Fibromyalgia is a debilitating disease. No one knows that better than Carolyn (not her real name), whose life was turned inside out because of it. Twenty years ago, this special-education teacher from Chicago had a good life. She loved her family. She loved her job. She loved the life she led. Then her hands began to ache and lose strength. The diagnosis? Carpal tunnel. Then it spread to her arms, shoulders, and ultimately her legs. Eight doctors later, she finally learned she had fibromyalgia, a nerve disorder for which there was no cure and minimally effective treatment.
As the condition progressed, Carolyn needed braces on her hands and arms. Finally her legs gave out and braces were necessary for her to move around. Her world started to fall apart. “Everything changed. My husband and children were in shock, just like I was,” she says. “What was happening came out of nowhere and there were no definitive answers as to what caused it.” Because there was no medication for fibromyalgia, she took pain relievers and muscle relaxants, all with marginal results.
Eventually she could no longer work and the school agreed to let her go on disability. She was fortunate. At the time, fibromyalgia was not considered a disease, so others with the condition were unable to get disability. Her doctor also suggested moving to a drier, warmer climate, because “sometimes even cold hurts,” she explains. “You’re hypersensitive to everything. Going from being a really healthy person who’d never been sick to almost ending up disabled—you can imagine what that does [to a person].”
Carolyn and her husband took the doctor’s advice and spent the winter in Arizona. “I was on disability and my husband took early retirement,” she says. “I was doing so poorly I was willing to try anything.” The warm, dry climate helped, and they spent three winters there. But, Arizona was too lonely for the couple. Their doctor suggested either New Mexico or Las Vegas. In Las Vegas they found people they knew and since 2000, they spend winters there and part of the year in Chicago.
Joining a fibromyalgia support group in Las Vegas, Carolyn researched the disease extensively. She was interested to learn that physical and emotional trauma often led to fibromyalgia. Two serious car accidents (one so bad her back broke the seat) and the death of close family members occurred prior to her diagnosis.
A herniated disc exacerbated the fibromyalgia. The next step in pain control was narcotics. Carolyn wasn’t having that. She started looking at cannabinoids, discussing the option with her doctor who supported her decision to pursue CBD. “I was in really bad shape. I wanted something that addressed nerve pain, and I ran across Lost Remedy Nerve Pain Formula online,” she says. “I read the description and the reviews, which were excellent. I thought this must be what I need.”
Even though she had been using another CBD product, Carolyn tried the Lost Remedy Nerve Pain Formula. “The cream gave me relief almost immediately,” she says. “The pain that radiated down my left leg began to subside after about three weeks.” But, she also admonishes people to do research (and lots of it) to find products that relate to their condition. “It was interesting to learn that there were different types of CBD for different medical complaints,” she explains. “I also research reviews. You can get excellent information from people who have actually used the products.”
Carolyn has combined the topical products with edible CBD—oil, gummies and gels. These products have given her life back. She still uses it the Nerve Pain Formula, just not as often because the pain has receded. Carolyn is confident that ongoing use of the topicals and edibles will continue the healing process, giving her back her life after a fibromyalgia diagnosis.