Feel like I am watching my life for afar...

I am not sure where to turn next. I was diagnosed with "fibromyalgia like symptoms" a year ago after a having a 4cm tumor removed from my thyroid. I was just hoping it was thyroid related. Since then my symptoms have gotten dramatically worse. I can barely function. Brushing my hair is difficult. I have been poked and prodded with every kind of test they can think of. Only thing that was found was ANA 1:80 speckled pattern, low vitamin D, positive HLA-B27 gene.. which I figured because my dad had AS, MG, and ALS. Dr. said it must be FM. I was a preschool teacher with a wonderful husband and beautiful 3 and 4 year old children. I had to use up my FMLA, and just had short-term disability denied. My Rheumy yelled at me at my last visit and walked out of the room. He said I act like I have a life-threatning illness... and don't. Gave me Savella. Which only contributes to my headaches and nausea. I stopped working in Nov. because I felt I was endangering the students. I am extremely dizzy, unbalanced, stiff, weak, ringing in my ears, have trouble concentrating, and sometimes the touch of my kids hands make me feel like I am bruised. Every dr. I have seen has asked if I am depressed. Guess what? NOW I am! My husband is considering divorce, naturally because I don't contribute enough to the household financially OR physically. But mostly because I can't stand the thought of sex. And he wants it everyday. He thinks I need to get over it that everyone in their 40's have aches and pains, he does too but it is all "mind over matter" on how you deal with it. I can't handle this anymore. I just want to give up with life. Thanks to you strangers for listening. No one I know will.

Welcome matterovermind. You have found the riight place to be. You can receive the support here plus learn how to take care of your fibro. Your story sounded similiar to mind even with marriage problems. This is your chance to take charge of your health. Dont give up, there is hope for your fibro. You need to start with some Dr's that can believe in you and support you. I did decided to get mental health suppport because I needed to know how to deal with this chronic health problems. My husband was all upset to because I didn't want sex anymore. It took education and Dr's to educuate my husband on my health. He had a choice to support me or leave. He has been so more understanding now and has supported me in all this mess. When I came to this forum I was in bad shape and severely depressed. I began to read other post and started to educate myself. I found out my Dr's didn't even know this stuff I was learning here. I realize there was hope and I was going to take charge of my life again. I started to try some things mostly natural remedies for fibro. I could see some results, so I tried some more ideas. I am happy to say that I am happy and have good pain control now. It didn't happen over night. I wish you would find some Dr's that support you and try to get some short term disability going. Most Dr's will help you with it if they support you. I am so happy you found this site. Please dont give up. I hope to see you around.

That you so much for all of your responses. It is nice to know that I can come to this forum and get ideas and answers from people who have had similar problems.
I know I am extremely depressed and am wondering if this could be a side effect of Savella? It seems to have gotten worse since I started it 2mths ago. I take 50mg twice a day. I seem to have a lot of trouble with "suicidal-type" thoughts. Which is NOT like me. And I would never do that to my children!
I wish I could go to counseling but I have no one to watch my kids. My husband is on his last leg with me and yes has discussed divorce even with an attorney.
I wish I could go to a new dr. but I live in a very sparsely populated state and have limited access to dr.'s. Many are not taking new patients. The closest rheumatologist and endocrinologist (the one I go to) are a 3 hour drive from me. It's crazy. Last year when I was having even more problems I ended up going to Mayo Clinic because the closest dr.'s I could get into were 6 mths out. Good thing I did because that is how we found the tumor on my thyroid. They only removed half and since then my levels have all been normal so no meds needed. Mayo did not think my problems were related to the thyroid either and thought they were more rheumatalogical especially due to family history. They recommended further testing. Which we have done and hence the FM diagnosis. I do take Vit D and Fish oil but am going to look into other natural forms of treatment. Perhaps acupunture? I meet with a nutritionist next week and will probably try a gluten-free, dairy-free diet and see if that helps. Thank you again.
I am so grateful to find this site. I am now off to explore more of it!!

Mattovermind, I am so sorry that your spouse is not being supportive! PLEASE get back with a doctor about the Savella! You are having side effects of this drug. They CAN and DO cause suicidal thoughts. That is one of the things you are supposed to be monitored for by your dr.

