Mild, Moderate or Severe Fibromyalgia

I've long suspected there are degrees of fibro. See link http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22839682

My doctor recently made the comment that I had moderate fibromyalgia. I do hear of people really laid low from it and others who work and don't have much of a problem with it. I wonder what determines whether you have a severe case, or a mild case. Or is that yet another unknowable thing about fibro.

Any ideas?

Barb

Barb, good question! I personally think it's a combination of what you do to help control your pain. I was a lot worse years ago and I'm sure I would have been put in the severe catagory. But I have learned a lot about fibro and have tried many things and found what helps me the most. Right now I would be considered to have a mild case of fibro. I still have painful days but not off the charts like I used to have.

Also I check to see if more intense symptoms could be something else. It's so easy to blame all our symptoms on fibro and that might not be the case. I've mentioned many times how just three short years ago I was in extremely severe pain 24/7. At first I was blaming fibro since it was my back, hips and legs that were the worst along with the overall achiness but then I decided to get checked out by a rheumy and found I had another problem that was causing the excessive pain. I was put on medication for it and the intense pain slowly subsided and I'm doing well again.

Plus I added things that I've tried that help me, I keep moving and try to live as normal a life while pacing myself. I didn't know all of these things when I first developed fibro and I just cried a lot thinking this was my lot in life. But once I started reading, trying a more natural approach, kept moving I have improved quite a bit. I also didn't believe everything written on the Internet and I didn't listen to all the negative things that float around about this illness. Yes, my positive attitude has helped me also.

So this is why I think there are the three levels of fibro. If you are in one level, it doesn't necessarily mean you will always be that level. With a little work and research, I think you can improve. I'm testimony to this. This forum is a great source of information to help people learn how to live successfully with fibro. There is no set protocol since we are all so different but you sure can get a lot of great ideas to check out!

Sherrine

I'm not sure where I read it, possibly one of the excellent articles posted here, but I was fascinated to read of the strong genetic component to fibro. I wrote a post at the time mentioning that now I realize that my mom had it, and that no one was nice to her, as they are now; she was called a hypochondriac and essentially ignored. I'll always regret that.

Recently, I saw some reporter or announcer or something like that on a television interview. She smilingly discussed her fibromyalgia and the degree of pain she had and she didn't have a hair out of place and her makeup was perfect and she said that she NEVER misses an appointment, NO MATTER WHAT. I felt like a worm.

On the other end, I had a client, a young woman, who told me about her hospital stays and her debilitating pain and illness over a number of years in her late teens and early 20s. What was the diagnosis, I asked? Fibromyalgia. I'm from a generation where people with these things were called just what we called my mother: hypochondriacs. Or they were depressed. Or had deep psychological issues. Something like that. To this young woman, though, her illness was genuine, and she got the care she evidently needed. She was in law school when I met her, so something must have worked.

I had bilateral knee replacements a few years back, and my fibro became far worse afterwards. I concluded that the invasiveness of surgery probably was the culprit. On the other hand, having struggled with this for at least ten years, I can say that--other than this time of year!--my flares are far more infrequent, and I've learned to deal with my pain, for the most part. That doesn't mean I don't occasionally whine plenty, but I kind of know there's a beginning and an end to my episodes.

I guess each of us has to decide how to take care of ourselves and make peace with our decisions. I take almost-narcotics, by the was, Monica....i.e., synthetic ones, such as Tramadol. I also take Neurontin. I felt guilty for years, and now I'm okay with it. It gets me through my days and I don't feel high, even if I am, no doubt, dependent. I never take more than my prescribed dose, and I'm okay with it.

I do wish someone could tell me how to get off Ambien, though....I'm so habituated to it, and I keep thinking that if I could just give up wanting to sleep, I'd be fine....

Cimorene