The Villages - December 2008 - (Page 40)

Health Fibromyalgia Support Relief BY THERESA CAMPBELL & Active Villages Lifestyle Improves Fibromyalgia Chronic throbbing, aching, burning, exhausting and nagging pain that just doesn’t quit. Add excessive fatigue, that all-encompassing exhaustion which feels like every drop of energy has been drained from your body, and these are some of the symptoms patients with ﬁbromyalgia experience in their daily lives. “It would feel, sometimes, that somebody took a baseball bat and beat me,” said Deborah Maddox, of the Village of Caroline. “The pain would be that severe. It would absolutely put me in bed for a week and there was no way I could get comfortable. Even putting a sheet over me would hurt and feel so painful. I absolutely thought I was going insane.” Deborah is thankful that her previous general practitioner in Fairfax, Va., knew something was wrong. “We’re going to get to the bottom of this,” her doctor said. Test after test was performed, even though there are no laboratory procedures available for testing for ﬁbromyalgia. “They couldn’t ﬁnd anything wrong,” Deborah recalled, yet her doctor didn’t give up. She wanted Deborah to point to and explain the different pressure points of her body where she felt pain. Her doctor continued with more research before diagnosing her with ﬁbromyalgia 10 years ago. Deborah was trying to keep focused at the same time, working at a demanding, full-time job. “I was director of management administration of the Department of Interior, and worked 10 and 12 hours a day. It was a very stressful job, which is the worst thing that you can have for ﬁbromyalgia,” she said. “I look back now and I don’t know how I did it. I ﬁnally got to the point where I couldn’t do it.” DECEMBER 2008

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Villages - December 2008

The Villages - December 2008
Contents
Looking Back on 2008
Dreammaker
Havana Bursts on Scene
Sports and Recreation
Bears for Children
Q&A
Health
Food
Brain Exercises
Go & Do: Shopping & Dining Guide
Retail Briefs
Entertainment Briefs
Major Events
Snapshots
Rewind

The Villages - December 2008

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