Through the Fog of Fibromyalgia

Since I was a teenager I have lived with muscle pains and waves of fatigue that remained undiagnosed by medical professionals. I was always asked “Are you under a lot of stress in your life?” and then asked, “Do you have a therapist?” I spent half a lifetime believing my symptoms were all in my head and somehow learned how to live with it on an unhealthy dose of Ibuprofen, and isolation when it became unbearable. It had become “normal" for me to feel abnormal.

It wasn’t until the middle of 2014 when my symptoms worsened. I remember the day the alarms went off. I woke up with a heavier head, whilst my shoulders, neck and lower back burned and the tenderness throughout my body made it impossible for me to be touched. Sharp stabbing pains, mixed with electrical currents surging through the entirety of my body with a crippling fatigue that only a pot of coffee could and a few Motrin could kick start my day.