Christine’s Story of Healing Fibromyalgia

My name is Christine and I’ve dealt with fibromyalgia for over 20 years. I started feeling its effects when I was twelve years old. For almost seven years now though, I’ve been fibromyalgia free. I firmly believe that it’s directly related to lifestyle changes most importantly my raw food diet.

I’ve been a registered nurse for over 13 years now, specializing in Gastroenterology. I’m a Certified Holistic Nutrition Practitioner and have studied holistic nutrition in detail.

My interest in health and nutrition began as a teenager dealing with different health problems. At the age of twenty I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. It was a RELIEF at least knowing I wasn’t crazy. I had seen so many doctors trying to find answers.

Now, there was a real reason I was feeling so terrible. I was always exhausted, waking up feeling like I was hit by a truck. At times just to blink or talk was painful. I’d stay in bed for days because of the pain and exhaustion, yet never feel refreshed. At one point I spent almost three months in bed paralyzed by pain. I didn’t have the stamina to keep up with my life. My legs would go numb if I sat too long. On top of that, I had severe digestion problems. Sometimes I would eat and immediately after have to run to the bathroom, other times I would suffer from constipation with a very hard and swollen stomach.

I was too young for all this! My rheumatologist prescribed me sleeping and pain medication. Having fibromyalgia you never pass into that restful stage four sleep. I’d wake up, after a coma-like sleep, feeling hung over with my head in the clouds, which took most of the morning to recuperate from. That’s when I said, “This is not going to be my life!” After all, the only “solution” the doctors gave me were simply to prescribe medications to help cope with the symptoms.

That’s when I began investigating other routes. Through research, I began herbal supplements. It would seem to work, but there was always something missing. I turned to Chiropractors, Massage therapy and more herbs. They’d all help temporarily, but if I didn’t keep up with them I was back to where I started. I was spending thousands of dollars in search of a “cure”.

Finally, I got tired of relying on those methods and still not feeling well. That led me to search from within. What could I do that is within my means to IMPROVE my health? After beginning my studies in Holistic Nutrition trying to understand fibromyalgia, I began focusing on a raw food PLANT-BASED diet, along with healthy living habits. I learned how to manage stress and deal with my emotions in a positive way that create health not destroy it. I learned how to REMOVE the cause of disease and CREATE the conditions for health, how to be self-aware of my body and what it needed. I became the CEO of my health!

After putting into practice what I had learned and several years after having been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, I’ve gotten to the point where I can say I’m FREE of fibromyalgia symptoms. If I don’t maintain a mostly raw food diet or keep emotionally poised, I may suffer a consequent symptom momentarily but I simply no longer suffer chronically the way I did.

My sleep is so deep and restful I don’t even need an alarm most mornings, my body wakes up on its own early, full of energy. I get up feeling ready to go! No more leg numbness or daily headaches that would force me back in bed. I no longer have to stay in bed for days at a time trying to recuperate from a little activity I did the day before. I have learned how to keep emotionally poised handling stress in a positive way. Maintaining a raw food diet I no longer suffer from bloating and abdominal pain. I can live a “normal life”, with all the “normal” daily activities. I feel freed!

Was this transition easy? NO! I grew up in a mostly ITALIAN household with lots of delicious Italian foods and family time centered around these foods. I’m married to an Italian who loves AND eats these foods. Our food had a cultural connotation of who we were. I identified with these foods, loved these foods, craved them. Not to mention I”m a huge FOODIE, I love to eat! The idea of changing my diet felt like losing a part of me.

I knew I needed to take CONTROL of what I put into my body but it was a struggle. I was on and off, with eating well. The minute I started feeling better I’d go back to MY food convincing myself that I’m back to normal and nothings wrong so I can eat whatever I wanted.

So, how did I FINALLY do it?

1)  I had to ACCEPT that my body wasn’t like the average “healthy” person. I could not compare myself to others and what they did.

2)  I learned to DISASSOCIATE my feeling connected to food. Creating a negative connotation with the foods that were essentially making me sick. When I craved them I’d envision the pain and suffering I’d feel after eating them, until they became repulsive to me. I began to associate happiness, freedom and life with my raw foods.

3)  I made myself ACCOUNTABLE by informing all my friends and family about my new lifestyle.

4)  Making DELICIOUS new foods that I’d crave.

That’s why I’ve created this blog, to share with you what has helped me in my journey of healing. To give you the tools you need to create that healthy, vibrant, happy life that you not deserve!