Walking through the pain

If you walk into the hallway of Sue Anderson’s home in Newton, you may notice a wooden mirror with an angel’s head carved into the design. If the mirror wasn’t eye-catching enough, around the angel’s neck, you’ll find four road race medals Anderson has earned.

While the medals may seem decorative, they mean much more to the 62 year old. Anderson didn’t start actively competing in road races until 2012, which was two years after she was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, a condition that causes body-wide pain; she estimates she’s suffered from it for the last decade.

“It’s really a painful disease. It affects the nerves all over your body and muscles. Your joints also hurt. Practically everything hurts, you know? It also causes a lot of fatigue,” Anderson said.

According to the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, 5 million Americans over the age of 18 suffer from this disease and it primarily affects women. Making matters even more arduous is the fact that the disease is incredibly difficult to diagnose, as there is no sure-fire method of doing such.

“I’ve heard that there’s a test for it, and I don’t know how accurate the test is, but the test costs like $744,” Anderson said.

In 2010, Anderson said she was frustrated. Her doctors didn’t know what was wrong with her,  she was 35 pounds overweight and her physician at Skiff Medical Center,  Dr. Zach Alexander, had just given her a handicap sticker to use on her van due to her having trouble walking.

In addition, she was taking medication for both high blood pressure and high cholesterol, and was prescribed a number of pain medicines as well.

“Generally, pain pills do not help me. Some people take pain pills, but they don’t help me and a lot of medicines don’t help,” Anderson said.

Finally, after being recommended to a rheumatologist later that year, it was discovered she had fibromyalgia.

“I had all the symptoms,” Anderson said.

She said she displayed symptoms like temporomandibular joint or TMJ — which is problems involving the jaw, irritable bowel syndrome and migraine headaches.

Now that she had a name for the condition that had been tormenting her, Anderson pondered what to do next. There is no cure for fibromyalgia, however, one treatment is exercise and physical activity.

To some, exercise may seem like a simple solution but at the time Anderson could barely walk around the downtown square in Newton on her own.

Soon, she began physical therapy at Skiff and she found her motivation to get in shape in the form of her therapist, Robyn Friedman, who she calls her “inspiration.”

“I was treating her because of pain issues and she was having some frustrations with her health at the same time,” Friedman said. “We worked through some of her pain issues and we got her started out on some aquatic therapy with some other therapists at Skiff Medical Center.”

Anderson said Friedman had her doing regular exercises every day and aquatic therapy twice a week. In the midst of therapy, Anderson discovered Friedman’s passion for road races and it peaked her interest as well.

Friedman said Anderson approached her one day and said, “I think I’d like to be able to walk the whole distance of a 5K.”

“So, then I educated her about what a 5K distance was, and we talked about races that are out there for walkers and runners — she didn’t know she could actually just walk a 5K. She thought you just had to run those,” Friedman said.

Armed with Friedman’s advice, Anderson soon found herself walking more and more, all the while steadily increasing her speed.  She began in the hallways at home and Skiff, and always equipped with her transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation unit — a device used to treat back pain.

After several months, Anderson was walking around Newton’s square with ease and without her TENS unit, something she would have never imagined before her diagnosis.

Although still in pain, Anderson was feeling better than ever and was ready for her first road race, which she did in Grinnell in 2011.

Perhaps her biggest early challenge as a runner came when she chose to participate in the 2012 edition of the “Where the Rubber Meets the Road” 8K at Iowa Speedway.

This particular run and walking event takes participants around the track at the Speedway once, and around the hilly surrounding areas outside of the facility.

As grueling as this course was, Anderson was faced with another dilemma as a previously undiscovered bulging disc in her back was discovered. The day before the race, she said she had to get an epidural.

Anderson said the doctor that treated her was “an old military doctor,” and that after the procedure, he gave her the OK to participate in the 8K race, which is just short of five miles.

“My rheumatologist just about had a heart attack when he found out,” she joked.

Despite the pain from the bulging disc and consistent pain that comes from living with fibromyalgia, Anderson’s love affair with road racing grew, and she soon craved more of them. In the years since that 8K, she’s racked up quite a few road races under her belt.

By January of this year, she was 15 pounds lighter than she was at her initial diagnosis and lost an additional 20 pounds in 16 weeks by joining Weight Watchers. She said she no longer takes any pain medication.

In August, she finished the 5K held for Monroe’s Old Settlers Days celebration in 42 minutes and 37 seconds, which was a new personal best and good enough for first place in her age division.

For her improved health and new favorite hobby, Anderson credits Friedman, who in turn says that it’s all her.

“She’s her own motivation, but I’m a good cheerleader,” Friedman said.

As for Anderson, if you see her passing you up during a road race, like one teenager did at the Monroe event, don’t fret. Just think of her as a success story for people that suffer from fibromyalgia, which she calls “an invisible illness.”

So what is the significance of Anderson keeping her medals draped around the neck of her wooden angel? Well, only she can answer that.

“To remind me how important it is to exercise even though I am hurting sometimes … It’s not going to make your pain any worse.” Anderson said.  “A lot of people (with fibromyalgia) cry because they’re in so much pain, but you got to keep that attitude positive.”

Contact Senior Staff Writer Ty Rushing at (641) 792-3121 ext. 6532 or at trushing@newtondailynews.com.