Hi! Here Is My Introduction

[img]/community/emoticons/rolleyes.gif[/img] Hello everyone I am new to this sight. I am very happy to have found a sight that connects me to other people who are struggling, dealing with and managing stressful illnesses also. When I read some of the other comments I realized that I was not alone.

I have been dealing with Fibromyalgia for about 3 years now. It took almost a year 1/2 before I could find a doctor who took me serious enough to pay attention to my complaining syptoms. My primary doctor knew something was wrong but because it was out of her area of expertise she had to refer me to others. I saw to doctors who insisted nothing was wrong with me other than stress and wanted to prescrobe me prozac!

Finally in doing some research my primary was able to refer me to a neurologist who was able to diagnose me with fibromyalgia based on my syptoms of complaint and areas of pain. She then inturn referred me to a Rheumatologist who turned out to be the worst! for some reason the medication that was given to me would last for a few months and then my flares would increase. My fibromyalgia systoms just seemed unable to be managed.

My blood work concerned the neurologist and she suspected either Lupus or RA. The Rheumatologist insisted that it was just the fybromyalgia and kept switching the meds, this went on for about another year. I would be out of work for three or four months at a time trying new meds. Finally we decided that it was time to seek another opinion and I was refered to another Rheumatologist. This doctor did extensive blood work and history of my complaints. The results came back I she was able to determine that I had UCTD. Which is an autoimune desease that kind of has markers for both Lupus and RA but not enough to specify which one it is.

I have now been on plaquinil for the last 7 months and it seemed to work. Within the last three week my flares and fatigue seemed to be active again. I begining to relate my flares to weather, stress, over doing and sometimes my own non acceptance of having a illness that at time will limit my activities. I have always been a very active person so dealing with these illnesses can be very frustrating,confusing and frustrating! So again I would like to say to everyone thank for sharing your stories because they are really a help to me [img]/community/emoticons/smile.gif[/img] Butterfy 50

Post Edited By Moderator (Sherrine) : 2/5/2015 10:52:31 AM (GMT-7)

Hi, Sherrine, and thank you very much for all your suggestions. Especially about the paragraphs LOl the fibro fog is enough confusion without extra jumbled up stuff. I am also go to physical theraphy once a week for now, and your right the stretch excercise does help.

And yes the UCTD does cause inflamation. I will talk to my doctors about the supplements and also research a healthy diet plan for myself. Thank you again for the response and enjoy the Florida sun :)

Make sure to visit the lupus forum because we have a few UCTDs over there too.
Fibromyalgia likes to jump on the back of us lupies and UCTDs.
You might want to see if Arava will help too. It's another DMARD.

Hello everyone and thank you all for the warm welcome. In regards to the question what is UCTD, it is Undifferentiated Connective Tissue Disease. It is an autoimmune disease that indicates I have some markers for Lupus or RA but don't have enough symptoms to specify which one. And yes it can cause some inflammation in my joints along with the Fybro.

Wanted to share the good news with everyone. I saw the Rheumatologist today and she said that even though my ANA levels are high, all my other test results are still normal. This means the UCTD has not evolved into anything specific. To me that means the glass is half full rather than half empty! The doctor did say my vitamin D level is pretty low, but it can be improved by a prescription (oh boy another pill).

As far as the Fybro, of course I have had some flares with the weather being as cold as it has been, but I'm holding on. As far as the fatigue, it comes and goes and by the end of my work week I'm in the bed for the weekend. Had physical therapy today and felt pretty good afterwards.

My sleep pattern and the IBS has been off balance lately, but I know that comes with the illness. I work 8hrs. a day and go to night school twice a week. I used to take three to four classes a week but now I'm down to one. There was some adjustments that I had to make to help with managing my energy level. Sometimes I do get caught in those good feeling days and over do it but I am trying to get better with that too.

I am beginning to understand that acceptance comes in different levels. Each day that I think I'm alright I realize just how frustrating it is to me to have some limitations (of course that's during the days when I want to be in control).

Life has it's challenges and I believe each one has the potential to end in a blessing. Just have to be able to see it when it comes.

Talk to you all soon. Be well in spirit.

Hello everyone. Hope everyone had a manageable day today. I finally made contact with a licensed massage therapist today. She is familiar with Fibromyalgia and I have an appointment to meet with her in two weeks. I am really looking forward to this visit.

My physical therapist and doctor both advise that light massages would be a good stress reliever for me physically and mentally. My next task is to find a Yoga class.

As far as mother nature, I just avoid being in the cold as much as possible and if I have to be out in it, I limit my time and I make sure getting from point a to point b is simple. My family also makes sure the house is always warm and make sure I have soft comfortable clothing. Some clothing if to tight or are made of certain material is uncomfortable and seems to irritate me more if I'm in a flare.

Soft warm cotton is my friend! :)

Goodmorning people,
Today is not a good day! I'm at work and trying to hold on. I'm in pain and for the past two weeks I've been having issues with my stomache. It's very irritated and I'm having difficulty eating. Just had an ultra sound yesterday but can't see the doctor for the results until next week. Don't know if I can hold out till then. Been fatigued and the only thing I can do lately is go home and go to bed.

Most days I try and stay positive but there are moments that I do get frustrated with being ill! Today just happens to be that day. :(

Sorry you had a bad day spirit50. Hope you'll be feeling better tomorrow but if not you know we're here to listen!😊

Hi Spirit 50

Glad you're feeling better today!! Sounds like you know how to break things down and do them little by little so as not to over do it. That's something I'm still working on. Yesterday was a good day for me and I over did it vacuuming and cleaning and today I'm really paying for it. You know it's bad when your 15 year old daughter looks at you and says you did to much yesterday I can look at your face and tell!! Wow!!

I saw in your post your Drs were trying to decide between lupus and RA. My mom actually has both. They call it rupus. Lol! Go figure.

Anyway I'm really glad you're doing well. Hope everyone else is this weekend.