Fibromyalgia the Silent Enemy

When I was seventeen years old I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. I was having some shoulder problems at the time and with an x-ray and no further tests being done, I was told I had fibromyalgia. In addition to the shoulder pain I was having horrible joint pain. My legs would hurt so bad after softball practice that I could barely stand it, and on rainy days forget it. It was painful just to walk. My ankles would often swell, and the pain I would have in my arms after weightlifting was unreal. It wasn't every once in awhile it was all the time. Cold weather and rainy days were horrid for me, leaving me with many days in bed even as a teenager. Arthritis ran in my family, so was that it?

After seeing this family doctor, I did get a second opinion from an orthopedic doctor who suspected that it may be fibromyalgia as well. He knew that there was something wrong with my shoulder just because I was fast pitch pitcher, and there was no doubt I did in fact have tendonitis. But, the pressing factor of the crippling pain outside of that also has this doctor concerned and considering other things that might be going on, so the doctor ordered an MRI.

The MRI showed nothing but inflammation so we were back to the drawing board. The Orthopedic Doctor started asking me a series of questions and so it was determined after much talk about "my whole body hurts", the doctor diagnosed me with fibromyalgia. The doctor just simply told me that it means that I have inflamed joints and muscles, so that is what I was left with.

Now that I was in college, I had better research skills and a better library to work with. I also did some research on the internet because I didn't know where else to turn to. So, as I searched and Googled information, I started getting the answers I needed to help give myself the proper pain relief.

Webmd.com defines fibromyalgia as a condition which affects your muscle and soft tissue. Symptoms can range from feeling like your whole body hurts, to having pain in specific areas. Oftentimes, fibromyalgia feels like your joints are aching and tender to the touch. In my case, I would often tell my parents I feel like my wrists are broken, the only thing that helps is to squeeze them or rub them really hard.

As I continued to play sports, I suffered more. Sometimes I would hurt so bad I would just lie in bed and suffer. I was forever using heating pads and icing my shoulders and knees down hoping that would help, but the following day I would have the same pain all over again. The doctor suggested taking Ibuprofen, and that did help for a short period of time. After awhile, I was taking so much I ended up developing ulcers, so that was out of the question. With being a college student, it wasn't in the cards to take narcotics, so I was left feeling hopeless. Doctor's visits would be expensive and the nurse's office at school could only help so much. So, I suffered.

Months later, I ended up moving back home due to some other health issues which revolved around having an ovarian cyst. I ended up having surgery for that, and thus delayed my time in school and finding work. Once I did start working part-time, I enrolled at the University of Cincinnati and decided to get back into the swing of things. By the second quarter of my schooling there, I was asked to work full-time so I opted to go to night school. I was working at least 40 hours a week, and going to school full-time so I was more than busy. Standing on my feet all day working retail was hard on me, and thus it started the vicious cycle of leg pain and aching all over my body. I realized that the flooring beneath the carpet at the bookstore where I was working was concrete slab, so that didn't help me at all. I just hurt worse and worse every day. After a few years of this I had become engaged, and just threw up my hands believing that with a second income, maybe I wouldn't have to work so hard and could find an office job.

I didn't find an office job, but it was indeed a desk job. Within a few months of typing every day I just ran into the same problem. I had severe arm pain and wrist pain which was not identified as carpal tunnel. It was identified once again as fibromyalgia and I was only 22 at the time. I went to see different doctors which still suggested the same treatments. They wanted me to take Ibuprofen, Tylenol, and maybe file for disability. I didn't really see disability as an option at that time. With bills to pay and my husband having tremendous debt, I kept pressing on to live a normal life.

Within a year I was promoted to a loan originator position and continued on with that career for eleven years, but still pain persisted. In January of 2010, I went to see Dr. Leonid Macheret at LifePath in Fairfield, Ohio for the first time. This would now end the suffering as he started treatment on me right away. Little did I know on that first visit, how much help he would offer me. I was going for a severe thyroid imbalance, and gave him the condensed version of my medical history. We came up with a plan that he told me would take about 8 months, but he advised me that I would start feeling relief within a few weeks. With the joint pain in mind, he did tell me that thyroid imbalance can make you feel like you have fibromyalgia. So, that actually increased the level of pain I was feeling. He gave me a huge dose of magnesium which helped me feel significantly better, and the following week I started getting a full IV drip with what is called a Meyer's Cocktail. This IV bad would include Vitamin C, Magnesium, B-12, and MSM for your bones and other minerals as well. I could tell the difference and with each treatment since I have felt better. In addition, he also introduced me to an enzyme product called Marcozyme. These enzymes are formulated to act as anti-inflammatory and they work great. Since that time, I have only taken Ibuprofen on a few occasions for bad headaches.

In the end, taking the wrong thing can be more costly than a natural treatment. Had I received this treatment up front, over time I would have spent significantly less with no hospital visits and less co-pays at the doctor's office.