"Fibromyalgia" By, Nancy Alexander
The Cure Begins…
I ended my last post in December, 2010, after telling you of the many struggles and pain Fibromyalgia brought into my life. So, here I am now…the third day of a new year…so many changes…so many things are different. I – Nancy Alexander – have a new life and an unbelievable, overwhelmingly happy one at that!
It seems very appropriate to start this New Year – 2011 – with a story of
healing, peace, joy, miracles, pain relief, and happiness as well as thoughts of "I can" instead of "I can't"!
I can even play in the snow with Lucas & Ava now!
Even my dreams for the last 30-plus years have been filled with visions, as well as nightmares, of what I cannot and would not ever be able to do. Well…No More!! Thank You God!
I am a different person! I am being healed from Fibromyalgia — the disease which has no cure — and I am doing things with my family and my husband that I thought I would never be able to do or enjoy again! I am enjoying life! I am working hard at my business! I am traveling again for the first time in many years. I can go somewhere and sit for longer than 30 minutes! I can go to movies with my husband! And — best of all — I can go to church at my husband's side every single week!
To be able to go on vacations again — to the beach — the mountains — anywhere we want to go! These are experiences I thought I would never be able to enjoy again! The possibilities are now endless. I can go up steps again. I can walk on a treadmill. We go to concerts, college football and basketball games. I no longer have to sit at home while my husband enjoys these without me! I can, and do, go with him!!
Our marriage and our love has been rejuvenated because a sickness such as the one I had kills the closeness between a husband and wife. It almost killed us…we almost didn't make it. This insidious disease came very close to ending our marriage of 38 years before we came across my "cure". I know you may have heard about cures before but when you researched and read more about these "claims", their answers were just not what you were desperately searching for. There really was no healing and no renewal of life, body, and soul.
I am writing this post today…January 3, 2011…to tell you a different story — a true story — one with a happy, pain-free and joyous ending.
It all begins at the end. God allowed me to sink to the bottom of the "pit" with no hope of a better life. My husband and I no longer had a life together. We were strangers in the same house growing further and further apart with each passing year. Neither of us could understand my illness with all of its debilitating pain and strange peculiarities. How could Steve understand what I was going through when I couldn't even understand it myself to explain it to him? And then God reached out His hand to me and my husband — pulling us out of this "pit". God is using this experience now in both of us. We will cheerfully and "blindly" follow God's leading anywhere for any reason – as long as it is "His path".
This blog, my website, and our story are reaching people from all over the world; people who are in pain and have no hope. Well, your hope is within God. He has poured His miracles down upon us by giving my husband a new heart, and a new understanding, along with an undying – cherishing, forever-after kind of love! And me – well, I have a new healthy body along with courage built on a determination and strength that I never knew I posessed. These miracles have left us both "speechless"! But, at the same time, we are certain that miracles such as these cannot be "hidden" or "kept quiet". This is a very painful, and personal story…but one that we feel God wants us to share with those who are desperately searching for the answer in their painful lives. He is using our time in the "pit" to help so many others. So…that is why I am revealing so much of our journey to you.
I had put myself into the hands of so many doctors — dedicated, intelligent doctors, who could not help because they knew so little about Fibromyalgia. But my first breakthrough was with a nearby women's hospital physician, who specialized in Fibromyalgia. I found her myself and made an appointment. She gave me a firm diagnosis — "yes, you definitely have a severe case of Fibromyalgia". Then she wanted to try the same old drug regimen that every other doctor had tried, but nothing really new to offer. I had the same reactions to these medicines again just as when I had tried them before…and eventually I gave into the fact I had been avoiding…she could be of no help to me! I finally realized any relief…any cure…would come from my own determination and research — so my journey began!
I was lucky to finally switch to our neighbor as our family doctor. On my first visit to him, he told me up front, "You know much more about Fibromyalgia than I ever will. I don't totally agree with everything you think may be causing your illness, and I don't totally agree with some of supplements you believe are helping you, but I am willing to treat you, refer you to any doctor you want to see, send you anywhere you want to go, and try any drug which your research leads you to believe might help." I have always appreciated his friendship, his honesty, and his willingness to try things with me…he is still our doctor and a very good friend.
Now, let's move forward to what I consider the first of two turning points in my life, when I finally began finding help and answers!
My research saved my life. It led me to a specialist in Atlanta, Georgia. This endocrinologist practiced medicine about 2 hours from my home. He is an older doctor – a very sweet man – whose specialty is diabetes and also Fibromyalgia, because he suffers from it himself. I called his office wanting to know if he would do a phone consultation with me. At that time — which was in May of 2006 — I could hardly ride in a car for 30 minutes. So, I knew I couldn't make the two hour ride to Atlanta, Georgia. He did agree to a phone consultation.
This doctor with a strong faith in God, a kind manner and his knowledge was the first step in saving my life! He understood everything I said; he understood all of my symptoms; and he understood why I was not getting better. He even understood something I had noticed years before; that I had become extremely chemically and environmentally sensitive to everything. Even cleaning supplies had to be chosen carefully. Some clothes and materials literally hurt my body. I had stopped wearing scented perfume or lotion – sometimes having to leave church or other event because someone sat near me with perfume or cologne on which made me ill. Many smells and chemicals made my muscles much worse. Weather changes such as storms or higher barometric pressure made me feel like I had been run over by an eighteen-wheeler! I had even begun to notice that certain foods were a problem for me too, but I HAD NO IDEA…LITERALLY NO IDEA…THE PART THESE FOODS PLAYED IN MY ILLNESS!!
