On looking back, I realise that my first problem with fibromyalgia was probably when I was 9 years old. An unexplained condition put me into hospital with suspected polio ~ which they later decided must have been 'nerves!'

Bell's Palsy followed a car accident while in my early 20's, and then began the severe jaw, shoulder and neck pain, which was later diagnosed as fibrositis and something I would "just have to live with."

I was also having many other unexplained health problems by about the time I was 35 years old. From 1983, I underwent many tests ~ brain & other scans, an exploratory operation, x-rays, cortisone injections, anti-depressants. You name it, I had it. But the extreme fatigue and the "fibro fog," as I now know it to be called, were becoming very scary, especially with having a business to run.

Finally, a rheumatologist diagnosed fibromyalgia, something I had never heard of before. So! When I was nearly fifty years old, he gave me more cortisone injections and his only suggestion was to try amitriptyline at night, to ease the pain and help me sleep. This, unfortunately, had terrible side effects.

I now had a name for my pain! However, I still had no idea that my other medical problems were related. AND they were getting worse and increasingly, there were more of them.

By the time I started on guai, I couldn't even go to the supermarket by myself because I couldn't get the groceries out of the trolley. Simple things like peeling potatoes or doing housework were agony. My bed always felt as though I was lying on a slab of concrete and so a good night's sleep, which was rare, lasted only about five hours. As well as the constant pain throughout my body, I was also having trouble with concentration, memory, irritable bowel, TMJ, vision, digestion, swallowing, sensitivity to sound and temperature. The list goes on. Even my handwriting had become very shaky. If I wanted to go anywhere, I would have to start planning days before, so that I was not too exhausted to go, and then it would take days afterwards to recover.

Early in 2001, my husband was talking to a business acquaintance, who happened to be a Doctor in the USA, and mentioned fibro. Amazingly she knew about fibromyalgia! She asked what was being done for me and was horrified to hear "nothing". She had a friend who had been so bad with fibro as to be about to give up her business when she had started on guaifenesin. She would get her to contact me.

That email was the start of a new life. It was only then that I realised that all my other health problems which tests had shown no reason for, were symptoms of fibro! This alone was an enormous relief.

I downloaded information from Dr. St. Amand's web site, purchased a copy of his book "What your Doctor MAY not tell you about Fibromyalgia" from amazon.com, and took these to my Doctor. He agreed to write out a prescription for me to send to the USA for guaifenesin. This was in May 2001.

It is over 2 years since I started on guai and it has been hard. BUT so were the years before! I still have a long way to go, but it is working. I can now function again ~ sometimes even sleep through the night ~ and after all those years, I do not have pain for twenty-four hours of every day. After some activity, it truly is wonderful to be able to say,
"There is no way I could have done this two years ago!"