Beki Coxon lay alone in her bedroom with the curtains drawn and TV off. Total silence was the only way she could cope the pain throbbing across her entire body.
It’s a picture recognised by so many suffering from chronic illness. For Beki, who has fibromyalgia, it's one that led her to a very dark place.
“I was sat at the bottom of a very black hole,” the 53-year-old said. “At my worst, I couldn’t walk without crutches. I would spend four days a week in bed.
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“It stopped me living. It stopped me going out for coffee with friends and dancing on a Friday night.”
Mum-of-two Beki first began experiencing aching symptoms in 2012. She visited her doctor who told her everything appeared fine.
But when Beki started suffering severe pain in her right arm, she took herself to A&E. Despite undergoing several tests and X-rays, nothing could pinpoint the cause of the issue.
“The doctor said there was nothing wrong with me,” Beki added. “I remember sitting at him and looking at him thinking either he was crazy or I was crazy.”
Beki had more tests as her symptoms persisted. Eventually, she was diagnosed with fibromyalgia.
Fibromyalgia is a condition identified by widespread pain as well as fatigue, sleep, memory and mood issues. It's believed fibromyalgia amplifies painful sensations by affecting the way the brain and spinal cord process painful and nonpainful signals.
Symptoms often begin after an event, such as physical trauma, surgery, infection or significant psychological stress. In other cases, symptoms gradually accumulate over time with no single triggering event at all.
Beki was placed on several different types of medications in a bid to ease her suffering. These included opioids which Beki claims were 240 stronger than co-codamol.
“They were far greater in strength than heroin,” she added. “It seemed like the only answer at the time. When the pain wasn’t any better, I would go back to my GP and they would increase the type of medication I was on.
“I lost my call centre job because of the amount of time off I had being sick. I wondered if this is what the rest of my life was going to look like.”
Due to being stuck inside her home, Beki had very little opportunity to socialise with others. While searching the web, she stumbled across a dating website for bikers where she met her future husband.
“I’ve always been a biker since my teenage years,” she added. “I mooched around on there and I saw Mark’s profile and sent him a message to which he didn’t reply straight away.
“Normally, I would have just left it. But something told me I needed to talk to him, so I sent him another one and he responded. We hit it off right away.”
The pair had only been dating for a couple of months when Mark visited Beki at her home in Rossendale. While searching around the kitchen for a teaspoon, he found her drawer full of medication.
A scientist, 51-year-old Mark was horrified by the discovery – pledging to create some natural products to help Beki alleviate her pain.
“He devoted as much spare time as he could researching fibromyalgia and its symptoms,” Beki added. “He came up with a range of natural products to help me.
“They worked so well, within a matter of months I was completely medication-free and felt like I had my life back. I felt in control for the first time in years. We soon decided that these products had made such a difference to my life, we had a responsibility to help others reap these benefits.”
The couple went on to set up their Rochdale-based business, Motorbikers Cosmetic Company, selling several products including topical balms which they say can help relieve fibromyalgia-related pain.
While Beki still suffers from fibromyalgia, she says she can now manage her symptoms whereas they were previously out of control.
“The main symptom recognised with fibromyalgia is pain,” she said. “But alongside that, you always have the fatigue you need to deal with, which is the most debilitating out of all the symptoms.
“When you’re on medication, you’re constantly watching the clock to see when you can take your next lot of meds. We’re able to make a difference now.
“I still have fibromyalgia and still have the pain and other symptoms that go hand in hand with them but I am no longer controlled by it. I may have fibromyalgia, but it doesn't have me.”
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