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Mariah Leach has a fantastic feature on her blog. It’s called Facing Forward and in it, people from the chronic illness community tell the stories. I just told mine:

Name: Lene

Location: Toronto, Canada

Diagnoses: Juvenile arthritis, fibromyalgia, migraines

Age at Diagnosis: I was 4 when my juvenile arthritis started, but wasn’t diagnosed until I was 9 years old. I’ve had migraines since my teens, and developed fibro in 2004.

How are you currently treating your condition?

I’m primarily using a biologic to treat my JA and miracle of miracles, it is working! There were no treatments for the disease for most of my life, so it’s astonishing to finally experience what it’s like when something works. Because it’s taking care of my autoimmune arthritis, my fibromyalgia is quieter than it was when things were active. It is still there, though. I mostly treat that with a variety of painkillers and muscle relaxants. I also try to meditate, but I’m bad at remembering to incorporate it in my every day. I’ve used a variety of alternative treatments throughout my life, but as things are pretty good right now (knock wood), there is less need for that. I see a doctor of naturopathic medicine several times a year, though.

What are the biggest challenges you have faced since your diagnosis?

Over the last 50 years, there have been quite a lot, but if I think in terms of the absolute biggest, there are two.”

Read the rest of my story on Mariah’s blog.