Fibromyalgia Recovery is a Puzzle I Finally Solved

I didn't know what on earth was wrong with me. I had a growing list of weird symptoms: severe pain in multiple muscles and joints, debilitating fatigue, muddle-headed thinking, dizziness, nausea, numbness and tingling on the left side of my body, insomnia, and depression. It was almost a relief when the doctor said I had fibromyalgia. I wasn't bonkers. I had a real disease with a real name. The rest of his news wasn't quite as cheering. Fibromyalgia is a chronic illness. An estimated six to ten million people in our country have fibromyalgia. There's no definitive cure.

No cure? So much for the whole sense of relief thing. I spent the next year feeling sorry for myself while I struggled with severe pain and the other horrible symptoms of this illness. Eventually, I got so sick and tired of constantly being sick and tired that I dragged myself out of the recliner, staggered to the study to retrieve the laptop, and propped up on the couch to roam through cyberspace searching for clues. I was too stubborn to let the teeny tiny fact that fibromyalgia has no known cure dampen my determination to find something that could help me feel better.

It was like trying to work a 2000 piece jigsaw puzzle without the box top. I had no idea what the finished picture would look like. 

I found pieces to the puzzle all over the place. 

• Inflammation increases pain levels.
• Exposure to toxic chemicals increases inflammation.
• There are toxic chemicals in tons of household products,
• The cosmetics and cleaning products I used were unsafe.
• There are toxic ingredients in processed food.
• Real food with anti-inflammatory nutrients decreases pain.
• Real food with antioxidants boosts the immune system.

I had to make numerous adjustments to my daily routine before all the pieces of the puzzle came together to create a picture of healing and restored health. It was worth it. The lifestyle changes I made truly changed my life. My symptoms improved with every change I made until one cold and sunny winter morning I woke up without a single remaining fibromyalgia symptom. 

I created practical priorities for healthy living that helped me move away from chronic illness back to well-being. My top three strategies were to make three specific lifestyle changes.

• I got toxic chemicals out of my home.
• I stopped eating processed food manufactured with toxic ingredients.
• I eat lots of real food full of antioxidants that boost the immune system and anti-inflammatory nutrients that promote healing.

If you are currently healthy, these strategies can help you stay that way, If you have fibromyalgia or another chronic illness, hold on to hope. You can get better. I did. I have been symptom free for seven years, two months, and eleven days.

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