Rheumatoid Arthritis, Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia From Exhaustion to Exhilarating Part 1.
|
I went back to him a few days later, knowing that I would not be taking his drugs or any of his advice, but
I did want to collect my X-rays and the results of the blood test.
He had a pen, which was floating above the desk, and I asked how it worked. He said that a sales
representative had been in and it was a gimmicky advertising thing. The pen was being held up with
magnets or something. The interesting thing though, is that he mentioned that the rep was selling fish oil
capsules. I had read about cod liver oil being beneficial to RA, so asked him for more information. He said
he didn't think that it would be of much use and again pressed the importance of the ‘Going blind drug’. I
left and bought myself some fish oil, it was called Lipidic. I was advised by my chemist, who was a
Naturopath, to take 6 capsules a day. Since then, fish oil has become hugely popular, as the importance of
Omega oils are now widely accepted as having major health benefits.
Fish oil is not a cure for arthritis. It is a really good anti-inflammatory, which greatly reduced the pain. The
pain was the biggest hurdle, but the fatigue was now becoming a major problem. I was still not putting the
R.A. and fatigue into the same basket. I thought that they were separate things, and that the extreme
tiredness was once again an iron deficiency. I was not a vegetarian, so I didn't know why I would be
lacking in iron. At that time, I ate liver twice a week to try and combat the fatigue.
One morning, I slid off the bed and waited until I could put my foot on the floor and walk. This had
become a morning ritual. You don't just stand up and walk, you wait a few minutes as you gradually apply
pressure until you feel confident enough to take a step. You then hold your hand on the wall to keep from
falling, and make your way to the kitchen for a coffee. One morning, I managed to take the twenty or so
steps, only to find myself so extremely tired that I leaned against the kitchen cupboard and breathed like an
athlete after a marathon. I thought to myself, "I’m F....d".
Later that day, I took raw liver and pressed it through the juice extractor. I was so desperate, that all I
wanted was instant iron. This was my idea of the biggest and fastest dose that I could get. I knew that it
was going to taste disgusting, so I poured a large glass of water with lemon juice, so I could wash the liver
juice down after I had drunk it. It didn't help the taste at all! liver juice does not slide down, it grabs your
teeth, tongue and throat and stays with you, and you burp up the blood-taste for days. It was the worse
thing I have ever tasted. It did restore my energy level, but I would never do it again. The next few years
were broken down into ordinary days and bad days.
When your health goes - everything goes. You can't fight a good fight when you are in pain and exhausted,
things come undone and then everything goes quickly. I wasn't able to work, and my shop wasn't making
enough to pay the rent. I had taken a second mortgage on the house. The bank was ringing constantly and
threatening to sell my home. My eyes had permanent black rings around them, my hair was dry and brittle
and I was so thin my friends thought that I had cancer.
Three months later and I was still on crutches. I closed the shop and had to apply for government
assistance to live. At the same time, interest rates went up and my mortgage repayments were greater than
my income. Each month, the debt grew, until finally I sold the house, paid the bank and actually came out
of it debt free with some spare cash, but, with no home, no business and no way that I could work at a
regular job. I am mentioning this here, because I later learned the role of prolonged stress in relationship to
disease, fatigue and pain.
The fish oil was working pretty well, the stress level was reduced and I started to think that I might have a
chance at being normal again. At this time, the swelling in my knee was greatly reduced and the pain was
manageable. The knee had become rather deformed looking and enlarged. I had lost a lot of the muscle
tone in my leg, and the leg seemed thinner than my arms, except for the giant knee. I took myself off to an
Osteopath, who was so concerned about it, that he actually gave me free sessions for a few weeks. (I was
still on sickness benefits and couldn't afford to pay him.) He had me off the crutches and walking within a
few weeks. He insisted that I should sit in a swimming pool, and move the knee as much as I could to get
the muscles back. This was a real turning point, and I highly recommend osteopathy and gentle water
exercise. No matter how painful a joint is, it must be moved to flush away the sludge and to strengthen the
muscles.
It is a good idea to see an Osteopath every six to twelve months, as most of us favour one side of the
body due to the other side being painful. It is very easy to walk lop-sided when one side is in pain. Gentle
manipulation greatly improves circulation and flexibility, and is very beneficial, as quite often we throw the
entire body out of alignment.
