New Member's Story or Stories, I'M the First on this new thread!

[Shari A. Mattice]

I don't really know how to begin telling you my story, but to say that it was just a total nightmare; I really believe at this time that if my God had not made this work better for me, I would not still be alive at this time! It all started because of my being an idiotic child in the 7th grade, when attempting to show off to my two younger sisters; I standing upon our backyard pool's diving board had boastingly announced that I was going to do a big bounce high up off of the board and then dive head-first into the swimming pool, but what ended up happening was that I had cut swiftly through the water like a knife would through softened butter and plowed head-first into the pool's bottom! Well all in all, besides having got up out of the pool; while I had been as white as a sheet according to my younger sisters, besides my just having wandered inside our house, passed out on our couch, and woken up later on that afternoon to continue on having gone to play over at my bestfriend's house next door well I had not been paralyed! Thusly, I was never taken to a hospital to get checked out; but sometime after that was when I'd noticed that my overall general feeling of energy had disappeared, now all I felt was stamina! As the years went by sense then, my stamina got less and less as time went by, finally it got so that I could hardly do anything at all; lots could be said about how it was for me during those years, but finally I got so bad I would get pain in my chest, pain in my abdomen, pain in my muscles everywhere that nothing really was releaving the pain correctly! Let's just say I'd found out that I had Mitochondria that were malfunctioning which caused my chronic fatigue as well as the pain, and the more cell death and destruction that I ended up having had then the worse the pain ended up being! My doctor and me has found out through my medical testing that the pain that I was feeling was really do to as my condition got worse, my mitochondria's having developed a faulty-switchover of their metabolism because when too low ATP levels it would kick me over into glycolysis for my bodies total energy needs! But this is not efficient enough, so the testing showed that whenever I was kicked into glycolysis my organs, tissues, and muscles would not be getting enough oxygen thusly causing me the pain! Well I had been ready to cut my muscle tissue open to relieve the painful type of pressure, so I'd prayed to God asking Him for help; to tell me what would help to take this pain away, else I told Him I was afraid that I would do something really stupid! You people may not believe my story, but I sware that it is the truth; He more or less had pointed me to one product alone out there that really takes the pain away, but ONLY the smallest size of the patches work right! They are the smallest size of the Salanpas Pain-Relieving Patches, they were at Walmart for less than $5 for 40 patches! At first I thought I was having an allergic reaction to them because it ends up feeling like all of the heat that is inside you is being pulled up to the patched-skin's location but I'd felt the urge to leave it on to see if that would go away and both it went away as well as the pain! The pain totally went away for like 4-6 hours at a time, since then I've found that they don't only work for that pain; I use them for the headache pain in my forehead that I get at night from having too low oxygen at night because of the same reason too, as well as they take the pain of having had an abscessed tooth away when I'd just stuck them on my cheek's outside of the area where the tooth was making my whole cheek to swell up! It is so much nicer, living without pain; even though, I have to spend just about 24/7 lying upon my bed because my body just is not making enough ATP nor can I buy enough of the stuff I have to take to make my own bodies ATP since it is very expensive and the worse your condition is the more of it you have to take! So if anyone out there still has unbearable pain, try the small Salonpas Pain-Relieving patches; they can't do anything for my regular arthritic knee pain, but the rest they really do!

 

[GemmaRowlands]

Hello, and welcome to the forum. No matter how you discovered the treatment for your pain, it is excellent news that you have found something that works for you, and I hope that your discovery will be able to go some way to helping other people who are in this situation. I have always said that the best thing to do with this condition is to try as many things as you possibly can and see what will help you, because the truth is that everyone's experience will always be slightly different, so you will never know what works for you until you have tried. I wish you the best of luck, and thank you again for this post.

 

[QuietLight]

As the wife of a minister, I know our Heavenly Father works heavily in our lives when asked! As anyone with chronic pain knows, each person reacts differently to different treatments. So sharing what works for you, may aid another by giving them a new tool to try.

My story is a lot different. I was a foster kid and beaten as a child pretty regularly. Had migraines from about 4 years old...whether from beatings or a high fever I had before a year old which I went into a seizure (Only my chiropractor has stated that is a great possibility that this is where it could stem from) I only recently found that out from my adoption records recently given to me. I had a lot of trauma in my life....and last but not least, my first husband abducted my children and me to his country then abandoned us there pretty much for almost a full decade until he passed away. (Thank heavens for the Embassy there!)

Mental stress amongst all the physical abuse as a child. That's the short version...lol. So, looking back, my adopted mom and I have pretty much pinpointed that throughout much of my youth I complained of aches and pains and she took it as I was just a complainer or wanted to get out of doing things. From gym class to mowing the lawn, I would cry saying my back hurt, or my head hurt or my knees hurt etc.

Then I had children. My first born when I was 22...my last when I was 30. Carrying the girls, cleaning, running here and there and then raising them in another country and walking everywhere...used a cane on and off for several years believing I was only arthritic.

