Fibro to Fabulous

Conquering Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia & Migraines

A Journey From A Life Of Sickness To Abundant Health

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My life of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia and Migraines started at a very young age. As far back as the age of 5, I experienced unusual symptoms. If I didn’t get 12 hours of sleep every night I would run a fever and be extremely fatigued and sickly. My mom, a school teacher, would put me in first aid and allow me to get extra sleep and then when I felt rested I would start my day at school. This continued through childhood. When I entered 9th grade, things turned to worse. I came down with a virus and was never the same. This virus affected my digestive tract the most. I couldn’t eat anything without throwing up. My sister picked on me and said I would have grilled chicken for my birthday cake, because that was the only food I could tolerate. I proceeded to loose 40 lbs very rapidly and being already thin to start with I ended up 107lbs at my lowest weight. That’s 107lbs at 5’9”. That was incredibly thin. My mother thought I was dying. During this time I went to countless doctors. Most doctors tried there hardest to find out what was wrong with me to no avail. I went through upper gi’s, lower gi’s, countless blood scans. It was horrible. All I could do was sleep. We even encountered one doctor who thought it was all in my head. He ignorantly said I was bulimic despite my every attempt to gain weight, drinking ensure milkshakes. The emotional toll of seeing doctors was sometimes the hardest to bear. I finally met a rheumatologist named, Dr. Lawerence who diagnosed me with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. At that time, CFS was a new disease/syndrome and there was no treatment. With time and rest, I got better. Throughout my life these diseases flared up in phases. I would go in remission and then I was sick all over again. So I did ok for a few years. I graduated from high school and entered college. I was never healthy but made it through theses years. However, the stress of college was too much to bear. After 1.5 years, I had to drop out. My health was at a low again. During this time I had also met my future husband and married. I’m sure the stress of a wedding didn’t help. It was then that I started to experience horrible migraines. I had always had an abnormal amount of headaches as a child, especially when I didn’t have adequate sleep, but now they had intensified. After a few attempts, I knew the medical field had nothing to offer as far as treatment so I increased my visits to the chiropractor and went weekly or sometimes twice a week. This got me through, even though I was very sick. The crazy thing about CFS, It seems to get better during pregnancy. And I experienced that first hand. I didn’t feel 100% or healed during pregnancy but the CFS was much, much better. So I actually had a few good years when I had our three children in the first 6 years of marriage. One year after having the third child, I had an opportunity to go work for my brother. The first six months I did well, but then disease hit me like a ton of bricks. I was no longer having just fatigue, I was now experiencing pain. Whole body pain! I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. CFS and Fibro are sister diseases. Fibromyalgia is basically CFS with pain. I refused to quit my job, how could I? We needed that income. And with that stubbornness, I got worse, much much worse. I hit an all time low. I cannot even describe how bad I felt. I eventually quit my job, thinking rest would fix it just like it had done in the past. However I was wrong. I continued to go downhill. Sleeping on average 14-16hrs a day, sometimes longer. In constant pain, I broke down and tried conventional medicine again. It was the worse mistake of my whole life. They had me on 10 different medicines. Adderall for energy, Ambien for sleep, Savella for depression, Lyrica for Fibromyalgia, medicine and Botox injections for migraines, a synthetic morphine for pain, and the list went on. I declined into nothing. I was helpless. I couldn’t imagine life forever like this. I’m only 29 at this time! With every flare up I got worse, What would I be like at 60? Would I even make it to that age? Something inside of me said this wasn’t the answer. I didn’t get better with these meds. I had gotten worse. Sure they worked at first, but over time the body gets immuned to them and you just have to take more and more. This was not the answer. So I had my new pain management doctor start weaning me off of the medicines. One at a time,

over the course of a year. I was off all medications except for a low grade anti-inflammatory pain medicine. Crazy thing is that I didn’t feel any worse or better. I started having a few good spells however the bad would always return. The pain was the same off or on the high doses of morphine. That brings me to my life-changing event.

Through all of this I had the most supportive family and friends. It was when my cousin was visiting she told me about a new type of doctor I had never heard about. A kinesiologist. Her daughter had great results after a bout with personal health issues. I was skeptical, curious, but yet I believed my cousin.
She wasn’t one to jump into a hoax. I researched it but wasn’t ready to try something else. Then a few months later I went to a best friend’s family reunion and her cousin told me about her chiropractor who practiced muscle testing (kinesiology). Her husband had been cured of Crohns disease. Ok that is a major disease! So I listened more and was more curious. This couldn’t be a coincidence that two close friends had told me about the same holistic medical approach. However, I didn’t call right away. I waited three more months. I didn’t want to try something else only to be disappointed with zero results like all the times in the past. One day out of the blue, my husband walked into the bathroom and said, “When are you going to try out that new doctor?” Something in me said, Call today! So I did and it was the best decision I ever made.

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My doctor:

I met with Dr. Gaie Feuerstein, DC of Olena Wellness (Located on Cottage Hill Road in Mobile, AL) I knew through my friend that she was a Christian women and I knew she practiced holistic medicine and it would be very different then anything I ever saw. I filled out her 10-page questioner and spent almost 4 hours in her office. My friend Carrie had told me to trust the process. I believed my friend, so I did. I was diagnosed with a Soy allergy, a zinc deficiency and a copper toxicity. She started me on a soy free diet and three nutritional supplements. After three days, I was pain free!!!! I quit my last medicine and have improved daily ever since. I followed up with her bi-weekly and now am on a monthly basis. It has been 4 months since my initial visit and I am feeling AMAZING!!! I feel like a whole new person. I feel like I am thriving. I wake up every morning with elatement. I am so happy to feel whole again. Life has been forever changed. 

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All Credit Goes to God:

I have so many things to be thankful for! This journey has been so hard, but God has held my hand and carried me through it. I feel like I have reached the “Promise Land”, a land flowing with good health and abundant life. Because of His Faithfulness and His never ending Love and Mercy, I cannot only share my story to health; I have to also share a more important story. The story of a Loving God who loved us so much He sent his only Son to die for our sins. A God who never fails us and intervenes in our personal lives. Without Him, I would have never made it through. And the only reasonable gift I can give back is service to Him (Romans 12:1-2) And with the commission to tell the world about the Good News in Jesus Christ, I leave you with not only the keys to health but also the keys to eternal life. 

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Note From Dr. Gaie In Response to Reading My Story:

As you know it is not that I am some miracle worker, but that God has built natural laws into His creation and if we follow them, things work well! The nature and methods of God are seen in the creation, and in the creation, living things heal and grow...until they age and die. And after that, "if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." But until then, "beloved I wish above all that thou mayest prosper and be in good health."

Ezek 47:12 Lining each side of the river banks, all sorts of species of fruit trees will be growing. Their leaves will never wither and their fruit will never fail. They will bear fruit every month, because the water that nourishes them will be flowing from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food and their leaves will contain substances that promote healing." (ISV)
Rev. 22:2 And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 

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3years Later:

Now 3 years later, I could never imagine that I would still be healthy and happy.  It felt to good to last, but it has! Nutrition is the fountion of youth!