If I'm honest I can't remember when I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. I was in my mid 20s and felt bullet proof.  Yes I was in a lot of pain, but as a 20 year old I dismissed it thinking it would be short term - I was wrong!

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A few years later was also diagnosed with Crohn's disease and Tinnitus. Crohn's hospitalised me. Although I have trained since a teenager (Football, Rugby, Mountain Cycling and Athletics teams) I also partied hard every weekend clubs and after parties and 7 summers in Ibiza (in the 90s!).  It was after one Ibiza holiday that I came back and lost a few weeks of being seriously ill, losing a lot of weight and after a camera put in place a camera should never be, I was diagnosed with Crohn's. Medication and a healthier lifestyle have helped keep this at bay with flare ups very rare, when they hit they hit hard, but I feel I'm very lucky as have seen many way worse than myself in hospital.

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I've been very lucky with my fitness career, I've worked with some of the best trainers all round the world, presented at some of the biggest fitness conventions in the world, I've won awards and world records and even have a platinum disc! I've worked with many celebrities designing and presenting on their fitness DVDs, Apps and books. I've had the pleasure of teaching tens of thousands of people face to face and online.  I've worked hard, 7 days a week for nearly 20 years, then my body told me I needed to step back hence I designed IN10SITY in 2013 so members can train online without the need for me, perfect, but I loved to teach and present, so I carried on 5-6 days a week. Now on a good day I can get downstairs and move a little, on a bad day I'm bed bound. It has been a huge transition from being so active.

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Fibro has been linked to childhood trauma, which I did suffer from, but at the time you don't realise the long term effects and impact this can have on your life, to be fair it took me 20 years to even realise I had childhood trauma. I feel I pushed this aside using partying and work as a distraction.

In 2016 I lost my Mam to cancer after she battled and beat it twice in as many year, the 3rd time unfortunately cancer took her. The following 2 years were spent in and out of court trying to have consistent access to my daughter - two of the worst and hardest times of my life.  The pain became worse, the fatigue, physically and mentally this had a huge impact on my health.  Although I've loved my job and my members, the celebrity DVDs were extremely stressful, not from the celebrities but from the producers and this was 24/7 , this was 2013-2019 sometimes 2 DVDs at a time.

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When I look back I can't remember a time when I was injury free since my teens.  Wrongly thinking the pain was just over training - I used to teach 25 classes (1 hour classes!) per week plus my training on top - as, many group fitness instructors did back then.  Also driving round 5 or 6 different clubs to teach then weekends away presenting at conventions or fitness events. So in my 20s I was diagnosed with Fibro and worked through it, my 30s I sought help from physios and in my 40s I started to lose faith and sought medical help. Amyltriptyline, tramadol, codeine, morphine, gapapentin, naproxen you name it I've had it, none really worked and most sucked the life out of me. Then all the injections and operations, to the point of removing my nerves from my back (Rhizolysis) where the worst of the pain is. Now in my 50s I have been diagnosed with arthritis (which has compounded the issues with my Fibro) with the next step being disc surgery and more Rhizolysis on my hips and back.