Hi Bella Readers,

I hope to find you well. You're probably wondering where I've been-well fighting the battle just like you. Actually, my fibro hasn't been too bad; it's the 'other' thing. After 5 years, I finally got a correct and proper diagnosis and explanation for the mystery symptoms that was not quite fibromyalgia. I was diagnosed with a rare form of shingles called Zoster Cum Herpete Minimo (don't asked me how to pronounce it). It's quite similar to the article I wrote about Zoster Sine Herpete which I called "invisible shingles". Well, its cousin condition is the same only you may find a bump or two in the affected dermatones. Or as in my case, I may not have noticed anything because I could not find one picture on the web of a dark skinned African American with a shingles rash. So who really knows how it looks on a person whose skin can't turn red! These dermatones are areas of the body where a shingles rash can manifest itself. For years, there was no rash, but I guess after the death of a close family member, coupled with the summer heat, and other stressful events, I had the worse attack ever! The blood work that my great new neurologist (5th one's a charm) did, showed that I had a varicella zoster attack within the last 6 months. Now that I know what the attacks feels like, I realized that I had been having them for more than 6 years. The supposed strained left knee after playing tennis turned out to be zoster myelitis which causes temporary paralysis in the affected area. This one's a tough one to deal with that's for sure. So that's why you haven't been receiving the newsletter.

I have appreciated all of the emails and questions that you have asked over the years. So I will be posting these frequently asked questions and my responses in the next few articles. This will buy me some time to get myself together while you enjoy some unreleased information. I also wanted to do this because I always get A critic-meaning 1 person-that always has something negative to say. So to the critic that called me a "fake" and felt like I "didn't have fibromyalgia", take a look at my responses to these frequently asked questions. Can a "fake" answer like this? You tell me...

Enjoy,

Veronica Esterling-Thomas
Aromatherapist & Direct Sales Coach

Here's the latest article from the Fibromyalgia and CFS site at BellaOnline.com.

Interview: Fibromyalgia Questions Often Asked
I often receive a number of emails with questions regarding fibromyalgia. Sometimes I can cover them in an article, but at times, I may share information with the person that needs to be shared with others. Continue reading for the answers to some of these questions...

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art35854.asp

Please visit fibcfs.bellaonline.com for even more great content about Fibromyalgia and CFS.

To participate in free, fun online discussions, this site has a community forum all about Fibromyalgia and CFS located here -

http://forums.bellaonline.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=postlist&Board=248

I hope to hear from you sometime soon, either in the forum or in response to this email message. I thrive on your feedback!

Have fun passing this message along to family and friends, because we all love free knowledge!

Veronica E. Thomas, Fibromyalgia and CFS Editor
http://fibcfs.bellaonline.com

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