Angie Usher was diagnosed with a long-term health condition called fibromyalgia six years ago. Fibromyalgia causes widespread pain in the body and other symptoms such as extreme tiredness, abdominal pain and bloating, and sensitivity to noise and light.
“I’d had these symptoms since I was a teenager,” recalls Angie, 50. “I was constantly exhausted and my whole body hurt, so much so that I wasn’t able to work and I’d lost most of my friends. I was very miserable.
“It was a relief to finally have a diagnosis, but when I was told there was no cure for my condition and that I’d never work again, it made me even more depressed and reclusive.”
A year later, Angie was at her doctor’s surgery when she picked up a leaflet on a six-week course for people living with long-term health conditions. “It said on the cover, ‘Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired?’ It struck a chord with me,” she says.
Angie joined the Expert Patients Programme (EPP), encouraged by the fact that it was led by people with long-term conditions rather than doctors with no personal experience of them.
For Angie, the course was life-changing and she is now working full-time as an EPP trainer.
EPP courses are open to anyone with a long-term health condition. There are hundreds of conditions that fall into this category, but they all share some common features that make life difficult for those affected, such as tiredness, pain, anxiety, stress and depression.
“The course explored all these issues and gave me the skills to cope with them. I learned distraction and relaxation techniques to relieve my pain and I learned not to avoid exercise because I was in pain, and that a little light exercise can actually help pain.
“The course taught me to eat properly. I now have breakfast every day. It taught me stretching exercises, how to include exercise in my day, such as walking to the shops instead of taking the bus, and how to pace my day so I don’t overdo things and have a relapse.
“I also learned how to communicate about how I feel to family and friends, rather than pushing them away or blaming them for my unhappiness and ill-health. I’m less grumpy now and I have some of my old friends back.
“I also made lifelong friends on the course. The nice thing about meeting other people with long-term conditions is that you can open up without feeling you’re being judged, or having to make excuses for who you are.
“People around me all noticed how I was more upbeat and happy after doing the EPP course. I feel I have my life back. I’m now working five days a week, which is something I thought would never happen. I can get through the day and I don’t feel half bad. That’s real progress.”
To find out more about the Expert Patients Programme, or to book to go on an EPP course in your area, visit the EPP website.
There is detailed information about the range of self-management courses on offer for people with long-term health conditions in Take a course.
