Fibromyalgia sufferer and mum of two Michelle, 37, is a finance manager from Suffolk and married to Wil, 38, a quantity surveyor.
Michelle says:
“I have psoriasis, which has caused psoriatic athritis in my hands but it has never spread from there. The first symptoms of my fibromyalgia that I noticed was when a naging muscle pain began developing mostly in my leg and thigh muscles but I also had muscle spasms and muscle pain in my back. I assumed I had a virus or somethig but when it didn't go away I asked my doctor about it as I wonderd if maybe my hand athritis had spread but my doctor told me that this was nothing to do with my psoriatic arthritis.
By the start of lockdown the pain in my thighs and lower back muscles had got so bad I didn’t know where to turn, and at this stage not a single doctor I had seen, which was many, suggested it might be fibromyalgia.
During lockdown it was truly awful as I couldn’t even get any form of medical advice and just had to try and cope at home on my own taking cocktails of painkillers while looking after the kids.
Throughout the pandemic, during which time my undiagnosed fibromyalgia was at its worst, I was in so much pain that for several months I was literally unable to leave the house so even the small amount of exercise I was allowed to do was reduced to almost nothing!
Just after the second lockdown my children went back to school and the day after I experienced pain in my lower back worse than childbirth, it was relentless, it went on for a couple of weeks like this and I couldn’t even watch TV or read as it was agony even just sitting down.
When I finally got an appointment with the doctor after months of waiting, I was eventually sent for a pain test and after a lot of back and fourth they finally diagnosed me with fibromyalgia in April last year, but I feel I’ve had it for about the last five years.
Despite my diagnosis the only medical advice and help I’ve been offered is to softly exercise as much as possible, practice relaxation techniques and take prescription painkillers, which I was already doing and which by this time barely touched the pain as I think I’m more or less immune to painkillers after having taken so many in the past.
Trying to exercise or relax when your leg muscles are screaming with pain is no easy task and more often than not I was in too much pain to push my muscles into exercise.
The most difficult pain I struggled with was pain in my thighs. They throb even when I’m just sitting down, it means I can never relax and it makes it very hard to sleep.
Despite getting diagnosed with fibromyalgia I’d given up any hope of medical help as there seemed to be nothing the doctors could offer me that I hadn’t tried already. I was desperately searching for natural joint pain relief and natural muscle pain relief alternatives that didn’t need a prescription as my prescription painkillers were having little or no effect on my thigh and back pain and my tummy was getting upset by taking so many.
That’s when I came across Actimas Celafen. I read a review of it online from a mum with fibromyalgia who was aroud the same age as me. She said it had worked wonders for helping to manage her pain flares and so I checked out more reviews for Celafen and I found load from fibromyalgia sufferers saying it had really helped reduce their muscles spasms and pain.
I was convinced enough to give it go and ordered some. I started using it in May last year shortly after my official diagnosis due to the excruciating pain in my right thigh, which was literally driving me to despair. The results were virtually instant and such a relief. My right thigh at the time was throbbing and I remember rubbing the cream into it and the pain starting to ease within a matter of about half an hour. It felt miraculous.
My other high pain area is my lower back and if my arms were long enough I’d be rubbing Celafen into my back day and night. My husband Wil helps me when he’s around.
My muscle pain gets much worse in winter when the weather takes a colder turn, so the current cold snap has been really challenging fo rme but Celefen has helped me get through it better than any winter since I began getting symptoms.
During the much warmer weather last summer and after using Celafen over the Spring my symptoms had hugely improved to the point I was able to use no pain killers at all for several days in a row by the end of last summer. Things improved so much I even started being able to do a few outdoor activities with Wil and the kids, which I haven’t been able to do since before lockdown.
But as the colder weather arrived just befor Christmas, the pain in both my thighs returned but this time I was prepared and started using Celafen more often, about 2-3 times a day on my thighs and on my back and so far the pain has been significantly less than it has been for about five years at this time of year. The brain fog and fatigue have come back with a vengeance but at least I’ve been able to lessen the physical pain in my legs and back, which mean I can relax and sleep more easily, which then helps ease the other symptoms. I’ve been recommending this miracle cream to friends and people I know with joint pain and most of them have had similar results to me.
I'd recommend this cream to anyone suffering from fibromylagia who is looking for natural fibromyalgia pain relief and wants to cut down on their reliance on prescription painkillers. It's made a huge difference to my pain management programme.”