What is Fibromyalgia?

To me, that is a great and personal question. I have been fortunate to be hand picked to represent the fibromyalgia population. I have a destiny that I am answering and it is to serve others who have this illness in there lives. First off, I would like to define what Fibromyalgia is NOT:
1.Hypochondriac person-I think this started centuries ago when doctors could not scientifically explain why people of all ages hurt from head to toe and there was NO real scientific explanation why. Today, we are closer than ever to find a cause which may someday lead to a cure for millions of us who have this life issue.
2. It's all in your head-Really? Why do I feel it in my body, then?-I do not like the way this one has made me feel. This only a half truth which is the same thing as a well planned lie or excuse. The truth of this is, it DOES start in your head, in the brain. There is a theory floating around in the medical community that this could be a central nervous Disorder. That's just fancy smancy medical talk for the chemicals in our brain are too low. We also seem to have poor blood circulation from our body to our brains.
3. Laziness-I am not lazy, thank you. This fallacy comes from the way
fibromyalgia symptoms come and go at times. We tend to do every thing when we feel good and overdo it leading to another flare up. It's so important to find a happy balance. I'm busy in spite of this chronic pain. I own my own business, Babysit two toddlers under the age of 2, have my own kids ages almost 11,2,and 8 years old plus I'm a new radio talk show cohost.
I have two boys (the oldest and youngest) and one girl. They light up my world and make sure that I actually HAVE to get OUT of bed. I used to work as a certified nurses aide before the pain got too bad. I loved it. We had a saying on our rehab floor, The sickest people are the ones who refuse to get out of the bed. They usually died shortly after. Sobering thought isn't?
4.Just an excuse to be a drug addict-Believe it or not, I actually have heard this from friends and family. I don't use recreational drugs and personally, do not get high off the medicine. When your body "needs" a medication, it does not have an adverse effect on your body. It just numbs the pain sensation by sending the right chemical signal to your brain. It feels like I've taken every drug known to mankind sometimes. Having 7-8 medication changes in two years, four of those in the last 6 months, can be a little rough and extremely frustrating. I tried to live with out the meds and I just can't. The pain is that bad. With the combo I am on now, I am starting to really feel like me again.
5. You are just faking it for attention!-I can see why people jump to these conclusions. One day we are relatively normal, the next our house is trashed and we can't get out of bed or fall getting out of it. I have gotten stuck in the shower several times. My husband is such a sweetie he helped me out. We don't have a rail that I can hang on to. Remodeling our bathroom is definatly in negotiation right now.
I don't get any attention when I have flare ups. My family has learned to leave me alone during really awful flare ups. I thank them dearly for that one. Of course, that is a two way street. Sometimes each one of us needs our alone time.

So, What IS Fibromyaglia?
It is a disabling pain condition. Physical symptoms range and vary from person to person. My personal symptoms started out as "growing pains" during childhood around 10 or 11 at the same time as my period. (Sorry to any guys who read the article, TMI, please forgive this is the real me)
It laid dormant into early adulthood. I had my fair share of traumatic experiences in life for several years. It is by the pure grace of a loving God I am here today. I'm living proof of his Word. He's healed and restored so much in my life. After having my second child, my little girl, I had a mental and emotional meltdown. I was extremely suicidal. People would harass me constantly because my oldest was sick and he had severe problems the first few years of his life. He's fine today with ADHD. He is turning out to be a remarkable young man and I'm so proud of him. I had severe depression after my daughter was born. I wanted to die. I tried and failed. I thought Man, I can't do nothing right, not even die! I went to MHMR and sought treatment. I was given some medication and therapy. My life started to get a little better when, my now exhusband who I was married to at the time up and left taking my daughter with him. My son and I were left with no home, no job, no place to go. Thankfully, my little sister got saved while this was going on. She helped me turn my life around which I am eternally grateful. She invited me to go to church with her. I had decided that it was NOT for me. I stepped into that church and I was literally surrounded by God's presence. I had not known that before. It was quite intimidating. I started attending regularly and accepted the Lord Jesus Christ into my life. I invited him to come live in my heart and guide me forever. I wish I could say it made my life a fairy tale with no problems but come on I do live on this planet with you. In fact, a spiritual war literally started. I kept getting sick off and on for the last 6 years. I had weird symptoms such as passing out on I35 with no wrecks or injuries,chest pains just like a heart attack,endemitreosis, losing all my weight. I was down to 99 pounds when I met my current husband, Derrick Dunn who I just adore. We dated, got engaged on my birthday 4 years ago. Two months before our wedding, I kept having weird and very sharp pains starting with my head and ending with my toes. I lived in Baird Texas at that time. I drove into Abilene once a week for a month and a half. I was finally diagnosed with fibromyaglia and advised I cannot take any human hormones because it messes with my thyroid. This is where my life gets to the current. I just got my medicines straightened out when guess what? I was pregnant with my third child. The pregnancy was a little rough off and on. It was rough when I worked as a CNA. I was sick most of the time and got huge. My baby kept trying to come early then changed his mind. He, James Isaac, was born on April 3,2006 7 pounds and 4 ounces. He is just a joy. He makes all of us laugh. He loves his bubba and sissy. They think he hung the moon. Bubba Dylan does pick on him though. After all, they are normal brothers. Never a dull moment around here. I couldn't work as a CNA anymore and got severely depressed. I was telling God what HE created me to be. It was the clay telling the potter what he should make. Yes, I know, that was dumb. I have a lot of those moments. I hope you do to. It is so much fun to laugh at yourself. I was diagnosed by 3 different doctors that I do have fibromyalgia. In the beginning, I was so determined to fight it, beat it, hide it. Now, I have accepted this is my body and I have to pay attention to it and modify my life just slightly. I take frequent breaks, relax and be in the here and now a whole lot more. This experience has led to some amazing things. Jesus has totally made me a new creature. I still have my core personality. My life is so much better now. I'm alive because of his promises in the Bible. Check them out sometime. He's got a blessing and gift so unique he can only give it to YOU. He is so waiting to bless you beyond your wildest dreams. I always knew that something great had to come out of the pain. I just didn't see what. My Rheumatologist (Bone, joint, muscle doc) suggested that I look for work I can do from home. I did after seeing some incredible stories on Good Morning America. To my surprise, I found a great match. I am a marketing executive for a health and wellness company. I don't have to stock, sell, or take orders which is nice. I work online and on the phone. That company led to me to a very special lady. Her name is Marla Martindale. We met online at Cafe Mom. She made a group for other marketing execs in our company to network, work on skill sets, chat, whatever it takes for others to start their business successful from day one. She looked on my profile and saw I was in the SAME town. We met for coffee and really just hit it off. We never talked about our personal lives before. We just opened up about our lives, challenges, obstacles, beliefs and have been talking ever since. Marla is a certified RSD life coach. She just opened up her business. She decided she wants to help other people with chronic pain issues and started her very own show on Blog Talk Radio. I have a link to our show on this blog. Please be sure and check it out! It is recorded and available for download until our next show on Tuesday. We had a guest appearance on Lip Service radio our first show. They had to no show due to technical difficulties that night. We decided to go and listen to the woodshed on Blog Talk radio. These guys are really funny. Check them out some time along with The Fake Buddy show and Greenlight Cafe. They were so kind as to let us plug our show on theirs and made a commercial. We have guests contacting us from across the ocean which is so cool. Our first 5 hours, we had 53 downloads. Then it was 70 something and now, it's over 100 downloads our second day. How exciting! : ) We hope you will call in and visit us. We are here for you.