Speak with your Pharmacist if you are concerned and can not get in contact with your dr. They can direct you if there is a problem with just quitting the medicine. (that is not to be tried without medical advice because some of those drugs can cause seizures if you quit cold turkey.) If the suicidal thoughts are overwhelming, go to the ER or call a 1-800 to talk with someone.

This antidepressant is not for you. When I was 1st on them back when all this started, my dr. started me out slowly, but we went through I think 3 different ones before I went with cymbalta. Effexor had me sitting in a chair like a zombie mute. I did not want to be with anyone, speak or listen. I felt like a doorstop. My daughter went with me to my appt and said, DrK, Momma isn't talking............he laughed and said, 'well that is not normal for her'.... I took cymbalta for a couple of years before it quit and I had to switch to another one. I then tried Wellbutrin. I really did not see them helping the fibro pain, so I stopped under my dr.'s direction.

As to the dr. that yelled at you. UGH! I hate that for you. You must have been humiliated, and then so angry you could not think straight.

Report him to your insurance if you have an HMO and ask for a different dr. in your area.

Have they checked ALL of your hormones? I know when my estrogen was so low that I had terrible fibro type pains. If you are not on B vitamins, you might want to try some good vitamins to help.

If you need help with the gluten free or dairy free, I might can help you out. I used to be the baker for my local Celiac support group before my fibro got worse. My daughter has to now be dairy free, so I have learned my way around some challenges in the kitchen.

God bless you with a good night and my God open your husband's mind and heart to have compassion and understanding.

Hi, MatteroverMind, and welcome!  I'm so glad you found us and joined in.  Golly I'm so sorry you are dealing with all of this but you will get a handle on it.  It takes some juggling around of medications to see what will help you.  I won't take Cymbalta, Lyrica, or Savella.  That's my choice because I don't want to deal with the side effects.  But others have had good luck on some of this. 

 

It does sound like you are having reactions to Savella.  You need to let your doctor know about this.  Don't just stop taking them.  I don't think that's safe to do.  Here is a link about the side effects of Savella and you will see "suicidal thoughts" in there, too.  No, you don't want to be taking this...at least that's my humble opinion.

 

http://www.drugs.com/sfx/savella-side-effects.html

 

I see you have been referred to Fibro 101...the second thread on the forum.  There is a lot of good info about fibro and you can learn a lot there.  Good starting links are called Symptoms and A Thorough Explanation of Fibromyalgia.  Show your husband, too.  Let him get a gander at what you are going through and then see if the "for better or for worse, in sickness and in health" vows he took meant something to him.  I do think he will see that what you have really is an illness and you are not using fibro as an "excuse".  You really are having physical problems.  Once you find what works best for you, your sex life will most likely pick up again.  But every day?   Yikes!    

 

I'm looking forward to getting to know you better.  Don't hesitate to ask questions because we are here to help you.  Hope to hear more from you soon.

Sherrine 

Hi everyone. Thank you so much for all the support and advice :} I have a follow up appt with my rheumatologist on Thurs. (the one that was sooo mean to me!) I am so nervous and am dreading it. I almost with my husband was going! I will try to talk to him about the Savella and see what he says. I would just not even go, but since he is the one that basically got my short term disability DIS approved I really wanted to talk to him. Not sure what I am going to say... or how I will even talk without crying! That is one problem lately!
I printed off alot of stuff about Fibro and even bought the book "Fibro for Dummies" :} I tried to get my hubby to look through it... He just dismissed me and said.. You don't have crap... just need to eat better and exercise... and get your head out of your @$$. OK. So probably a good thing he is NOt going to the appointment!!
Thanks again. Wish me luck!
@Marilyn... what kind of shots did you get?? Does it have to be a gyno? Mine just retired. :{

Matter, crying a lot is part of the problem with the 'wrong medication'. This stuff plays with our brain chemistry. We already have whacky chemistry because of the fibro and other immune issues that many of us have.

As to the husband ;/

Maybe we all need to have a prayer thread for family member that need to be enlightened.

(((Matter)))