What better time to start blogging than when at the end of a fibro flare!!

It was, after all fibromyalgia that started the cascade of events that ultimately left me jobless, disabled, in pain, with no visible chance of becoming well enough to work again and GP’s and specialists saying they could do no more for me.

Being a medical professional I decided to look more into this bizarre condition that many have never heard of. I found many interesting websites and support groups whom all stated the same symptoms of fibro and showed the same trigger points, they mostly shared the same forms of diagnosis and they all seemed to suggest that so far, the precise aetiology was unclear. Stress was identified as a possible factor, which I could associate with, but as for anything else, it was all varied and vague possibilities, none of which had been studied it appeared.

I’m not sure if it was the fact that I was determined to get well again so that I could return to my beloved midwifery, or that I refused to believe that It was Fibromyalgia alone that caused the number of symptoms. Whichever it was, it drove me on to look more and more into each of the symptoms and see if they could be linked to other illnesses that could be cured.

I looked into Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Coeliacs and Lymphodema to name but a few.

My poor GP must have been ready to put me on their Christmas Card list with the number of times I saw them!!!!

Hypothyroidism or a dysfunctional thyroid? “No Rachel, we’ve checked your bloods for that”, well check them again, they might have not shown up first time around, are you sure you looked thoroughly into all the thyroid results? The research I’ve looked into says this ….. It wasn’t a thyroid issue.

Gluten intolerance, makes sense and the symptoms fit!! ” do you get a notably bloated abdomen along with intense abdo pain and diarrhoea after eating gluten ingredient foods?”, erm no, ” well, they are the primary symptoms we would look for if you had it” …….. It’s not gluten intolerance (we’ll cover this again as I explore more about FOODS).

Sjögren’s syndrome, I’m the right gender and age and I hardly produce any saliva!!!! Referred to a specialist -” your Meds are causing the reduction in saliva, nothing else points to it”….. Not Sjögren’s syndrome!!!!!

It was at this point, 10 months after my diagnosis, that I finally accepted it was Fibromyalgia that was causing most of my symptoms (I have a number of other conditions, complaints and syndromes going on too which attribute to some of my symptoms and leave ‘blurred’ lines between them all) and it was unlikely that I would ever work as a midwife again.  I’ve definitely noted an association between stress and the onset of a ‘flare’ and I found that by driving myself to be the best midwife I could be to my clients, I was putting stress onto myself subconsciously.  This, alongside the fear of making a mistake that might have a negative impact on the rest of the woman’s or child’s life, and the possibility of attending court as either a witness to an event or as the suspect of a malpractice case, was more stress than my body could handle.

That being said, I wasn’t taking it lying down and it was then that I decided to look more into the condition and see if I could find out for myself one or more causes and in finding them, look into ways to reverse the symptoms.

Why don’t you come along for the ride, you never know where we might end up!!!