The problem with fatigue related disorders is that each night you nap instead of sleep, frequently tossing and turning with aches and pains. Every morning you wake up with pain or burning in muscles and bones, feeling like a truck has hit you. Each day you attempt to shake off the fatigue “hangover.” Each day you struggle to control dull thickheaded fogginess and ill-tempered outbursts when your patience is tested. At times, you feel like you are alive inside a body that seems to have just given up, while the rest of the world whirls on around you. Watching TV or sleeping is sometimes all you can do. It leaves you feeling like a zombie, wanting to do other things but feeling physically and mentally fatigued to the point of inaction. Sometimes you remember when you used to be a completely different person who was nice to be around.
My low point: When my youngest daughter was 6 months old, I woke to breast feed her at 2pm and found that I could not pick her up because my arms burnt so much. It felt like someone had grabbed them and put them into a fire. I did not trust myself to not drop her. I was scared and confused. I had to wake my husband so he could get her out of the cot and lift her to my breast. I thought I might die because my symptoms were so severe and I didn't know what I had wrong with me. I remembered thinking that I was not going to get to see my children grow up.
My Journey: 4 Doctors, 1 rheumatologist, 1 doctor who did Procaine injections into sore muscles, 1 Allergy specialist, a pain management programme (SCAMP) at Charlie Gairdner Hospital, 3 Chiropractors, 2 Physiotherapists, 1 Magnetic Resonance Image, 1 Computerized Axial Tomograph, many blood tests for diabetes, hormone levels, hypoglycemia and blood content analysis, 3 alternative therapists, a number of massage therapists, 2 reflexologists, 1 surgeon, 1 personal trainer, 1 karate instructor, 2 trips to the hospital with anaphylaxis, a very patient partner and children, a very very very helpful mother and several helpful friends, thousands of dollars, and lots of research (whenever my condition allowed me to) contributed to where I am today. It has been a long journey to dig myself out of the hole in which I had found myself. I have explored the hoaxes to cure and the things that helped.
The Result: I am now leading an active and normal life that is full and complete. I am pain free about 95% of the time. I am drug free. It is just unbelievable! This website and The Perth Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Programme include all that I have learned from my personal experiences, and critically analyzed through my research skills. These disorders can be reversed when making changes to diet, fitness, various stress coping mechanisms, and imbalances in the immune system. To the medical professional, it seems like simple common sense. However overmedicated, overworked, fatigued and unsupported people often apply information they are given haphazardly or may not apply it at all if it is not understood. Educating people about their own bodies means that people can be fully motivated about changing what makes them unwell. By understanding the cause and effect of a disorder and it’s symptoms, people can take control of their health. There is a lot of overlooked scientific and empirical research that is relevant to the sufferer of FM or CFS.
What you should know: Your condition is not in your head, you are not crazy, lazy, or a hypochondriac. You need to find a doctor that understands this. You need to know that your immune system is severely compromised and needs to be made healthy again, but you will always have a susceptibility to breaking down when you have a cold, during mensis, or when other bio/mechanical issues are occurring in your life. However, even when your body “crashes” due to such triggers, most of your symptoms are completely reversible if you have the knowledge to do the right things and an action plan to apply that knowledge. There is no reason why you cannot return to a normal, or near normal life. My new life includes Karate, Pilates, mountain biking, road biking, triathalon training, running a business, and a busy family. In all of this I have to be very careful to maintain my health, because recovery can be reversed when you do not look after yourself. So have a look at some of the tips on this website to begin looking after yourself and begin on the road to recovery, or book into a programme to fast track your way back to normal.