Over the next few years, I tried everything - except prescribed drugs. I spent vast amounts of money on
natural and alternative therapies, and discovered many things that were just plain rip offs, and a lot of
things that helped. I had more good days than bad days. I even had the occasional excellent day. I had
learned to pace myself. I was very careful with diet and sleep. I came to the conclusion, pretty early on,
that most of the natural therapies had anti-inflammatory properties. Some were very expensive and no
better than other cheaper things. The fish oil was great, but cost a lot each month. I later got sensible
enough to work out that I only needed to replace meat with fish, and that I would also gain the additional
benefits of all the other nutrients in fish.
Ginger also seemed to be a good anti-inflammatory, so I would sip lemon, ginger and honey in water
throughout the day. Chinese herbs were good, as were homeopathy and acupuncture treatments, but very
expensive and not better than fish oils or ginger. Green lip mussel capsules and glucosamine are other
expensive ways of eating seafood.
I tried Minocycline for a while and it seemed to help the fatigue as well as the R.A., but it concerned me to
be taking long-term antibiotics so I gave them away as well.
A few years later, I became complacent and thought that I was doing okay, until one night my entire body
seemed to have ignited. I thought about that spontaneous human combustion documentary I had seen on
television, and waited expectantly to burst into flames. I imagined myself as ‘Ash in a pair of slippers’.
Instead, I burst into tears and my flatmate had to carry me to bed and call a Locum, as it was late at night.
I waited four agonizing hours before he arrived. At that point, I didn't care what drugs he put into me and
even euthanasia was an acceptable and desirable possibility. The Locum convinced me that I must take
prescribed medication as he noticed that my feet were now becoming deformed, my hands were beginning
to look gnarly and I was in big trouble.
I took the drugs for a number of years, and went on like most R.A., sufferers: getting through the days as
an almost normal person, pacing myself and doing as little as I could. Every free weekend was an
opportunity to sleep. I was back at work and most days were good days. In the back of my mind I
resented it all greatly. My searching and experimenting went on. I was convinced that there was something
else, something simple and something that would permanently cure this thing.
I had finally made the connection that the fatigue was a symptom of R.A. The fatigue was really my biggest
problem at this point. The pain was under control, but this fatigue was so overwhelming. I found myself
having to explain myself to people, and I avoided going out with people I didn't know well. In fact, I pretty
much avoided going out at all. I found myself, on a number of occasions, sitting in a restaurant and ‘down
would come the curtain’ in an instant. This is not tired like, ‘I should be getting home now’, this is more
like a panic attack. You feel that you have about two minutes to explain to people that you are about to
permanently and totally drop through the floor and disappear forever. I would sleep for twelve hours,
wake up tired and still take an afternoon nap. No matter how much I slept, I always woke up tired.
Around this time, I had pretty much given up drinking alcohol, as I had pin-pointed it as a major
antagonist. Red wine especially affected me like a Mogadon.
I ate well and paid attention to diet. I had a kitchen bench full of vitamin supplements and rarely ate junk
food. I had cut my twelve cups of coffee down to one a day. One day, I was in a situation where I had no
option but to eat a hamburger, I was starving and didn't care. Within minutes of eating it I fell into a deep
sleep - I finally got it. I had read about food combining and sort of saw sense in it, but never really applied
it. But, in that moment, I looked at all the protein and fat in the hamburger. It contained meat, cheese,
bacon and egg, I also acknowledged the high content of salt. I sat and thought about when I most seriously
had felt exhausted in the past, I thought about where I was, what I was doing and what I was eating.
copyright Sonya Green
Click the Next Button to go to Part 2.
It seems to me that there is a similarity between Rheumatoid Arthritis, Chronic
Fatigue and Fibromyalgia. No one seems to know what causes them. There is
no cure for them. They all rob you of energy, fill you with aches and pain; and
make life seem like nothing more than an existence. A good day means that you
exist well enough to function in a most basic way and can accomplish the most
fundamental tasks. A bad day takes you hostage, and simply having air on your
skin can hurt. Sometimes, the pain can be so bad that you feel like you have drain
cleaner or acid travelling through your veins. Sometimes, the fatigue is so severe
that you feel that when you drop, it will be into the black hole, into the abyss, and
a dull panic sets in. I used to refer to it, as the living dead - being alive without
having a life.
