LaNiece Johnson
Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hello Amy,
Let me say that I’m so sorry to hear about your diagnosis. You want and will to continue is the first step and will propel you farther than you know. I don’t know the particular issues that comes along with advanced stage Lyme disease but I do know how it feels to suffer from a debilitating disease as I have MS. If you are familiar with the disease let me explain. MS is an immune system disease. My immune system attacks the myelin that covers nerve fibers. When that happens It causes communication problems between my brain and the rest of my body. For me that means I suffer from numbness, weakness and severe fatigue. To most people that may not sound like its to bad but when you lose feeling on one side of your body or have weakness in your legs so bad you can barley stand or walk it’s a huge deal.
I started my fitness journey in Sept 2014 and initially I decided to compete to put a check mark on my bucket list but then I realized competing meant more to me than just a bucket list check mark…it meant keeping myself healthy and active to combat the effects of my disease. I started my 5 month prep in January 2016 and I can’t tell you how many days I was literally in tears because my body wasn’t responding like I wanted. Because of MS I had muscle weakness, my hands and feet were numb, I was so tired I literally couldn’t focus, my weight wouldn’t drop and I was starving:-) but I was determined to get on stage in the best shape of my life. I would pray everyday and ask God to just give me strength and if he did I would tell whoever would listen not to give up. Well with Gods favor I was able to get on stage 25 Jun where I placed #2 in figure class C and #4 in Masters.
Amy I don’t know what it means to suffer from what you have but I do understand physical setbacks beyond your control. You can’t give up! What I’m learning is my condition means I can’t always train at peak performance like my fellow athletes and I can’t let my setbacks be a roadblock that stops me. My setbacks give me an opportunity to be creative and continue to push myself towards my goal. Take your time, listen to your body and don’t put stress on yourself when you have a setback.
