by Kris Laurentz

Created on: June 22, 2008   Last Updated: June 29, 2009

"I'm not crazy, lazy, or insane, really I'm not!"

"The invisible illness" is something I deal with every day. The thing that bothers me the most is that it is hard to find a doctor that actually understands this disease and doesn't think you are just a 'mental case'. I found out that I had Fibromyalgia last year. It is quite funny how I discovered it. For several years I had 'flu' like symptoms, extreme fatigue, insomnia, pain all over my body, I could not regulate my body temperature, I had the feeling of my body swelling but there were no visible signs of any swelling...anywhere, horrible headaches, if you just barely touched me it felt like I had been hit by a professional boxer, I got my thoughts mixed up (or sometimes I even forgot where I was or what I was doing), irritable bowels, I would smell things that no one else could smell, and sometimes what I was thinking I couldn't get to come out of my mouth (I would either stutter or it felt like my jaw and tongue would lock up. These were just a few of my symptoms. I was watching a show on Lifetime (Strong Medicine) and the patient explained to Dr. Lou her symptoms and she diagnosed her with Fibromyalgia. This woman lost her job because she was not 'reliable' and they just thought she was lazy. I looked up Fibromyalgia online and found a site with a Dr. that specialized in this disease (he even called it a neuroimmune disease) and all of the symptoms I was experiencing was on the list. I went to my Dr. (she had been frustrated because she had no idea what was wrong with me) and told her what I found out and asked her if I could possibly have this disease. She checked me out thoroughly and then checked all of the tender points and sure enough, 16 of the 18 points were so tender that I started to cry in pain. People need to listen to their bodies and if there is something not right (and the Dr.'s have no idea what is the matter with you), it is vital that you research your symptoms on your own. Don't wait for a Dr. to 'figure it out', that could take forever and you will be living in pain until they find a diagnosis. Even after a diagnosis is made, educate yourselves about disease/disorder. Not only will you know what is going on with your body, you will be able to cope with the disease/disorder better.

Anyway, shortly after that appointment, we moved to a small island in Alaska due to my husband's job. The Dr. here (well, all of the Doctors here) was not really well informed on Fibromyalgia and took me off

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