Had a heavy encounter tonight !

It was funny.... I was kind of in a hurry, and after I started chatting with him, I probably looked at my watch 3 X's, in the first 5 mins :) LOL

So he says, "Darn dude, your looking really fit and healthy...." So, as I usually reply, I told him, "Well, you should have seen me 3 years ago ! Bro I was dying" ! So I told him that all the fat loss and muscle gain was kind of cool > .......but nothing compared too...... well, have you ever heard of Fibro ?

To my surprise, he just starts naming symptom after symptom, aches asnd pains, severe IBS..... I swear it was like he was reciting my lifes story !!! I don't think he has been diagnose with Fibro... but IBS, and TMJ ? Hope I'm not messing that up. He's had some Dr's who completely missed the boat too !

I know they say Fibro effects everyone differently, but I'll be darned if his symptoms don't overlap the symptoms I have experienced, by about 95+% !

So {even with my ADD ;)} now he had my attention, and I clearly had his ! We ended up talking for an hour ! Exchanged numbers, and will talk soon.

Oh, and I invited him to come here too. He sounded open to it, even though his wife is usually the PC person.

One more thing, he is 45..... the same age as me when I hit rock bottom..... and he sounds like he's pretty much right there, right now too.

Sure would give anything to help him.

He's a good guy. Hoping he starts coming here.

Peace,

Fish

AK, I totally understand what your saying. But in my case, its quite a bit different, because "after" I get some kind of compliment like, "Wow ! You look really good... or fit.... or buff {chuckles... then I have to turn around and look behind me, to make sure they aren't talking to somebody else ;) LOL} I can, and usually do say, "Well thank you, and I feel great too" !

So after an intro like that, I can tell them all about how messed up my health was 3 years ago... about how bad Fibro / IBS suck.... about the basics of malfunctioning nerves, etc, and I get a LOT more attention, without being labeled as a hypochondriac. And how losing 120+ lbs of fat, and putting on a bunch of muscle, has been such a small part of my recovery, compared to knocking my Fibro WAY down, and my IBS completely out ! < This was the real victory.

Kimliz, you are so totally right ! In fact, I ran into the same friend about a month ago, and asked how he had been, and he said exactly that.... Fine. No ! He wasn't fine ! He suffers from Fibro ! But like we agreed during our last talk, people don't want to hear about that kind of stuff. They will most often just label you as a whiner, or a complainer, and choose to believe their own problems are just as bad, or worse. {uhhh..... I really freaking doubt it} But that's just lame human nature.

Anyway, I talked to him just now by phone, and he's sounding like he will stop in. I told him, if he thought it was nice to be able to talk to me, and have me understand everything he was going through, then just imagine a place where their are hundreds of people who will ALL understand what he is going through !

Peace,

Fish

I have been vegetarian for twenty-five years, and I'm considering the paleo diet as an alternative--quite a leap, I know!  Anyway, since you've obviously had success with the changes you made, I was hoping you'd share a bit of your story, if you're comfortable doing that.

Again, I hope your friend stops by--lots of good peeps here! 

Heck yes I consider cardio a workout! 

Thanks for going into your "diet" in some detail--I appreciate it.  I will do a search of your posts to find out more about your workout, although much of it will be too strenuous for me (I have rheumatoid arthritis), I can still adapt exercises to what I can do.

Thanks again for the info!