Hello!
My name is Shari. I live in Florida. I was diagnosed with FMS/CFS etc., etc., in 1996. Probably had it all my life, but a car accident made it become a daily issue, instead of one that showed up every now and then, with the doctor and I writing the pain off as "must have pulled a muscle carrying the vacuum up the stairs" or...."What DO I have in this purse? The kitchen sink? It's killing my shoulder!" and a couple of trips to a chiropractor or some advil or something to make it all better.
In the past 11 years, with the help of my most attentive, compassionate, never-gave-up-on-me, remarkable primary doc, I've made my way through at least half of the thousand neuro-/rheumi-/etc., etc., doctors/chiropractors/therapists, etc., in town. Now I have a wonderful pain management doc & along with my extraordinary primary doc, they are keeping me fairly comfortable. I finally gave up working full-time about 28 months ago, sadly. I loved my job. I'm just now starting my way through the SSD maze of red tape, and I've got a long way to go, I think. I have only joined one support group previously - it was a while ago, it was a local group, not online, and although I completely understand how awful everybody feels, and how difficult it can be to cope, the group was depressing, not supportive, so even though giving & receiving support is a very important part of coping with any kind of chronic illness, I've steered clear of support groups for a while.
However, I came across your site, and it looks like it has a positive atmosphere, and I'd like to join, if you'll have me; and contribute, if I can.
Thank you for taking the time to read my post.
My name is Shari. I live in Florida. I was diagnosed with FMS/CFS etc., etc., in 1996. Probably had it all my life, but a car accident made it become a daily issue, instead of one that showed up every now and then, with the doctor and I writing the pain off as "must have pulled a muscle carrying the vacuum up the stairs" or...."What DO I have in this purse? The kitchen sink? It's killing my shoulder!" and a couple of trips to a chiropractor or some advil or something to make it all better.
In the past 11 years, with the help of my most attentive, compassionate, never-gave-up-on-me, remarkable primary doc, I've made my way through at least half of the thousand neuro-/rheumi-/etc., etc., doctors/chiropractors/therapists, etc., in town. Now I have a wonderful pain management doc & along with my extraordinary primary doc, they are keeping me fairly comfortable. I finally gave up working full-time about 28 months ago, sadly. I loved my job. I'm just now starting my way through the SSD maze of red tape, and I've got a long way to go, I think. I have only joined one support group previously - it was a while ago, it was a local group, not online, and although I completely understand how awful everybody feels, and how difficult it can be to cope, the group was depressing, not supportive, so even though giving & receiving support is a very important part of coping with any kind of chronic illness, I've steered clear of support groups for a while.
However, I came across your site, and it looks like it has a positive atmosphere, and I'd like to join, if you'll have me; and contribute, if I can.
Thank you for taking the time to read my post.
Hope you'll enjoy this group as much as I do. A bad
day is bound to get better when I visit the board, and a good day even better. Our members are so supportive and generous with each other. We both share and
care just like we need to do to have a great, well functioning support group.
Jilly
Everyone is so kind and friendly and we talk about all sorts of interesting things.
Also we all try to support each other on our "down" days.
Shari to our board of friends. 
There are always lots of us around to talk to.
USA
