ups never lasted more than a few days and were often triggered by intense physical activity so I thought it was normal sore muscles.

Life with Fibromyalgia is no joke. I read several books on inflammation and decided to tackle my symptoms through dietand exercise. Anytime I eat poorly, I experienced exacerbation in my symptoms. I think lower carbs and sugar or do a Master Cleanse fast and I experience a remission of my symptoms. Stress also can make symptoms manifest.

So right now I’m experiencing symptoms of Fibromyalgia. I had a stressful few months at work and my kids are always on my mind. Mindfulness, yoga, writing and reading along with lazy keto are all tools that I plan to keep the pain and aches in check this year. Fibromyalgia can rob you of time, experience and precious memories that you miss out on home in the bed or the couch. Not this year!

If you have Fibromyalgia please share how you cope and what your triggers are. If you don’t know your triggers, keep a Fibro journal of what you eat/do and then what level your pain is each day. Let’s keeo each other uplifted!