Hi T O P, and welcome to the family! I am so sorry you are having such a hard time right now.I was dx in '06, but I believe I have had this since I was a baby. It is very upsetting when you get this dx and not quite sure if they are correct in the dx. You have some things that run in your family, have you told your dr about them. The drs usually test everything else to eliminate the other possibilities, before they say Fibro. Sometimes it is just hard to accept this dx, but when you do THEN you can start making decisions of how to help yourself.
I actually brought my suspicions to my dr, had a hard time trying to convince her to have me tested. Finally she agreed and Fibro is what the rheumy told me. I have a lot of illnesses on both sides of my family, not to say I won't get them someday, but right now the Fibro and other 'fun' stuff are enough to keep me busy.
I put myself thru college, worked as a teacher, raised three children, volunteered at my church for many yrs., took my children to their activities, work, school, etc., took care of my mother and her affairs, ALL w/ my happy face on. It finally got to the point, I had to back off on too many things I had to do. I just can't do all of them. Ppl thought I could handle anything, so did I. I have had to try to pace myself, I had to quit working. I am not up to that pace anymore. I miss it terribly, but I was spent after class. I had nothing left to give to my family or ME.
Many of us have had to stop working, some are working, raising families, trying so hard. We all understand what you are going thru. This is such a good place to come and feel safe, we all vent, share, cry, laugh - YES, laugh. You will share w/ us and we will share w/ you. I believe we all help each other.
I used to do the groceries by myself, take my DM, pack her things,bring them back to her house, then go home and put my away. I ended up having to bring one of my children w/ me to help, now they have to drive me and pack and unload. My arms can't hold items, let alone bags. I do my exercises every day to try to build up strength, but that is where I am at. I keep trying, b/c I'm not ready to give up everything.
I am in pain everyday, but each day I try to do my stretches, rest w/ my heating pad, or bed buddy. I drink a lot of water. I have no rx pain meds, I use Tylenol for Arthritis. It isn't easy, but I'm not ready to give up.
At the top of the 1st page is a thread called Fibro 101, read it if you haven't already. There are a lot of good topics there, compiled by several of our Mods, the articles are very helpful. Pls ask ???, vent, share, read back posts. The ppl here are very kind and generous w/ info and understanding. And again, Welcome to the family.
God bless. Alice.