(This is an excerpt
from my book “OUT OF THE FIBRO FOG” which will be out later this year.)
I have been blessed with a strong faith in God that has
helped me through my long illness. I
have had Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue since 1975. This illness is one that is very hard because
others can’t see it and question you all the time. I have found that there are those who can see
in my eyes the pain I was in and understood, but in general most people don’t
understand. I have been supported by my
wife how loves me and knows that I would not just quit working and take to a
bed if I didn’t have to. Both my, now
adult sons, suffer with fibromyalgia as well.
They have also been supportive and helped in any way that they could, especially
our youngest son, who has always lived near us. He has taking me to doctor’s
appointments and helping with thing around the house that I could not do.
It’s really hard when family and friends don’t understand
and are not willing to help in any way.
Depression is a big part of any chronic illness and when you are ignored
by those you need most it hurts in many ways.
I have to admit when the pain got overwhelming I did consider ending my
life several times, but my faith in God and my love for my family keep me going. I have chatted with lots of others over the
years encouraging them, even when I didn’t have any hope of feeling
better. I have had over a dozen people
tell me that just being there for them keep them from taking their lives.
I have seen the ugly side of fibromyalgia and chronic
fatigue over the years. I lived on
morphine for many years because of the intense pain. I never understood why God allowed me to go
through this illness till last year. I
now believe that he allowed me to suffer so that I could understand what others
have to go through.
I created this blog
because I saw a way that might help me overcome my disease. I wanted to let my fibro friends see what life
was like before I started this treatment and all along the way.
God spoke to my heart and told me that this
treatment would work. I waited till my
wife was ready for us to do this together. She had become sure that nothing would work
for me and was concerned that the money would be wasted. I just prayed
that if this was what we were to do she would have peace like I had. That day
came and we made the trip to the clinic.
God has been so good to me in the year 2011, because of this
treatment I no longer use a wheelchair, am able to drive again, don’t need all
those medicines just to exist. Ninety
percent of my symptoms are gone and I am able to live a near normal life. Am I cured NO but I will take how I am now any day
over the way I was. I have often though
of Paul in the New Testament who was afflicted with a medical problem. God didn’t cure him either, just to make sure
he didn’t forget, but God used him in a mighty way. I am no Paul, but I believe God has some
great plans for us in the next few years.
We started volunteering at two different Christian ministries within seven months of my starting treatment. We are
regulars there now and plan to build a home near them so we can be of more help
to them.
I now work even more to get the word out that there is life
after fibro. I was told that I was the
worse case that this group of clinics had ever seen. Yet with God’s help I made so much progress
in a very short time. They made sure
that anyone from the home office saw me when they were in town. I have had the opportunity to meet and talk
to some wonderful people because of this.
Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum has been a driving force in fibromyalgia/chronic
fatigue treatment for many years. He
developed the SHINE protocol (see earlier post or articles on my site for more
info). He has helped me create my
website (recoveryfromfibro.com)
so I can help others with these chronic illnesses. Because Dr. Teitelbaum has suffered with
chronic fatigue he does understand what we have gone through. He is now the medical director for Chronicity Inc. (the group of clinics that I went to).
He spends his time teaching other doctors how to treat these chronic
illnesses and doing research into the treatment of fibro and chronic fatigue.
There is life after fibro/cfs and with some effort on your
part you don’t have to see your health deteriorate like mine did.
God Bless you
Jerry
