Conquering the Fibromyalgia Mountain

My personal battle with fibromyalgia started when I was about 5 years old. By age 12, I was regularly experiencing weird pains without a cause, was sensitive to touch, and couldn’t tolerate hugs from my family. I was swollen and struggling with weight gain, was sleeping every chance I got, and was feeling so different from everyone else my age. As a precaution, I was told to stop dancing, was pulled out of gym class, and was told to do as little as I could outside of my schoolwork until we knew more about what was happening.

I wanted nothing more than to be a normal kid with a normal life and I tried everything. My parents were so supportive and took me to some of the top doctors at research hospitals, shuffling around from one specialist to the whichever specialist we were told to see next. So often we heard, “we just don’t know”, “the labs are normal”, “maybe it's psychosomatic”. Every time I felt let down, put into a box, and discouraged. If we were given any advice at all, most of the time it was an offer for lifelong medications or intensive therapies that would have meant taking literal months off from school. So, I took the pieces of the recommendations these providers made that resonated with me, applied them at home and felt I miraculously found some relief through my high school and college years, allowing me to find success like earning an award from the town mayor for my mentoring in local public schools and earning a 4.0 in my Master's program as I developed big dreams for the future.

After graduating college, things took a real turn for the worse and I just couldn’t seem to get a handle on it. The life I built for myself, the life I envisioned for myself after college fell away and I was left with fear, desperation and a list of specialists and tests yet again. I found myself hoping and wishing that the next test would show something or the next doctor could offer a miracle that would give me my life back.

Eventually, I realized that I had been putting all my faith into the doctors and the tests and I wasn’t doing very much in between in my day to day that was supportive to restoring and nurturing my body. I needed to feel empowered again and so I enrolled in a holistic health coaching certification program with the sole intention of using what I learned to help myself take back some of my power. I learned how to create balance in my body and my life and found myself discovering who I was all over again, with fresh eyes and an open heart.

Now, when I look back on those bed ridden years of debilitating pain and constant exhaustion I see them as if they are a thick, redacted line in the timeline of my life. When I make plans now, I no longer live in fear that my pain and energy levels will keep me from doing what I love and what brings me joy. The life I create for myself now is more fulfilling than I could have ever imagined and every moment is just a little bit sweeter knowing that there was a time when I thought I would never get to have such beautiful experiences again.

Not long ago, I cried tears of relief, hope and pride at the top of a mountain in Washington state. I had done a similarly strenuous hike in Israel years prior and for so much of my time in bed, I feared I would never be able to see such majestic views again for myself. I said to myself at the top of that Washington mountain, taking in the awe-inspiring view, “This, this is why I never gave up hope”.

If you are struggling with fibromyalgia and burnout and you are ready to get relief from chronic pain and exhaustion so you can find more balance in life and at home, click the button below to download the My Revival Starter Kit.