Hi everyone! I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia about
two weeks ago. I've lived with pain (mainly abdominal and in my legs) since I was 15. I got extremely sick last Thanksgiving with pneumonia, and then after being misdiagnosed with asthma, was correctly diagnosed with laryngospasm and vocal cord dysfunction due to extreme GERD. I had a Nissen Fundoplication last May (but still got to attend the Billboard Music Awards first!) and it took care of my breathing issues. After weaning myself fully off of the pain meds I realized that everything hurt all the time. I thought maybe it was just trying to get back into life after being sick for so long, so I just tried to deal with it. I had another surgery to remove a cyst in from the site of an umbilical hernia repair at the end of September. Then I was running around helping my 12 year old daughter with her fundraiser for the Tyler Robinson Foundation (TRF helps families with children battling cancer). After that was over and I could relax a bit, the pain was just not going away. My surgeon did another laparoscopy to check for adhesions and any other physical problems that may have been causing the pain. It all was normal, which is great but what was causing the pain?
After doing some research on IBS (which my surgeon essentially diagnosed me with), I found that fibromyalgia was related. I didn't know much about
fibro, so I looked up the symptoms. It read like a list of my life! Finally, now I knew why the massage chairs at the pedicure place hurt so badly, and why I wanted to scream the first (and only time) I got a massage. Bruising, tiredness, pain, losing words, Insomnia, etc - it was all right there.
I'm blessed that my regular doctor is wonderful and did the work up for fibro, but only after doing a bunch of research to be sure he was up on the latest diagnostic criteria and treatment options. I blew away the new 2010 (?) criteria for diagnosis of fibromyalgia, and tested positive on 10 tender points. My doctor formally diagnosed me with fibromyalgia, and made sure to tell me this is not in my head, this is a real disease and I will need support. So here I am.
I'm 35, wife to a wonderful and supportive husband, mom to three beautiful kids, I work in fan relations from home for the band Imagine Dragons, and I have fibromyalgia. I hope to find many friends here and to support all of you as I ask you to support me in navigating my new life with fibro.
