The Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / Fibromyalgia Society of Alberta

I used to be a very active, capable person. I loved physical activity, skiing, windsurfing. I worked full time as a chemist; teaching and supervising research studies at University. That is until I reached my
mid-thirties. After three surgeries in three years and the birth of my second child I began to suffer from an undiagnosed illness. I was severely fatigued and in pain all the time. I could not sleep at night and my brain was in a fog all day long. It seemed every food I ate, I reacted to. I ultimately had to leave the career that I loved when it just became too much for me.

It took me ten years and as many doctors to learn that my illness was called Fibromyalgia and Myofascial Pain Syndrome. But getting a diagnosis put me no closer to getting any better. Most doctors did not believe that such an illness existed and the few that did had no idea what to do about it. In the ten years since my diagnosis, I have learned a lot. I have discovered that diet is very important and have found foods that are safe for me. I have learned that if! push past the pain and do a gentle form of exercise, even on those high-pain days, then my pain diminishes. I have
found nutritional supplements that agree with me and help support my poorly functioning metabolic systems. And I have found wonderful physical therapists that help my body do what it needs to do to heal, but can’t do on its own.

If you are seriously disabled with this illness, you are probably saying to yourself that I clearly was never as ill as you are. Which may well be. But I remember days lying on the living room floor with my two toddlers beside me, reading books they held up for us because I was too exhausted to
sit and too exhausted to hold a book. Waiting for my husband to come home from work and take over. And thinking that anyone who had recovered any semblance of a life for themselves had clearly never been as ill as I was. I do not believe there is a single solution to this illness. Not yet. I do
believe, however, that piecing together all the single supportive strategies that work for you even a little bit, can make a difference. It has for me.