Patricia Campbell
November 16th, 2007
Unfortunately getting older is a fact of life, but being a victim of your health doesn’t have to be. A number of years ago, I was working in Montana when I fell and broke my hip. While I was working hard to complete my therapy and regain my strength, I went outside one day to find my cat and fell down again and broke my other hip. I spent three years recuperating. This was an incredibly difficult time, as I had to leave a job that I really loved. I had started out as a detox technician and then later worked directly with dual-diagnosis substance abuse patients. It was a fulfilling experience working with people and helping them to improve their lives.
Dealing with the pain in and of itself was hard enough, but then I got depressed from being away from the work I loved. I started getting very tired during these days, which didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. I went to the doctor, and he told me I had fibromyalgia, which is a pretty confusing disease. Essentially, it’s a chronic syndrome that is characterized by diffuse or specific muscle, joint, or bone pain and fatigue. It kept getting worse, and then I found out I also had rheumatoid arthritis. The pain was overwhelming and everything kept slowing me down. There were about four months out of the year that I was pretty much an invalid. (I’ll also mention that osteoporosis and high blood pressure were two other things getting me down).
I’ll be honest, it took a while for me to find the right medicine. I really experimented with numerous medicines under the advice of my doctor. This experimentation and the drive to find a solution were key to my healing process. I now take a Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) blocker (I am not sure what that means, but I know it has given me back my life), along with many other medications, and they’ve helped me take control of the illnesses that slow me down. I cannot tell you how much the availability of my medicines (10 in all) means to me. Although that’s a lot of pills to swallow, the despair and discomfort I felt before these meds really made me wonder if I wanted to keep going on in life. These meds saved my life and gave me hope again.My advice would be to never lose hope. It IS possible to gain your independence again after having been held hostage by your body. Seek out support groups… Take your meds…And then you will rediscover what keeps you going in life. For me, it’s my husband, my two sons and my five grandchildren. I’m going to be here much longer for them!
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