Recently learned that MS runs on both sides of my biological families. Many women with Fibro or Lupus or MS and last but not least RA. I get the quadruple whammy so to speak.

So far, what works for me is hot Mediterranean salt baths and soothing music. (I used to bathe in the Aegean Sea for pain while living abroad...that helped a lot) But as soon as I get out of the tub, back to pain. None of the medications have worked for very long. Gabapentin seemed to work a bit in the beginning...not anymore. Cymbalta, not anymore...just tried Lyrica for not even a week....stopped that due to the intensity of pain increasing rather than decreasing. So only on one med right now from my neurologist for prevention of migraines.

But, I must say this. As the wife of a minister, part of my duty is to aid others when called...within that, if I had not experienced abuse, difficulties in life, the abduction (Added to it he cheated with multiple women) and now this severe pain, I would not be able to relate to many people who suffer different situations, ailments etc. that do come to us. So though I hurt a LOT, I count it as a blessing in the empathy department.

I remember the days I'd lay in bed crying in pain, emotionally and physically....and at this age and point in my life, it is my goal to stay positive...and encourage others to also stay positive even though it may take all you have to do so.

I learned a trick over a decade ago. It takes a bit of practice but if I can do it, anyone can. And that is this. The more pain I am in, the more I shove out negative thinking and focus only on positive thinking. Literally every time a negative thought or severe pain would settle in, I'd force myself to turn it around into a positive. It took me abut 3 days the first time around (Notice I said FIRST time around...lol) to change my way of thinking. Since that first time of struggling through the "Positive thinking test"....it got easier and easier each time. Mind over matter...sometimes it really works and sometimes it feels like Nothing will work. So I learned to appreciate each tiny gift in life...from that beautiful butterfly that flits by while out and about to the sound of the birds outside my window. From sitting by the sea or a lake to deep prayer and gratitude. It helps me tremendously. I can honestly say, there have been several points in my lifetime that I was the queen of negativity due to pain and anguish. I choose to reverse it...even if my eyes are tearing from the pain...I just laugh them off and say, hey....quit trying to sneak out here, everyone knows I hurt....so lets find something I Can do to help me through the pain....even if it is laying down and taking a 5 hour nap instead of an hour long.

I'd guess my Heavenly Father thought I'd suffered enough and gave me an incredible husband to walk beside me as we go through the whole doctor to diagnosed routine. For my first husband could have cared less. Now I have a man who tries to make me laugh when I am crying, who isn't embarrassed when I need to use a wheelchair in public or mocks me. Nope...I feel very blessed indeed. But having survived a husband who stopped caring years before his death, I fully grasp and understand those who have no support. It makes one almost suicidal if not suicidal.

I send gentle and loving hugs to all who suffer chronic illnesses. It is no picnic and support is a must!

 

[Trellum]

Hi Shari! Welcome to the forum, thanks for sharing your story with us! I couldn't help but cringe when I read about your pool accident, all I could think was ''ouch!''. I heard fibro can start with that kind of incidents, incident that can be traumatic for the mind and/or the body. I hope you find something that works for you, dealing with pain isn't easy at all!

 

[Shari A. Mattice]

Hello, and welcome to the forum. No matter how you discovered the treatment for your pain, it is excellent news that you have found something that works for you, and I hope that your discovery will be able to go some way to helping other people who are in this situation. I have always said that the best thing to do with this condition is to try as many things as you possibly can and see what will help you, because the truth is that everyone's experience will always be slightly different, so you will never know what works for you until you have tried. I wish you the best of luck, and thank you again for this post.

Trust in the Lord, and thanks for your response to my story!

 

[Shari A. Mattice]

I really think you should give the small salonpas pain-relieving patches a try, you could possibly have a decrease of oxygen causing your migrainse too; wouldn't hurt to give them a try, but know that at first they will feel like all of the heat that is inside you is being pulled up to the skin right underneath the patch! I ignored the heat and the skin feeling irrated feeling as if I was having an allergice reaction to the patches, and both symptoms had gone away after several minutes; then the pain had disappeared, stayed away for 4-6 hours at a time!

I was diagnosed with my Mitochondria Failure, aka CFS/Me ; when my blood was express-airmailed to England, Dr. Sarah Myhill and my doctor in the US worked together to complete the tests! I too, like you, went through abuse growing up; for I was sexually & verbally abused by the man who I had considered my grandpa, my mom's sister's husband's dad! He is no longer alive, thus no one needs worry about any continued abuse of young girls going on anymore. That abuse had gone on from around 4 years of age, which is the earliest time that I can remember; until around, when I was 14 or 15! So yes, I understand the pain; pain of abuse, and pain from medical conditions that no one seems to want to believe are really real conditions; but we know they are real, so does God! That is what really matters. LOL.