So thankful to have found this site

Welcome to the family, Daisy! I am so sorry for your pain and frustration. Getting a diagnosis can be lengthy...it is isn't uncommon to see more than one doctor in the search.

Bloodwork is usually done initially to rule out the possibility of the autoimmune conective diseases. Some of the symptoms of fibro mimic these.

I'm surprised your doctor put you on Savella without a diagnosis. Do you see a rheumatologist? Some of the common meds for fibro are, Lyrica, Cymbalta, and Savella. What may work for one might not work for another.
I could not tolerate Cymbata, but have not had any problems with Savella. I have been on it for over two years. It has helped with the fatigue and pain but I am not pain free. I use muscle relaxers when I am flaring.

Have you had you vitamin D level checked? Many of us are deficient and that only adds to the pain. If you are deficient you are put on Vitamin D therapy and will follow up taking a recommended dose daily.

Exercise has helped me along with relaxation therapy...deep breathing and meditation.

Heat is a fibromites friend and most of us use the microwavable moist heating pads to help with pain relief.

I'm glad that you have great support, that and a good positive attitude goes a long way in helping.

Please take the time to check out fibro 101, on the top of the page...lots of good info.

You will find caring support here...we do understand and try to help one another. Glad you joined us...keep posting, we care!

Hugs, Robin

Thank you both so much for welcoming me

Robin, to answer your question, it was only at my insistance that my Dr prescribed me something for fibro. I asked him to please just try it, just to see how I respond as I had exhausted all other avenue's in terms of a dx. He prescribed Cymbalta at first but my insurance would not cover it. My boyfriend did research and found out about Savella. I suggested it and he agreed to give it a shot. His thinking with both meds is that they are also used as anti-depressants. I still don't think that he's convinced that this isn't "emotional" as he put it. *sigh*

I have a follow up appt in a week with him to see how it's working, we'll see then what happens.

One thing I thought of after my appointment with him last time, he checked my pain response to trigger points and said he could see that I was tender and had pain in alot of spots, but not enough to indicate fibro. Was I supposed to scream out in pain? I'm not sure what he was looking for as far as a response. Almost every place he pressed on hurt alot,  but we all react differently. I was in such a daze I numbly just shook my head when he said that but thought of it more later.

Also, my main problems aren't severe pain as alot of people with fibro have, that's why I never considered it until a friend said she believes this is what I have. My main problems are extreme and dehabilitating exaustion/fatigue and weakness and cognitive impairment. I do have pain, but it's never my first concern.

Thank you for the info, I will look into getting a Vitamin D deficiancy test done and read the article you recommended.

Very grateful for the support!

when mine all started my mom had me have the dr. I was seeing at the time have me tested for the epstein bar virus which she said she was tested for that determined she had chronic fatigue syndrome. Mine came out positive but the dr. I was seeing at the time told me all that ment was that I had mono but this dr. also kept pressing the depression issue which i will admit is how this all started but it even took me a while with my present dr. to get him to understand that the depression isn't what it used to be. I went to a psychiatrist to try and understand myself and what was going on. Believe it or not the psychiatrist has been a great help he doesn't see any depression but he has been helping with the fibro he completley believes in fibro and has put me on cymbalta along with topomax to help with the pain. My medical dr. won't work with any of these meds at all no matter if i need any of them raised i have to wait to see the psychiatrist. Anyway just wanted to maybe give you a little bit more to possibly think about. Welcome to the forum I'm new to posting but have been floating around for a little over a year everyone is very nice and it's nice to have people who know exactly what your're going through.

Thank you all so much for the support and insight!!
I think for me personally, taking a medication that also works as an anti-depressant can't hurt, although depression is not the condition, rather a symptom of the condition as Karen said.
There's a fine line when trying to explain that to a Dr. I've found.
I've accepted that there are days where I'm going to be depressed, sad and angry. It's part of it. It's natural to grieve the "loss" of our former selves. And then there are days where I can distinguish between true grieving and self pity. When I'm able to recognize the difference, I say enough. Time to focus on what I have to be thankful for, not what I don't have.
I'm so glad that I found this site and have had the chance to talk to some of you and share experiences. I look forward to talking to each of you more in the future. I wish everyone the best on their journey!!

Hey Daisy! I felt so glad when I found this site - I didn't know anyone with fibro and just felt so relieved to hear people had the same things going on as me! I'm glad you found it too.
As for the tender points - I had a doc explain to me once that the tenderness of them can change and I've felt that just over the last two months. I had two different appointments at my rheumatologist and the first appointment the tender points felt terrible and I was nearly jumping out of my skin it hurt so much but the second appointment the same ones didn't hurt and not to the same degree. Different days hurt to different degrees and I think the tender points reflect that also. Hopefully your doc is aware of that.

Thank you all so much for the helpful advice and for sharing a little bit of your own personal stories with me. You've all given me alot of really useful information to think about and take with me to the Dr's.  It's so nice to be among such supportive and caring people.  I hope to talk more with all of you in the near future. Wishing all of you the very best!

Thank you for welcoming me Maggie. I look forward to talking to you more

Thank you for welcoming me almost medfree

To answer your question, no my Doctor is not a specialist, he's an MD and I'm beginning to question his knowledge of fibro myself. Since I am a realtively new patient and have only had 3 visits with him so far, I understand that he is learning about me as much as I am learning about him. I also think looking back, that perhaps I downplayed my symptoms or wasn't specific enough or didn't make it clear enough to him how dehabilatating my symptoms really are. Again, there's this fine line with Doctor's and I've learned the hard way that sometimes saying "too much" can illicit a negative or a "it's all in your head" response. As sad as this is to admit, I think that sometimes when I go to a new Dr or specialist, I want to make a "good impression" so that they don't dismiss me so readily. Each time I think to myself "o.k, maybe if I just try to approach it this way they will take me seriously"

Something else that I wanted to put out there that perhaps you, or other's reading this might relate to is a conversation that he and I had on my last visit. He had first prescribed symbalta before we learned that my insurance wouldn't cover it. His thinking was that he wanted to prescribe something also used as an anti- depressant since he clearly isn't convinced yet that this isn't just depression. It was only at my insistance that he even prescribed something for fibro in the first place after I nearly begged him to just give it a try to see how I respond.

Anyway, I said to him "So if I respond well to this, that might be an indication that this is fibro right?" And he said "Well, either that or depression, either way as long as it's working it doesn't matter what it is"

And I told him that was just it, that it DOES matter. That for living for so long with something without having a name for it and to only know that I'm sick, but not what's causing it, I need a name and a proper diagnosis.

It's like without having someone say it and really confirm it, I feel like it's not valid, or that other's won't believe me or see it as valid. Just knowing what it is finally will lift some of this weight I've been carrying around for over ten years. I'm sure other's out there know what I mean, especially after reading how many other's were just like me, going from Dr to Dr until they finally had someone give them an actual diagnosis. It must in some strange and surreal way, be a bit of a relief.

Anyway, not to chat your ear off   As I said, I'm going back next week to see him again to check how the medicine is working and I guess I'll see what happens then, and whether or not I need to begin looking for a new Doctor.

Again, thank you so much for welcoming me. I'm continually amazed by what a wonderful and caring group of people I've found and feel so very lucky to get to share a bit of my days with all of you.

All of my best to you. Hope it's a wonderful day!!