“I have fibromyalgia. It took about 7 years to figure out what it was. It started when I was 30. I was tired all the time. I felt like one big bruise. You can’t see it, which makes it hard because nobody quite understands it. It was my first back surgery that triggered the fibromyalgia. The doctors diagnosed me with post traumatic stress. They wanted to say it was depression. I think I felt depressed because of the way I felt, I don’t think I felt the way I did because I felt depressed. After about a year and 6 different meds, I gained 86 pounds. After that, I went cold turkey. Nothing was working because that wasn’t the problem. In the last couple of years I’ve realized I’m allergic to sugar. It affects the fibromyalgia. If I have any artificial sweeteners I can feel my joints swelling or my muscles will turn to mush and it becomes hard to walk. When I still had my daughters in school I had to lay down during the day to rest in order to go to their games at night. It’s hard to sleep because you can’t stay in one spot for too long. It becomes psychological because you know you don’t feel like the person you used to feel like. I played softball for years. I ran track. I would be out with the guys throwing the football around. I taught jazzercise 6 days a week from the time I was 26 until 30. Then it was like what’s with me? Then it took forever to find out I had fibromyalgia. I don’t take my health for granted because it can change so fast. I try really hard not to judge other people that say they don’t feel good when they may look fine. I know what it’s like. I do a lot of the right things. I haven’t eaten sugar in almost 2 years. I’m almost entirely gluten free. I do a lot of good, but I need to get exercise back in my life. When I’m exercising, I feel pumped up and ready for the day. Fibromyalgia makes it harder. I’m not able to push as far as I really believe I’m capable of. I love being active. It’s an internal battle for myself right now. I find that I’m my own worst enemy.”