Sally's Testimony
"It all began for me in 2003. Susie, one of the original members is a close friend of mines from church but knew me well enough in a bible study to one day come to me and say "you're not yourself, you don't look good and you're a very athletic, outgoing person but what's going on in your life because something's not right." And I said, "Oh, you're right. My life is a mess because I'm in pain and I've had to let go of all of my activities. I had to let my tennis go, just started taking golf and my "aha" moment was that my 80 yr old mother and I, who was in my early 50's at the time was walking a golf cart uphill playing golf, went home and cooked dinner. I went home and went to bed. What's wrong with this picture? Luckily Susie noticed that and gave me the book, Dr. St's book. I thought she was a bit wacko at first cause I had never heard of fibromyalgia. This was before we got media press. But I think it was literally an act of God because she sensed in me what she had, I had. I read the book, and right then and there, it was just the weight of the world lifted off to think I know what I have. So that was step one, just glorious. Then I started to come to a couple meetings. You just have to see if you can do this and it was so encouraging. And the crowning glory was that Dr. St. Amand showed up when iFoG brought him down to the Marriott Hotel in 2003.
Your support group is the most important thing that will help you get through this and my husband went to that meeting and I think he thought I was depressed, probably crazy at that point, but God bless him, he loved me and stuck with me because he knew I didn't have the answers and he didn't have any either. But he loved me enough to think if this is the latest thing she's pursuing, fine. That changed his whole concept of what I was doing was going to save my life so then having him as a supporter made it worthwhile for me to continue because it's difficult to do this protocol, for me especially because I work for Proctor and Gamble. Vicki and Annette are so patient because if I have to say anything...simplify. That was a struggle, that was my job, how can I give up the things that sell, that I get free?
Back then, you had to have a prescription. I was referred to Dr. Boyens. He wrote the prescription but we had a hard time keeping the guai that was. It was a drama. We would have it at Costco, then we wouldn't, we tried for Kmart, that was ineffective so that was a frustration for me to get the right dose, the right kind of guai, but those guys stuck with me. I've been on long acting, short acting, now I'm on medium acting. Because of the ridiculousness of my products, I blocked and Vicki and Annette would recognize it and I would have to get back on track again. So it's not easy and you have to stick with these 2 (Annette and Vicki) and get regular mappings. I have called them at all hours.
My fibro is what has lifted so my final thing is that I was skiing 2 weeks ago I have taken a second job; the blessing is that I had a part time job, home office, so I could work when I could work or I would have been on disability because it was that bad, but I've had so many blessings. My husband has been suportive, this group, friends that got me going and a job that enabled me to work and still do what I need to do. And I finally get on the dose I need to be on and now I've joined the "Y", doing Zumba, but I have to say, Yoga has been the best. Always better to stretch our achy muscles and use them but not abuse them. We have to find a balance so I think the biggest thing is find the things that you love to do and do, so that you'll do it. I love to walk my dog so that's my walking and I love to get in the pool, but even though we live in Hawaii, I never get in the pool in the winter. I love the pool in the summer because it feels warm and good and our muscles relax. So you have to find what you can do and keep doing it. Even at my worst, I'd get up and walk my dog, even if it was only a block and I would try to stretch in front of the TV at the end of the day even if I was aching, knowing that if I went to bed hurting, I'd wake up hurting worse.
So it's finding our balance, have the support, stick to the protocol, work with these guys and journal. I have journalled for 7 years and I have to admit it's gotten down to bullet points but it enables you to look back and go, "Whoa, I was feeling that??". I was not able to do this and if you don't have that, you have to have my husband who says to me yesterday after a 10 hour reset, Oh my God, you came home and you still have energy and you're smiling and happy to have done this. He goes, "This is a miracle and after skiing he said, 'you really wanted to ski and you really could ski and you're not sleeping in bed, you've joined us for dinner, playing cards by the fireplace". So there's hope! (note: a reset is fixtures in the store, I reset sunglass fixtures, cosmetics, shelves, like a remodel and all by myself, nobody helped me, I kept my cool).
One more thing... A lot of women are seeng they are getting fibro in their 40's, 50's. cause the phosphates are building up all thru the years. I know I've had it since I was born because I can remember certain things in my childhood and teen years. Because I tolerated pain very well and I've been very athletic when it hit me, it hit hard. I didn't want to accept it. It hit me during peri-menopause and if you don't think my husband deserves sainthood, he deserves to be sainted to deal with me when I'm menopausal. One last thing, I did see a professional for depression because with all this , I didn't want to admit it, I needed help coming out from underneath the depression of the pain and it really did help because I really never really seen the psychiatrist as a therapist and thought that was an admission of weakness and with my faith alone, that would be enough. But it wasn't. I think we need different arenas."