Decades ago, there was a major uptick in people being diagnosed with fibromyalgia. It seemed that everyone had it, myself included. It wasn’t until more recently that I began to think about how I came to be diagnosed, and how it was treated in that first year.

I went to a rheumatologist with widespread pain and cold intolerance. Fans, air conditioning and harsh winter weather physically hurt. The doctor told me she was going to check and see if certain points on my body hurt when she pushed them with her finger. They did. Each one, I believe there were 18 spots. She told me I had fibromyalgia and sent me home with a plethora of different pills to try. I didn’t even question her methods, I just took her at her word and went home. She was the doctor after all, surely she knew better than I did.

A few years ago, I started thinking about this diagnosis, and my childhood karate classes. They both had something in common, pressure points. My karate teacher taught us where pressure points were, and to utilize this knowledge should we need to fight off an attacker. These pressure points were the exact same ones the rheumatologist pushed on me. I realized then, that she was a phony.

These doctors are nothing new. The only new thing is the ‘it’ diagnosis. I’ll continue this in part 2