Hello, New Here, Recently Diagnosed with Fibromyalgia

Hello,

Recently diagnosed with fibro. Looking for feedback. What has helped people the most? I am mostly sure that I dont want to go on Lyrica, Cymbalta, Sevella or any other antidepressant meds. I have a history of being highly sensitive to most medication.

I may have had what I think could be CFS most of my life. Seems it has turned into more of a chronic pain issue within the last couple of years ago. I recently have pursued issues in my neck and lower back. Have bulging in c5,6,7. Tried 2 CT guided nerve root blocks with what seems to be virtually no success. Neurosurgeon has offed to perform surgery with no guarantee of eliminating pain. Also had MRI of Lumbar and Thoracic. They show some aging issues but nothing that anyone is highly concerned about. Tried 2 lumbar epidural steroid injections with what seems to be virtually no help.

Since treatment i have felt better but think it is attributed to being off of work for 90 days STD. Tried to go back and only made it 2.5 days. Immediately, I was in pain and on the second day my wrist swelled up and became extremely painful. I could not use my hand and had to leave work again. I went to a hand dr and he said it was the gout and shot a steroid in my hand. Can fibro cause this type of swelling, pain? Uric acid levels were 7.2 and in range but on the high end.

I must mentioned that a couple of weeks before work I started to feel like I was coming down with something. I started with an uneasy stomach feeling and some nausea. Thought i was getting a stomach flu because I heard it was going around. Well, it never seemed to come about. Also, around the same time, I had some moments of being bumed-out about going back to work because of the situation there before I left. I know depression, right? Anyway, I didnt dwell on it and thought about enjoying the rest of my leave. Let me add that I have a history of periods of flu-like symptoms.

After the so called gout flare up, I tried colchicine. My thoughts were maybe I have the gout and that is the answer to my chronic pain. The hand healed most likely from the injection and I finished the 9 day trail of colchicine. Never felt great while on it. After this everything started to take on a new level, bad chronic pain. This time, joint, muscle, and nerve issues. Have had pain with all in the past but now more severe and widespread. To describe this, I would say achy joints, muscle spasms and cramping and burning stinging nerves. Around this last month's time frame I can add symptoms of feeling feverish with no actual fever (also a history of this), and mild burning urination and bladder.

Went to rheumatologist and he is requesting tests that may explain this. Never had much luck with anything coming back positive. Went to pain management dr and he right away says fibro and is trying to send me elsewhere. Had some oxycodone left over from the back issues that I use when ibuprophren wasnt helping. Tried to get more and was given tramadol instead which I feel is not safe so probably wont take. Also, have some muscle relaxers left over and had to use a couple of those that seem to help with spasms so i can sleep. Let me add that within the last month or so I now have this vibration in my head that sometimes radiates down into my shoulders into a kind of spasm.

Really tired of getting different diagnosis, meds and referrals thrown at me. I have been reading a lot on line and started some supplements:

5000 mg vit c
fish oil 1000mg/300 omega 3 3x
l-lysine 1500mg
vit b complex subling liq
lipoic acid 200mg
multi vit gummies
evening primrose 1000mg
magnesium 250mg

Would like to add that I have a history of stomach issues and when I dont feel well I now have glands on both sides of jaw that feel achy. Sometimes have other unexplained symptoms, etc,etc. wide history of dr's and testing.

Looking for any/all comments/advice.

Thank You

The rheumy is probably going to check your ANA level and RA factor.
Although fibro cause joint pains, lupus and RA causes joint pains and inflamations.
For your kidney issues try taking Cranberry Fruit pills. It has kept my kidney problems at bay from lupus.

Flecky - welcome to the fibro forum! Sounds like your ready for some relief and answers. Many of your symptoms fall in line with fibro as you described. Since you have been to a rheumatologist I would ask them what blood work has been done. The ANA we were talking about is almost always done by a rheumatologist. This will show them about lupus. Many of our symptoms are very similiar to other auto immune diseases such as lupus. Hopefully your thyroid has been checked to. I bet you might be surprised what they have drawn already in blood and evaluated. It's not normal for a rheumatologist not to do all these labs and much more.

When you mention your neck. I had a 3 level cervical fusion done. Almost all my neck is fused. The pain went away after the surgery, well worth it. Chronic pain is no fun. We all understand how tuff it can get. Tramadol is actually a good drug for pain. I am senstive to drugs myself as many of us are on the forum.

You coudn't found a better place to learn and get some support. I learned how to manage my fibro from this forum. It has so many good tools to help you manage your fibro. What I did was read post daily and decided to try some new treatments and ideas. It was like a trial and error thing, but now I got it perfected. Always talk with your dr's before trying something new.

You might be surprised on how easy the fibro regimine can be once you figure out what works for you. I keep mine very simple. I don't take the fibro drugs such as savella and etc. many do well on them, but I just choose not to use them. Most is us have numerious health problems besides fibro. So this is why we are different in our treatments.

I would recommend a good book on fibro. I was amazed when I started reading mine. I could see myself on each page. None of my dr's shared hardly any of this info. I finally figured out I wasn't crazy! Lol
I hope you contine to stay around. Feel free to ask questions

Post Edited (ak angel) : 12/1/2012 9:24:34 PM (GMT-7)

Hi, flecky, and welcome!  It sounds like you are getting a myriad of testing done.  That is good.  There are many illnesses that have many of the same symptoms as fibro.  They want to rule those out because there is no real test for fibro.  Most of us have our tests come back negative...unless there is something else along with fibro going on.  Yes, you definitely could have fibro and gout.

 

For three years I would have the joints on some of my toes swell and hurt.  My doctor thought I had gout but it lasted for months every winter.  Gout, if not treated, supposedly will go away in a few weeks.  That didn't happen with me.  I too was put on Colchicine and all that did was give me diarrhea.  I stopped it.  Last year I didn't have a bout with this problem and so far this year I've been fine.  I found it odd that it only happened in the winter months.  I live in Florida so I can't blame cold weather for this.  No, we don't know why this happened so I do think it could have been caused by fibro but definitely not sure.

 

You can have fibro and other illnesses.  It's so easy to blame fibro for everything but it's always good to be checked out...just in case.  I did just that for excessive back pain that was progressive last winter.  Fibro isn't a progressive illness so I headed to a rheumatologist and discovered I had something else causing the problem.  I was put on ibuprofen with food and a muscle relaxer and this has made a significant difference in my pain and mobility.

 

Along with the above, I use Tylenol, malic acid/magnesium supplements and vitamin D3 supplements.  I also walk daily, do daily stretching exercises and pace myself.  All of this combined has me in control of the pain.  I'm not pain-free but I'm not in misery either.  I, too, didn't want to take Cymbalta, Lyrica, and Savella so I did the above instead and this has worked well for me.

 

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