Two years ago Marion Dyer, a preschool principal, started to have pain in her legs. "I wasn't sure what it was. It attacked my legs, my calves and hamstrings and quads (quadriceps) muscles," she said. "They felt like they were on fire and the pain was constant.

"I thought it was part of what getting older feels like so I wasn't fussed about it, but I did mention it to my mom," she added.

Ms Dyer said her mother listened to her and recommended she take an herbal supplement called MSM 1000.

"She said try it. They had it at the herbal shop so I got it and took it and within 20 minutes the pain had completely gone," she said. "It was amazing! I called my mother and told her. I thought it was strange so started Googling it."

What she learned on the Internet led her to believe she might have been experiencing fibromyalgia but confirmation didn't come until a few months later.

Ms Dyer was in Barbados on summer holiday when she said the pain she had had in her legs, took over her whole body. Feeling completely debilitated she saw a doctor.

"I saw an internal specialist who ran all sorts of tests. They thought it might be lupus or sickle cell but the tests ruled those out.

"It was after they had ruled out all other possibilities that the internist said she felt I had fibromyalgia," said Ms Dyer. She said the internist suggested she get a second opinion on the diagnosis when she returned home and recommended she take sublingual vitamin B12 along with the MSM 1000.

Ms Dyer said the vitamin combination worked well and the pain eventually subsided during her vacation.

Back in Bermuda she said internist Dr. Wilber Warner confirmed the fibromyalgia diagnosis.

"He wanted to put me on Lyrica," she said, "but I told him what I was taking, that it was working for me and that I wanted to avoid pharmaceuticals."

Ms Dyer said everything went well for a few months and then she started to get muscle spasms that lasted two or three days. The MSM 1000 didn't help her against this new pain.

She said one spasm she had was in her head and was so bad that she went to the hospital where she was given muscle relaxant tablets.

"I was sure I was dying," she said. "The pain was in my right temple and it was so bad I can still remember it now."

Talking about her experience with a friend she bumped into is how she learned about Coral Pure Calcium from Okinawa, Japan.

The friend told her he was taking the mineral supplement for back spasms and stressed that the secret is that coral in Okinawa has a unique mineral composition.

Ms Dyer said she took his advice and added Coral Pure Calcium to her daily supplement regimen of MSM 1000 and vitamin B12 and has not suffered a spasm since.

"Today I'm coping really well," she said. "If I push too much my whole system will shut down and I will need to sleep for two days to keep up," she added.

Ms Dyer admitted that this has happened a few times but she said she's getting much better at listening to her body and understanding when she's pushing too hard.

She said her research on the condition showed the importance of REM sleep.

"That is the restorative sleep and I do see the difference when I am lacking enough of that sleep," she said.

While the chronic pain leads many sufferers of fibromyalgia to become clinically depressed, Ms Dyer said she been fortunate.

"Fibromyalgia does not tend to intensify, " she said.

"It seems to remain the way you find it.

"Some people are confined to bed but in my case I am managing it and am able to lead my life normally."