's Story

I was diagnosed in 2008, but I think I have had fibromyalgia all my life, or at least bits and pieces.

I often wonder how a human body can endure such hurt and keep on ticking. I inherited the strength necessary in living with this debilitating diagnosis.

The first time I experienced fibromyalgia symptoms was in 1995, and I had numbness and tingling in my left leg.

At a very young age, maybe 7 or 8, I remember my mother telling me not to complain so much. My legs would hurt and I would have stomach aches.

While I was serving in the military, I fractured my left femur and both of my tibiae. My fractures healed, but the pain did not subside.

My story begins in 2004. Over a two-year period I had lost my mother and two aunts. I was working and was enrolled at a university part-time.

I went through a lot of pain and heartache as a child. I had an abusive childhood, an alcoholic dad, I lost my brother when he was just 15.

It started with the Epstein-Barr virus in 2005. When it wouldn’t go into remission my doctor called it chronic fatigue syndrome.

After two to three years on Enbrel, I suddenly got worse and it was determined that I am dealing with fibromyalgia as well now.

I can remember having symptoms of fibromyalgia as far back as 12 years old. I was a chronic insomniac even back then.

In September of 2013 I started to feel tiredness, tingling, and heaviness in my legs to the point that I could not stand.

I was always doing something. Now I have to pick my activities a bit differently. Love your body, learn your body and pace yourself.