Starting my 10th year on guaifenesin! I have truly come a long ways!

(Latest post comes first)

09-09-09 - (Posted to Guaigroup) There’s a song rising on the country charts that says, “I want my life back.”  Isn’t that the cry from every heart that has started the guaifenesin treatment?
 
Those who have been on it a year or more are saying, “I see my life coming back.” Those of us who have been on it longer are now saying to anyone with FM, “I have my life back and you can too!”
 
 The latter is me. I’ve just completed 9 years on the treatment. Debilitated for 15 years and a prisoner in my home because of my Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Syndrome, I am now working 40+ hours a week and walking 4-8 miles a week when I can.
 
 My posts in the archives are enough to describe the pathetic and depressing state I was in. My reversal, unlike the majority, was slow and painful the first five years. I plodded forward even though some weeks seemed as though I were slipping backwards. What kept me going? God’s grace, the support of the many posts from oldies on this list, and the caring emails from Claudia and Dr. St. Amand.
 
 I refused to give up and so must you. This ninth year I’ve seen even more improvements. More lumps have disappeared. I can now eat a full apple or an orange once a day and not ache all over or feel fatigued. My brain fog has cleared up even more. I’m thoroughly enjoying coffee again! Such little things, but isn’t that what we really miss when fibromyalgia takes over? It slowly takes away so much of life; not only the big things but also all those little things that make life enjoyable and give quality to living.
 
 I still have lumps and some pain on the right side of my body, but I have hope that in this 10th year on the guai treatment I will see even more improvement. I was in a car accident when I was 2 years old that killed my mother and broke my right arm. I was in a head-on car collision in 1995 that injured the right side also. So, I have hope that these injuries are the cause of my right side taking the longest to reverse.
 
 I’m an ‘oldie’ and my hope is that this post will give at least one person the energy to keep going. I hope it will give you hope that you too will be touting your improvements down the road. Take one day at a time. Read Progress reports. Find someone on the list who you can share your fears with and who will encourage you to keep going. Resurrecting your life will be worth all the tears and frustration! Just hang in there!