Man In Pain

Hello. I just wanted to introduce myself. I'm turmoyle, I'm in my early 30's, and I live in northern California. For the last 3 years, I have been living with chronic musculoskeletal pain. It pretty much hurts everywhere all the time, but is the worst in my shoulders, lower back, buttocks, and legs. While my pain is never strong enough to be debilitating, it is a constant nuisance that is destroying my confidence and inducing depression. Over the last year I have brought up my pain several times to doctors, but they never seem to take me seriously. Every medical person I come into contact with gives me some blanket response like "you probably have a herniated disc" and tells me to perform exercises to strengthen my core muscles. Needless to say, the exercises never help and I always end up back at square one. Lately, my right has leg has started to feel "heavy," my right foot feels swollen but visibly looks no different than the left one, and I get strange hot and cold sensations in my right foot and calf. When I mentioned this problem to a doctor, she told me it's "probably your muscles." Great! That helps a lot. No matter how much I stretch and massage my right leg, however, the tightness and feeling of heaviness never goes away. Lately, this leg problem is making driving very uncomfortable, which is only making me more depressed.

I should mention that I've suffered from anxiety my whole life. I don't tend to have anxiety attacks, but I do feel like I'm in constant fight or flight mode. I'm frequently grouchy and tense, and I tend to jump sideways when a loud noise happens nearby. I worry about everything incessantly, and I'm pretty much constantly convinced I'm developing some sort of nasty disease. I've never actually talked to a doctor or therapist about this, and maybe I should.

I don't have any friends to speak of. All of my relationships have fallen apart in the last year. I live with my parents, I have no social life, no career, and the feeling that I'm going nowhere. What I really need is someone or something to save me as my life just keeps getting worse and worse.

Hello, Turmoyle, and welcome to our forum. I'm sorry you are having such a bad time right now. I think your own suggestion is a great place to start- it could be very helpful to have some of these discussions with a therapist. I have reached out several times in my life when things were too confusing to unravel on my own. You mentioned many things that you are dealing with- depression, anxiety, insufficient support system. Any of these alone is hard to handle; all of them together most likely are too much to handle alone. It sounds as tho you are nmot getting the attention you need from the medical profesionals you are seeing. I would like to encourage you to make an appointment with a therapist, perhaps at your local county mental health provider, to talk through your situation, and the therapist should be able to refer you to a GP/Internist with whom she can follow up about your appointments and progress. Together they can help you stabilize the pain and frustration and work toward a treatment plan that works for you. I hope you find someone to assist you in getting past this tough time in your life. Let us know how you are doing. We are always here to listen and offer help if we can.

Welcome turmoyle!

Glad to have you as part of our family! Even if you don't have fibromyalgia you are welcome here. But, since this IS the fibro forum...I would also suggest getting a referral to a rheumatologist. They are the ones who usually confirm a diagnosis of fibro, when all else fails. I also agree with others that you have likely made one of your own best recommendations...counseling can not only help the anxiety but also help you deal with whatever pain your body is experiencing.

Keep in touch and we are always here if you need a friend!
Chutzie

turmoyle, it is nice to meet you.  I had alot of your anxiety symptoms too.  Before I was dx'd with Fibro I lived in a constant state of fight/flight.  Every muscle in my body was tense & I couldn't seem to relax no matter how hard I tried.  I had those tension headaches that crawl up the back of your neck , up the back of the head & over into my eyes.   I did seek out a theropist & found I was so depressed & stressed out.  An anti-depressant was helpful.  I also found I was allergic to soy, which is in everything processed now-a-days & that was a large contributing factor to the fight/flight feelings I had.  Too much adrenelin pumping through my system, my bodies way of fighting the soy.  Lastly, was the dx of Fibro & the decision that I had to lead a simplier life, a more peaceful life.  You are definitely on the right road.  So, get yourself a new Doctor who will listen to you. 

I had a problem with getting across to doctors that I was in pain.  I guess I didn't make it "loud" enough because I actually had a doctor say, "Well, you don't seem to have much pain to deal with", & that was after I had told him where I hurt.  I have a tendency to hold it all inside but maybe if you are not being heard you need to be more vocal about it.  I have learned this myself.

Please feel free to come here and vent or cry or just read & laugh.  Welcome, hugs, Denise

I find relief from regular Chiropractor visits.....

Pervasive Pain Disorder, that is what my therapist calls my fibro. By the way, Turmoyle, welcome, sure sounds to me like you're in the right place, here. My Pdoc (shrink) doesn't believe in Fibro, refuses to discuss it. Fortunately, my PCP Primary Care Physician prescribes my meds forr fibro. My Pdoc thinks I'm using the Fibro to get meds to zone me out because my life always was a mess. Parents divorced when I was 10, Mother was seriously BiPolar, suddenly had to grow up fast and take care of other two kids and mentally deranged Mom. Soooooo, the shrink says, I'm numbing out with the pain meds so as not to feel my feelings. He might have a little point there, about 20% correct. Yes, I would dearly love to block those years out. What I feel is the culmination of a rough life, having injured most muscles and connective tissue in my body, and it Never Healed. I will ask him, if he was ever injured playing racket ball, or such, pulled a hamstring, felt the pain for a while, and then it healed. What if his body were incapable of healing? Then he gets another injury, say, slipped and fell on the ice. Twisted wrist and left foot. Never healed.Then they all add up to a very sore, achy body 90% of the time. I'm afraid to go to sleep b/c I know how Bad I will feel in the AM. I'm afraid to make a date or an appointment b/c I never know how I'll feel. And, if I push through the pain, which I have done many times, I pay the price threefold. Finding a Rheumy is a good idea. They have to give you something for bad days. Good Luck.