I finally have my life back and it's better than ever. I feel and look years younger.
I am pain free and have enough energy to live a better than normal life. The
information I wish to share with you today is simple and effective, I am indulging
myself here and giving you my personal story.
I was diagnosed with RA around twenty years ago. This is my story, and
although to many people a lot of this information will not be relevant to them, I
am going to include as much of my own story as I can recall, because
somewhere, someone, is going to make a connection that may change their life,
or like me, ‘totally re-invent themselves.’
For many years, I suffered fatigue. Every time that I mentioned it to a doctor,
they simply concluded that it was an iron deficiency and sent me off to eat more
meat or take supplements. I was usually pretty conscious of diet as I was
working in a weight loss clinic at the time, and had a very healthy respect for and
knowledge of good nutrition. I'd take the iron, I would pick up a bit and life went
on, but I never really had enough energy. I simply managed to get through each
day and get what needed to be done attended to.
I used to love to party, loved the dressing up, it was the 80’s and boy did we
know how to dress up and party. I loved to drink and had a great bunch of
mates who would play and laugh and dance all night long. One night, we had a
large table booked at a Greek restaurant. It was one of those funny, crazy nights,
where we drank champagne and cocktails until we were almost legless. (Excuse
the pun, this story is leading up to my literally becoming legless.) I was wearing
strappy little stiletto shoes and dancing like a mad Greek to 'Zorba', spinning
faster and faster, while plates where thrown at the wall and laughing so hard that I
fell. There went my knee!
A few days later, I found that I couldn't stand and that my knee was as large as a
rock- melon (cantaloupe). My guess was that I had torn the cartilage and went
off to the doctor. He recommended that I have X-rays and I went home to rest
and ice-pack it. The X-rays didn’t show any damage, but two months later, I
was still walking with crutches and my knee was still painful and swollen.
Many specialists, tests and finally an arthroscopy later, I was told that it wasn't
conclusive, but that I had a pre-disposition for Rheumatoid Arthritis. Who knows
what that means! I was sent to a rheumatologist, who advised that it was
rheumatoid arthritis. He further went on to explain that arthritis has over a
hundred disguises, and they didn’t know what caused it and they didn’t know
how to cure it. He did believe that he knew how to stop the pain and swelling
and repress its progression. Back in the 80’s, AIDS was big news and at the
time they had ads on TV showing the Grim Reaper. This rheumatologist looked
and sounded just like the Grim Reaper. I was stunned and angry. Pictures of my
mother came into my mind. (she has suffered terribly for many years with
arthritis) and I was suddenly an old lady whose destiny had just been dramatically
changed forever.
He outlined a course of drug therapy and casually mentioned that I'd be taking
these drugs indefinitely, even though the disease would in fact get progressively
worse - he called it management. Now I've read enough and know enough to
know that drugs always have a down side, and my first line of fire would be some
form of natural therapy. He mentioned the name of the drug that he was
prescribing, and I asked him about side effects. He said that in rare cases you
could go blind. I laughed nervously for a minute and then screamed at him. I was
actually blaming him at the time, as I felt that prior to seeing him, I didn’t have
arthritis and in fact, I didn't have it right up until he said I did. In my mind, at that
moment, it was like he had actually handed me a ticket and said, “Now here, this
is what you have for ever".
My last words to him were, "I came in here unable to walk. Now you say you
can help me walk, but I won't be able to see where I'm walking to". I got into my
friend’s car and said, "That guy’s a lunatic" and burst into tears.
Heal your heart, Love your body and claim your Joy! These articles are now available in paperback. Click the book cover to find out more. Paypal secure payment.
|
EBook also available. Instant download for only $8
|
If you feel this website has inspired you or resonated with you or if you found yourself thinking about someone who would benefit from visiting these pages - Trust Your Intuition and send them the link. If you would like to copy an article to your site or blog, you are welcome to do so, but must note copyright Sonya Green and refer to www.reinventingmyself.com
If you would like to support this site you might consider emailing in suggestions, a small donation, purchasing a product or visiting the links to our sponsors.
|