Chronically Fit

My journey started almost 10 years ago. While in school, I began to experience fatigue and mild chronic pain around my knees and hips without any physical explanation. A couple of years later, the symptoms worsened and I now had constant nerve pain throughout my entire body. It was a this point that I was taking multiple ibuprofens every day in an effort to feel any form of relief. I had also started to developed digestion issues. The pain and chronic fatigue were so severe that there were many days where I could not even get out of bed.

After four years of living with these symptoms and going to multiple doctors and specialists, I was finally diagnosed with fibromyalgia which brought on IBS symptoms as well as anxiety and depression. Although I was prescribed medication to help with my multiple chronic invisible illnesses, this did not completely relieved my symptoms. From here, I worked with physiotherapists, naturopaths, counselors, and my general practitioner to find which specific lifestyle changes would allow me to manage my symptoms. The most significant changes I made that actually gave me some relief was consistently exercising and doing an elimination diet where I found out that I have intolerances to gluten, dairy, and refined sugar.

Three years later, I now consider myself 98% pain free! I make sure to work out 4-5 times per week and am very strict with my nutrition in order to keep my symptoms manageable. Occasionally, my fibromyalgia will flare up depending on the environment, but after about a week it settles down again. My belief is that rather than work against my illness, I need to work with it.