Hello!

Hi Everyone!

 

I'm not sure exactly how to start so first I suppose I'm a little glad to have found this site.  I have been doing some tests and completed a sleep study last week. My GP feels I may have FM.  I'm waiting on the results of what we have done and have NO idea what happens after that.  I am a 34 yr old mother to two and wife working full time in an office environment. 

 

I don't want to sound like I'm whining BUT I can't remember the last good night sleep I've had!  For the last 3 or 4 months things have gradually worsened.  I'm suffering major headaches especially in the morning when I get up (my jaw kills me in the morning because I think I'm clenching while I sleep) and late in the afternoon when I'm just SO tired that the only thing I can concentrate on is getting my 3 yr old to bed so I can have a hot shower and go to bed myself.  Shooting pains in my arms, fingers, legs and feet. I was woken a week ago with the worst back pain I have ever had right from the lowest part of my back to the top of my neck at the base of my skull and all I could do was get the ben gay on because the only thing I could think in my head was please god give me some heat! Is that a flare? I ended up leaving work early the next day so I could go home and lay down. There are SO MANY other things to add but if I created a list it would take forever.  I feel like a hypochondriac LOL like EVERYTHING is wrong and I keep asking myself if I'm just nuts.  I worry that the diagnosis will be FM and what that means moving forward.  Then I read stories of others who say thier pain is excruciating and that sometimes they can barely move and I think to myself "well that's not me at all"  not generally anyway I just feel heavy and tired but whatever pains I have are bearable with Tylenol and really they have to be because I have things to do, like work, chase a 3 yr old, clean my house feed my family etc...all things that I'm sure all of you do as well.  I suppose I am just freaking out with the what if's and how this will progress and the worst thing is that I haven't even been diagnosed...how long will that take?  Uggghhhh  what I would give for a good night sleep..

 

A~

 

 

Hello and welcome to our family. We have lots of fun here as well as vent,cry and support each other. I'm sorry you aren't feeling well. Fm is a strange dd. Some have used tylonal with suppliments to feel better some need narcotics. I am on nuerotin malic acid and magnisium. I have to pace myself with baby steps to get things done and my house suffers. Again welcome.

Thanks Everyone!

I have been looking through posts and stickies for just over a week. I managed to get my hands on an expanded list of Fibro symptoms a while ago and I was taken aback when I read many of them, realizing that I have been exhibiting many symptoms for quite some time. My mother who has been nursing for almost 30 years was the one who first mentioned FM to me. What scared me the most is that when I saw my Doc and told him some of the things going on (not all becase I figured he would tell me I was crazy) he immediately asked me if I knew what FM was. I think I'm still trying to wrap my head around the thought that I may be sick and possibly never feel 100% again. I have started to try and make some diet changes in order to hopefully help to feel better. I guess time will tell what I should and shouldn't worry about right! I'm trying hard not to get ahead of myself but the more I read on the subject the more I think "Oh my gosh, thats me!"

Thanks for the warm welcome! It was much appreciated :)

A~

Hi A and welcome to our fingertip family. I guess I was one of the lucky ones cause I didn't really have a clue what fibro was until my doc dxd me and told me to go home and research it. I knew something was wrong but I didn't have to sit around worrying whether I had fibro or not. I am thankful I had a doc that picked up on it during the first real flare I had, not everyone gets that lucky and search forever for a dx.

 

Fatigue is more of a problem for me than pain. I have pain 24/7 but I can handle it with 4000 mg of tylenol a day. I think the amitriptyline also helps with the pain. If it gets too bad I use a TENS unit to interrupt the pain signals to the brain. A lot of controlling the pain is trial and error. The fatigue is another story I haven't figured out yet but always working on.

 

There are a lot of things that work for others that I can't take due to digestive issues like the malic acid/magnesium.

 

Most people are quite surprised when they read all the symptoms and realize they have had things they would have never associated with fibro.

 

The other day I described finding out I had fibro like  waking up in a new body that didn't work near as well as the old body did and having to learn what the new body was capable of. Kinda like being use to driving a new car with all the extras and having to go down to an old clunker that doesn't run very well. It gets you to where you are going but not as fast and you might run into a few problems along the way. I'm 58 years old and as much as I would love to run like a new sports car that may not every happen again. It has taken me some time to accept all this but I have come a long ways in the year since I have been on this forum. It has been the best medicine I could have found.

 

luv and hugs

Marlee

Hi A~

And welcome. The hardest thing for us to do when we first get a diagnosis is to relax, but that's one thing we need the most. If we let our bodies stress and panic the pain level to wild and we easily get into a tailspin. I'm sure you know that already.

Keep asking, reading and learning. That's what I do and it's the only way I can survive. Everyone is so different so try and find what works for you...just steer clear of quacks and slick sales folks who try to sell you a 'cure'...lol. Ain't been found yet but wow could we use one.

Hugs,
Chutzie

Hi Sleepy and Welcome-
I was just diagnosed this last spring and my regular MD referred me to a rheumy for the diagnosis. I was not impressed with him and am choosing to just see my regular Dr. for any follow-ups for the fibro.

I too was tired ALL the time before the fibro hit me with a vengeance. I would be at work and after 3:00 I was "exhausted." Could not figure out what was wrong with me.
Many funky symptoms later, pain off the charts, an MRI and tons of blood work that came back normal they were able to make a diagnosis.
Hopefully you can find out more on Thursday- let us know how it went. GamJill

A, my GP dxd me and then sent me to rheumy to confirm. My GP has been treating me but I am going to be going to a new rheumy soon to get a fresh opinion on things.

 

Kelly just quit smoking using chantix. I'm going to try other ways before I resort to another med in my body.

 

Sherrine is jealous cause I had a boyfriend when I was a teen that had a car that you could crank if it didn't start with the starter.

 

luv and hugs

Marlee

LOL~~ Ok so NOT feelin good at all today *yikes* however good laugh from the thread so thank you!! It's awful to be at work and wish the hours away so I can go home and be warm and comfy. I swear I'm going to freeze to death here brrrr

Marlee, maybe Jeannie will turn us into some of her beautiful cakes and we can have a food fight! 

 

Sherrine

Yeah, Jeannie!  Marlee would make a perfect Southern belle.  She's already a ding dong! 

 

Sherrine

Hi and welcome. I don't like why you're here, but I'm glad that you found people that will support you. I am relatively new here too and was glad that I got the support an encouragement that I did when I arrived. I lurked the board for a couple of weeks before I ever registered and started posting here. After reading posts for a while I was happy with the way that people treated each other here and it seemed like a real family (sibling rivalries and all)

I would be one of those people that are on narcotics for the pain. But with them I have been able to having a full life again. I have the fatigue as well, but I can't really remember a time that I wasn't fatigued. So that was nothing new. The older that I got the more I hurt. After a major injury (falling down a set of stairs while helping to carry a big chest freezer) I started to really hurt to the point where I didn't want to move, and it just never went away. Two years later I finally got a diagnosis, and with knowing what's wrong, it's made it a lot easier to cope with. Knowing what I'm fighting makes it easier to fight it. My GP doc is the one that actually gave me the diagnosis. But also sent me to a rheumy just to confer and confirm.

I'm still relatively young (37) and I consider myself lucky that I am able to still work full time. I love my job and the people that I work with. Because of my work environment, I can get up and stretch and walk any time that I need or want to. That all by itself has been the saving grace for me.

So welcome... and hopefully a diagnosis and information will be great tools for you like they have been for me.