Flu? Flare? What?!

I saw the thread below about flu-like symptoms, just as I had come here to find out why I've been so sick for going on three weeks:

As a fibro sufferer, I have the strange aches and pains, but the flu-like FLARES are awful, to use the term I have given them. I've been fighting one going on three weeks now, and I feel so debilitated and frustrated.....I can't seem to get anything done! I just want to lie in bed, hobbling around doing a few things, going to my computer, etc. . . . The odd thing is that for a couple of days there, I felt better: my energy zoomed, I felt mostly normal (although tiring easily), and I figured I was on my way back. Then, last night I couldn't sleep (a sure sign a flare is going to hit), and when I got up this morning, IT was back: the whole nine-yards. My husbnd says he can tell when I am "flaring," because I get this 'cast' (his words) to my face. I think he means pale, unhappy and miserable. My doctor has noticed it, as well.

I finally went to urgent care the other night, was tested for "everything" (their words), and told I had nothing that could be diagnosed. I had no fever, strep, ear infection, sinus infection, flu (so they said), my BP, everything standard....all fine.

SO HOW COME I'M SO MISERABLE?!

Here's my theory, and who knows: food and environmental reactions. It's been the holidays, of course, i.e., food with wheat and dairy, which always aggravates me....and I too live in crop-dusting country, as someone above mentions. The thing that blows my mind is how I can feel so absolutely awful and no even be "sick."

Weather, of course, influences my flares, and it's been abnormally cold. I'm terribly allergice to my nice cat, who nows lives outside, under protest.

Any thoughts?

I thought i was handling my daughters cat when she had moved back a couple years...but after she moved again with the cat.. Over time i got a lot better.. Which is too bad cause i really enjoy the little fur balls...but will not be getting any pets soon..

I have noticed that I have developed "new sensitivities" or allergies, since I have had fibro that intensify my symptoms off the charts. I used to be able to eat chocolate, now if I eat too much I feel as if I am going to die - I get so sick. Other foods have joined this group too.

Pay attention to your activity level. When my post exercise malaise started, I would go for a brisk walk, get on my tread mill, or what ever. Around 4 days later I would start to feel sick and would continue to decline for several days - hold, then slowly start to pull out. The whole thing would take about 2 weeks. (This was back when I would actually feel good for a week or two at a time).

Now I feel horrible the very next day after any sort of exertion, and I also get sick the day after a massage.

It is my understanding that post exercise malaise is the bodies inability to process out the lactic acid that is released. Instead, it builds up and causes us to go into toxic overload, that is why the massages are affecting me also.

If you are continually releasing the lactic acid on your good days, you will feel sick more and more often.

I am to the point where I feel sick all the time, it is just a matter of how intense it is at any given moment. Fortunately I have a job that I mostly sit at, but this disease is very draining. I constantly have to watch what I eat, where I am going to focus my energy, keep my stress level down, etc. Even if I get a massage or plan a day at the mall, I have to plan it around being in bed the next day.

Hope you figure out what you can do to minimize your "flares"

Wow..I can't believe how similar I feel to you guys. I'm always achy, cold and completely exhausted. It's winter time and I do feel a lot worse.

Central Sensitization. Okay, will do. When I feel better!