I think I have fibro

Hi everyone,

I am new to Fibro but not to HW - I have Crohn's disease, have had it the last four years. In the last 2 1/2 years I have been hospitalized 25 times with Crohn's complications.

In the last month, I have started having severe leg pain (worst at rest), exhaustion, and stiffness in my legs in the morning. I have had to go to the ER twice now because the leg pain hit an 8/10 and the Norco 10-325 (two of them) didn't even touch it.

My pain management doctor had us do an MRI of my back and see a spine specialist to do an EMG to see if there was any neuropothy (nerve damage) or a pinched nerve. Other than arthritis in my lumbar and bursitis and tendonitis in my hip, there was nothing (and those don't explain the leg pain).

I will be setting up an appointment with the rheumy to talk about my back anyway, but I am wondering if this could be fibro. I looked at your Fibro 101 post, especially the list of symptoms, and I have at least 3/4 of the ones listed. I don't have anxiety or depression (and having been so sick, it's something my doctors, my husband, and I watch carefully for). I also looked at the "What Else Could It Be?" thread, and it seemed as if none of those listed matched as well as the Fibro symptoms (by looking on WebMD).

Does anyone have any thoughts?

Well we are all different with our pain and symptoms..and our pain can even move on us..so it a tough disease to understand..but i understand the rheumy is the one to see..

I see my pcd , his wife has fibro so he has a decent understanding i guess...or at least tries...

Hope you will share what he says and how he wants to treat... I also do not take the so called fibro meds, but an antiinflammatory and a little tramadol.

Hi, Scifigal, and welcome! I have Crohn's disease also. Not fun. I am so sorry you have been hospitalized so many times.

I have had fibro for decades. But a couple of years ago I started getting extreme pain in my legs and hips. The pain in my legs was like raw nerve pain that ran down both groins to my calves. Just trying to lift my feet to take a step had tears streaming down my face and I needed two canes to walk. My strides were in inches. Does any of this sound familiar?

I headed to a board certified rheumatologist and after many x-rays, eight vials of blood work, and two MRI's, the diagnosis of ankylosing spondylitis was given. It, too, is an inflammatory illness like Crohn's and there seems to be a link to inflammatory bowel diseases with this illness. Here is a link about this. You can find a lot of info on line, too.

http://www.spondylitis.org/about/ibd.aspx

Here is another good site about this illness.

http://www.medicinenet.com/ankylosing_spondylitis/article.htm

I also had sacroiliitis. I was put on NSAIDS and a muscle relaxer called Robaxin that made a significant difference in my pain. I now have no pain in my legs.

With your active Crohn's you probably can't take NSAID's. I can because my Crohn's was centered in my colon and I had my colon removed years ago. But they give Humira or Remacade infusions for this also. That's what my rheumatologist really wanted me to do but with my family history, my Internist and I didn't think that was the best choice. I am doing fine so far with the ibuprofen. But I might have to do the infusions down the road sometime if the ibuprofen starts to cause me problems.

I hope this has helped you some. At least it's something to check out. It's horrible when you can't walk.

Do let is know what you find out because we do care about you.

Sherrine

Yep, yep, yep. See a good rheumie. Make sure you mention the Crohns. Could be IBD related arthritis, especially if the 'stiff' feeling lessens when you get up and start moving.

OTC pain killers are not very useful for us. I use tramadol, hydrocodone at night, and a very occasional tylenol during headaches. Other painkillers such as aleve or ibuprofen cause my bowels to get worse, fast.

Are you active? Meaning, do you move around the house, outside the house, etc? Often, when the body hurts, at first people stay still, thinking to rest and repower. Usually, this will backfire. Lack of movement equals more pain and stiffness, not less.

Thanks everyone! I saw my PCP today and she really thinks I do have fibro based on everything (I even showed her this website and your guys' lists in the Fibro 101 thread). She prescribed me Nexium (40 mg once a day) and Gabapentin/Amneal (300 mg starting once a day and increasing to three times a day).

I also called my rheumy and will have an appointment in a couple of weeks once she gets back into town and gets to look at my MRI of my back (arthritis was discovered when we were looking for pinched nerves as cause of pain.

Yes, I am fairly active. Not running marathons or anything, but my daughter's first birthday is today, actually, and she keeps me going! My husband travels for business a lot, and we just moved into a new house a week and a half ago, so it's been even more so than usual lately!

Yeah, NSAIDs will send me into a flare fast. I couldn't even take any at all when I had my c-section. My CD is throughout the WHOLE tract......I even get strictures in my esophagus, I have gastroparesis, and then inflammation in small and large bowels.

Thanks for the pillow and stretching ideas! That has helped. The pain is worse when my daughter wakes up crying at night (new house is scary lol) and has to sleep in bed with me, because then I can't really move much.