Hi, Nancy~
Thanks for sharing your fibro experience. It's like the "gift" that keeps on giving, isn't it?! 
And the variety of it all--it's like you get to throw three darts at the spinning "Wheel O' Symptoms". Today the winners are: stabbing pain, extreme fatigue, and burning skin...yay! (Not!)
As far as how I cope, I'd say lately, not very well! Right now I think a lot of my problem is not knowing for sure what this is yet. Fibro explains more of my symptoms than anything else I've come up with, and my rheumy was ready to prescribe medication for fibro (gabapentin), but I've had this lymph node swelling that has persisted for months, and it's not clear what that is.
At my next appointment in April, my rheumy said if the lymph swelling is still there, we'll do a CT scan, so I'm looking forward (I think!) to what we learn there. I'm just tired of wondering if I have cancer, or if it's "just" fibro, or what, so that's what's causing a lot of my stress right now. This lymph swelling started almost five months ago, and maybe two months into that, the fibro-type symptoms started, so I don't even know if there's a connection.
This fear/not knowing has (I think) led to the panic attacks I've experienced, and I'm just hoping I get some answers soon.
How do you cope?
Maggie, thanks for your reply, and your clear description of your fibro symptoms. Kudos to you for fighting back against the conditions that try to rob you of a meaningful life!!
I've dealt with RA for 26 years and type 1 diabetes for thirteen, so I know what chronic health conditions can take from you. Some things we have to let go, but other parts we have to fight to keep, and you've chosen that path, which isn't for the faint of heart--you go, girl!
Thank you both for sharing your experiences with fibro--I appreciate it so much!