Fibromyalgia and ANA

I've been going to the doctor for the last couple of months due to a lot of pain and general not feeling well. I've had slight swelling, joint and muscle pain, slight fever, and tiredness like I never knew before. I've always had aches and pains and fatigue, but nothing like I've experienced recently. there was about a two week period I could hardly get off my couch, it just knocked me off my feet. I finally got to the rheumatologist a few days ago and he says he is almost sure it's fibromyalgia. He is still doing blood work to check for lupus. my regular doctor did some blood work and the only thing abnormal was the ANA and thyroid, both were mildly elevated and she said she wasn't concerned about my thyroid. my temp is usually between 97.5 and 97.9 but when I was felling my worst was 99.2-99.3. He has me on tramadol, zanaflex, and lyrica. I haven't taken the zanaflex and just started the lyrica. So far I've haven't seen a difference but I know it takes time with things. Is this typical with fibromyalgia?

Also wanted to add that I have also been feeling hot all the time, even when everyone else is cold because I keep the temp so low.

Post Edited (uniquelythesame) : 6/29/2014 10:38:59 AM (GMT-6)

Thanks! I will check that out for sure. Within the last year I've just been having so many issues. I've also had bad dizzy spells, to which they said was labryinthitis but they would still come and go even after treatment for it. I've had a double ear infection twice in less than a year and get ear aches a lot and ear pain and that head in a bucket feeling/sound, etc. I'm curious as to if it's all related. I started with knee pain and they claimed it was patellofemoral pain syndrome but had it looked again and the doctor said he thought it was a joint issue so I have no idea what's going on I keep joking that my body hates me even though it's not funny in reality.

I think they are leaning towards fibro because I don't have any rashes and the majority of my blood work was normal. The only thing was the ANA and thyroid was mildly elevated but not alarmingly so. It could have been that way for a number of things I suppose.

My ears didn't get better until they gave me steroids, one of the dose packs. Before that I just had meclizine. I was also given steroids and muscle relaxers through IV when I went to the ER and after that my bf said I looked like I had some life back in me. He said I looked sickly before. I was given a prescription for it too.

They originally thought RA but the rheumy said he didn't see signs of that, so he is thinking fibro. All I know is I went from hurting sometimes and being able to ignore it mostly to being in pain everyday all of a sudden. The pain meds take the edge off but it's still lingering in the background and it doesn't take much to aggravate it, like after making dinner right underneath my shoulders and my lower back hurt more and it was one of those quick easy dinners at that. I don't know how long it takes lyrica to help but I haven't noticed a difference so far. I still woke up in pain and just as tired. Of course I've only taken it once so far. I did noticed I felt mentally relaxed though, not much physically.

I also don't have these tender points I read about, like I've told the doctor, it doesn't hurt to be touched, my body just hurts on its own. Being touched doesn't send me writhing in pain. That's only happened a couple of times and it's been in my calves. The swelling hasn't been super bad, just enough for me to notice. Taking a hot bath or shower only feels better for a moment but doesn't seem like it really has much of an affect.

I don't want to take as much of the meds as he directed because 1) I don't want to be doped up so to say and 2) I'm already sensitive to meds, I always have been. I take my pain meds in halves most of the time and only take 2-2.5 a day instead of 4 as he suggested. I've only seen him once but I'm hoping he doesn't think drugging me up is going to solve everything.

Side-note, I also think they lean towards that because my mother has RA/Fibro. My father however has chronic pain but has never been to a doctor about it so I have no idea what causes his but it's been that way for most of his life and I know a lot of people in my family, both sides, have arthritis issues, my great-grandmother had some kind of degenerative spine problem. She lost several inches in her height. Either way, whatever is going on sucks majorly and I feel bad for anyone suffering whether it's a minor problem or debilitating!

The majority of the time I've just been pushing through everything because I don't want to let whatever is going on to run my life, but it's gotten to the point that I know there is something wrong with my body for sure and I worry it will only get worse like it has so far. I think I had a flare up of whatever it is, like I was talking about in my original post, and since then my body hasn't been the same. I really couldn't do anything during that two week period and I worry for when it will happen again because I'm sure it won't be the only time.

One more thing lol, when I was a child I had excruciating knee pain, to the point of being in tears and was diagnosed as having migraines when I was fourteen. Also have had constipation issues for years and recently muscles jerking in my legs. That gets annoying. I'll be sitting still and they will jerk causing the rest of me to move. Not to mention I seem to be dropping things way more than I ever have and forgetting things like crazy, not just the average forgetfulness. I don't know if it's raynaud's or not but my fingers do get extremely pale, including in the nails for a minute when they are cold, they only turned bluish once, although I prefer cold to heat. (Sorry for such the long post)

Post Edited (uniquelythesame) : 6/29/2014 6:16:26 PM (GMT-6)

I really appreciate it! I was eating ibuprofen like candy and it never touched the pain. It was completely useless, as was Aleve and Voltaren. Like I said, no matter what's going on, I'm definitely not thrilled about it. I feel old when in actuality I'm very young. A lot of the time I feel like things have been brushed off or dismissed because of my age. I was a bit peeved at my rheumy because of that. When he was doing the physical examination I had to walk across the room. I did so slowly and he got excited and yelled about me moving slowly because I'm 23 and should move better than that. I was thinking, well gee, I'm sorry it's hurts and that every time I move it sounds and feels like a squeaky door in dire need of WD40. Before I chalked a lot of the pain up to my job because it was physically strenuous but I know now it's not because of that.

I seriously hope they find something for me that works no matter what the blood work results are. The only sun related issues I've had really is the whole I turn into a lobster thing instead of being able to tan. I usually keep a pair of sun glasses on me as well.