First time poster....

This is my first time posting, however, I have been viewing this forum for 4 years now.    I have learned so much from all the posts, and I feel so much better when I realize that the symptoms I am having others have as well. 

I was diagosed in 2006.  I had horrible pain for approximately a year.  Strange things were happening to my body..things I never could have imagined.  I went from dr. to dr..and was pretty much told i needed a shrink.  I felt like I was losing my mind and then I was FINALLY diagnosed with fibromyalgia.  Heck, I never even heard of the disease before the diagnosis. Sometimes the pain was excruciating, the fatigue completely unbearable and the insomnia was driving me to the brink of insanity.  I was able to continue working though i am not sure how I did it considering the fibro fog.  As quickly as the pain came on....it pretty much went away.  I would still have minor fatigue and travelling pain but it wasnt anything I couldnt handle.

Back in August everything has come back and with a vengeance.    So many strange new things started happening and now I am in the vicious cycle of dr. appointments and testing trying to make sure that its fibro.  I have leg cramps and spasms and I never had them before.  I am also having ribcage pain and its so severe that it hurts when I breathe.  These are new symptoms and they are freaking me out as well as being very painful.    I was without pain for so long and now I wish I would have valued those pain free days more, because there hasn't been one day in 4 months where I havent wanted to scream at the top of my lungs because of the pain. 

I have been put on Lyrica which totally made me loopy so I stopped.  Im on neurontin now and when I went to increase it, because of my issue with medication side effects, i had to go back down because it was causing serious stomach and intestinal pain.  I take flexeril...doesnt help...as well as percocet...which takes the edge off SOME.  I am going to a rheumatologist next monday and am hoping I can get some further info on pain management because Im really at my wits end.

I apologize for the rambling....I just needed to rant to others who would be able to understand my situation.  Thank you to those that read this!  And thank you for this forum, as it has helped me tremendously as well as others, I am sure!

Welcome luvbugg!

I feel like I could have written most of your post myself! I too was diagnosed in 2006 and also have been in the worst flare ever since August. It shows no signs of letting up anytime soon. I also have new symptoms and have been hopping from Drs and Specialists, from test to test. No fun at all! I can definitely feel your pain - literally! During this flare I've had my first experience with costochondritis and that has not let up AT ALL since October. I have some days when I'm not crying from the pain and can do things, but other days when I'm screaming in pain and begging my husband to take me to the ER. He doesn't because he knows that I won't let them give me anything for the pain, but he's very supportive and does what he can to help when the pain is that bad. I found that heat and ice both work but ice helps me more since there is actual inflamation of the cartilidge. The other day my left side of my chest was visibly swollen from how inflamed it was. Because the pain has gotten so severe and radiated through to my back and down the arm I had to go through many heart tests to make sure it was nothing going on there. Thankfully, all clear!

For 3.5 years I was taking Effexor and it helped with the pain and anxiety. I stopped it and the anxiety has been controllable, but the pain has been horrendous. I still choose not to take any medicine for the pain. Once I am out of this flare and the Drs. give me the all clear we want to try to start our family so I am trying to keep my body clean.

I also wish I appreciated my better days more. It has been a LONG time since I had a good day. Good luck at the rheumatologist and report back. I think that is going to be one of my next steps on the road to ensuring that this is just Fibro rearing its ugly head and nothing else. All I can say is that I hope and pray that this is the worst it will ever be! When I was first diagnosed I thought it was unmanagable, and now all I can say is hah! Seems like a walk in the park compared to the pain I've been in and the symptoms I've had these last few months.

I hope you are pain free again very soon! I hope it helps knowing that you're not alone, hopefully we can help each other through this :)

Hi luvbugg,

Welcome I'm so glad you decided to start posting. I know what you mean about wishing you valued the pain free days a little more. For now, I'm simply waiting for my flair to go down. I also expect to have a completely comfortable day again some time, and will appreciate that one.

Surely you know we really do care! Keep posting now that you started.

Free Spirit

Hi luvbug and welcome to our fibro family, Im glad you decided to come out of lurking and join us. As you already know we have a great bunch here.

Im sorry you are having so much pain right now, I can totaly relate to how you feel. Been having way more pain myself lately, I know the cause is lack of energy and not doing much and Im trying to get more motivated but finding it really hard to do right now.

Gentle Hugs
Shirley

Hi Luvbug,

 

Just wanted to stop over and say hello. I'm sorry you are going thru so much and the pain...I wish I could say something to make it better, but I can't. But I can tell you as you have already noticed in reading the forum, this is a very caring group of people who share the Fibro name, and at some point all the pain and uglyness that goes along with it. There are so many positive people on here, they can lift your spirits when you need to vent.

 

Please come here and post often so we can see how your doing. I hope you are able to get some pain relief soon!!!

 

 

Monica