New and feeling overwhelmed

Hello everyone I'm new here and tend to be a rambler on forums - so I'll try to keep it as short as I can

All my adult life I have been in poor health. In my late teens, I suffered from frequent colds and bronchitis. In my later 20's (convinced by people that the bronchitis was "all in my head") I actually STOPPED getting it, but chronic sinusitis set in. I tried my positive thinking approach with that, but to no avail. All of these years, I was always unusually tired - but I always attributed it to my lack of full health.

By the age of 35 - my sinusitis was so severe that one sinus had completely closed up with scar tissue and I was being maintained on full-time antibiotics. I had a second sinus surgery and never fully recovered. I had an oopsie pregnancy at 39 - and it sucked every ounce of energy out of me (I get severe gestational diabetes and was being criminally harassed at work - ended up getting fired when I returned from pregnancy leave). My 6 year old daughter and my new child were both ADHD and many days I thought I'd go mad with exhaustion and no hope of rest. The day my baby started kindergarten was one of the happiest days of my life.

The advent of web forums was beginning around that time, and I "discovered" that I must have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I also still suffered from sinusitis (the surgery only cleared out the scar tissue - did not "heal" the sinusitis). I followed advice for CFS - without much improvement. The sinusitis kept me sick about 47 weeks a year. I am not exaggerating....I lived day-to-day very sick. In desperation, I began an alkaline diet around 10 years ago. I felt a LOT better and the sinusitis became manageable, but the fatigue wasn't much alleviated because my food preparation and shopping workload was doubled (the rest of the family ate the standard american diet). In fact - the food prep was exhausting me and I have since see-sawed on and off this diet because of this.

Since hitting my 20's, I've always noticed that exercise makes me feel worse rather than better. In fact - during my sinusitis years if I exercised more that 15 minutes twice in a week, I would get sick for about 3 weeks. The fine line was so hard to gauge that the risk was scary. In the last 10 years, I've noticed that when I do things "like a normal person" (like go for an easy hike, clean out a closet, walk around a town I'm visiting for a day) I feel like a truck hit me for about 2-3 days afterward. I always thought that was strange, but thought it was just because I was out of shape (I am slim and petite but certainly lack muscle tone from years of not exercising).

I was discussing this state of affairs with my sister in law over the summer and she suggested Fibromyalgia. She said it is certainly not normal to not "feel great" after getting a bit of exercise. Her words planted a seed, and I began to research and was SHOCKED to learn how many Fibromyalgia symptoms I have! Since I'm a pro at rationing my energy (since I've lived with a miserly energy bank for all my adult life) - I only get the aches and pains when I push myself. However, my body is fatigued by a normal day by around 2 pm.

I am now in my early 50's, and I'm noticing that the negative changes are doubling and tripling by year. I have so much fatigue daily I cannot function like a normal person, and cannot maintain my life or my home like I should. In addition, it seems that within the last 6 months I am beginning to experience daily pain and muscle cramping from the things I do daily that didn't used to bother me. Currently I am laid up in bed with a cramped back, neck, arms, and a massive headache because I gave my dogs a bath yesterday. I am married, with one child at home and another in college. My kids think that I don't care about them, because I'm always "too tired" to do anything with them. My marriage is very troubled (my husband is abusive), and I have been trying to get out for several years but could not maintain myself in a job during my sinusitis years and now seem unhireable. We have no health insurance and no retirement funds saved. Economically we are pretty tight and barely make ends meet with my husband's income. I am scared to death of what lays ahead for me pain-wise.

Finally - I can tell that my symptoms ebb and flow with my emotional state. I've tried for years to tap into positive thinking and have certainly partaken of counseling when I could afford it. But I can never seem to make lasting changes that send me in a positive direction. As I seem to deteriorate, my husband and children's lack of sympathy (or simply understanding) is really getting me down and seeming to exacerbate the problem. My husband calls me a "faker" and yells at me for "laying around all day". I'm stuck :-(

I agree with Kaely. See a rheumatologist if you can. And lose the husband..my ex hubby treated me the same way and it was miserable. I now live with my childhood sweetheart who is completely supportive although he admits he doesn't understand it all. Its like night and day, the difference his support makes. Best of luck. K.

Age complicates fibro. Other conditions complicate our reaction to it.

For instance, I feel worse now at 43 than I did at 34, when I was diagnosed. When I am having a UC flare, my fibro pain intensifies.

Until you get a diagnosis, a proper one, you cannot rule out other similar conditions. There are both natural and prescription medications that can help alleviate some of the symptoms. Obviously, a doctor needs to be seen and a diagnosis made to assign the correct medication. With fibro, it is never so easy as to take one pill to solve the issues. The symptoms may lessen, but they rarely go away.

You're doing all you can. Please keep posting, because we care!

Debbie

Definitely sounds like you are between a rock and a hard place, I feel for you! Thank heavens I live in Canada! Still can't afford my meds but at least I can get all my tests done!

Some people find some relief changing their diet. One woman I worked with has had Fibro for a number of years and she has had a huge turn around since going on a completely raw diet. Fruit, veggies, sprouted grains and nuts make up her diet every day! I have cut out meat, dairy and have been cutting down on wheat and am at least having some improvement with my IBS type problems. Definitely finding I am having more pain on days I do eat meat. Some people have improvement cutting down on food that encourages inflammation - like potatoes (apparently sweet potatoes are much better for people with chronic pain). Some people get improvement with supplementation, especially magnesium - that one didn't help me.

My hubby is very supportive but there are often days I feel like I should just do SOMETHING so it doesn't look like I've laid around all day. On those days I try to just say, neaten the kitchen, fix the blankets on the couches and pass the vacuum quickly through the downstairs.... that way when he does come home it's at least a BIT neater than when he left in the morning, LOL.