A Long, Strange Road...

It seemed like I was always sick as a child...one Strep Infection after another, one more bout of Bronchitis...always overweight, frequently Depressed.  After I started college in 1975, and after I had lost a lot of weight, my body just seemed to turn on me...First my blood work came back positive for Syphilis repeatedly, even though all other tests proved I had never been infected. Then I developed colitis...never venturing far from a restroom.  Sometimes feeling as if all the life was draining out of me. 

Got married in 1981, and two months later spent a month in the hospital because my Colitis had turned Ulcerative; I started passing Blood continuously. Over the next few years many of the infecious type disorders  I had suffered with eased...but soon were replaced by Migraines that flattened me for hours and days at a time. Then overwhelming Fatigue.   Overwhelming generalized pain...but during my 3 pregnancies, I felt better than I had ever felt...sadly, soon after each delivery, the misery returned.  One doctor after another treated my symptoms with little or no success.  LOTS of Narcotics and Anti-Depressants...many physicians telling me I was just stressed, or worse, that it was all in my head and nothing was wrong. Then I moved from the Chicago area to Rockford in 1990...after losing weight one more time (I have Yo-Yo-ed all my life) and joining the local YMCA, I really started to feel like I was taking charge...until I started to have the shakes and a low-grade fever after every workout. I soon had to stop working out. 

Finally in 1992 a localized fungal infection went haywire, alerting my then Doctor...he sent me for tests, took a detailed history...and after years of not knowing what was going on I had a diagnosis...SLE presenting as Fibromyaglia...Gallstones and Chronic Autoimmune Thyroiditis followed...I had my Gallbladder removed in 1997...by May of 1998, I was REALLY sick...that's when they discovered that my Pancreas had shut down...another month in the hospital. More pain, more Depression - deeper, long-standing... 

Since then it has been one small crisis after another...but most of all it was pain...

In June of 2008 I re-joined the YMCA and started to work out regularly...so far it's been helping, but there are still days when I don't know what NOT to move.  My IBS is an ever-present part of my day...Frequently I must interrupt a meal to go the bathroom and as much as I am getting stronger, the backlash of burning and aching can be disheartening. This time, however...MY RACE AGINST PAIN is to fight what I can and deal with what I can't without resorting to a dozen different medicines (At its worst I was taking 86 pills a day for various symptoms and disorders...) Since 6/2008 I have lost 35 pounds and joined SparkPeople.com  Just today, after working out at the YMCA, I happened upon a copy of PAIN PATHWAYS Magazine and there found this site...So here I am...