My nephew has MS,and I have FM,we have both noticed that our symptoms are similar,is there a connection?

[Tinamarie]

[Mercion]

Same, my father in law has MS and we suffer from similar symptoms, but I believe MS can be diagnosed via blood tests.

[Tinamarie]

What gets me down about this is that as soon as my nephew was diagnosed with MS,he was awarded DLA immediately,the MS assoc have been fantastic to him.Me/us we have to fight for everything,I have been turned down for DLA twice now,I have really really now had enough.Who fights for us,who believes we have FM?

[pheonix67]

hi there,

my hubby has MS and I have FMS and we often have the same symptoms. We say they couldnt make a good one out of both of us put together! lol apparently MS and FMS are misdiagnosed as each other and the only clinical difference is the damage to the myelin sheath (spelling??) This isnt a technical answer its just what Ive been told when asking the same question.

please please find a friend or someone with FMS who knows how youre feeling. Im really lucky (??) as several of my friends have FMS too and we pick each other up when one of us is low. WE all know you have FMS and know how you feel. My hubby always gets help with his wheelchair etc etc but if Im having a bad time and cant help him I get labelled as lazy/uncaring/unsupportive etc etc. Ive been turned down for DLA four times now and Ive given up cos I dont have the mental energy to fight it anymore so we just go without stuff.

Go to your local CAB (citizens advice) and ask for an appointment to help you fill in a DLA form. If not there try your local support group. They are all over the country, even down here in Planet Thanet!! lol I will try to send you my email address and we can chat privately when youre down.

good luck hun

xxxxxxxxxxx

[Tinamarie in reply to pheonix67]

Bless you,and thank you so much for caring.

I think we should bombard Mr Cameron and his cronies,and explain in detail the effects we suffer.......but would it do any good? Doubt it. I wonder if any of them could live on £96 pw

[Mercion]

Same with my FIL, he got DLA, MIL got carers allowance and they got a shiny new car. I daren't even go through the stress of trying to get any help so we struggle. The in laws are both working and went on a two week holiday to singapore this year, we didn't go anywhere as we can barely pay a mortgage on a 9k a year salary. I only have a blue badge after suffering SPD from childbirth, when I mentioned fibro they said that would be an automatic no.

[pottyness in reply to Mercion]

SPD caused by fybro of course. same for me. my youngest is 11years old and i still cant move anything with my foot without it going again. i got my blue badges due to SPD, three crushed discs and a numb leg [probably nerve damaged but i can walk, on it just cant feel most of it] but i usually mention fybro in the form but they dont say anything about it. they just said yes. i filled the form with writing though, sides of the pages and the bottom of them and the back. got the badges and the dla. though i still couldnt afford to go to singapore

[LindseyMid]

Fibro cannot mean an autonomic no for any benefits or help - they HAVE to look at every way it effects you. See the new benefits info on the FibroAction site for details.

MS and Fibro can have similar symptoms, but MS is one of the things that should be ruled out when diagnosing Fibro. People who have MS can also develop Fibro as well though.

[Magi54 in reply to LindseyMid]

Interesting

[sepipkin]

Hiya! I'm new here and it's no coincidence that my first post is here. I was never assessed for MS before receiving my FM diagnosis in March '07. Could someone with personal experience of both give me some idea of the key differences as I'm developing new, scary symptoms that are making me very suspicious!!

Nice to meet you!

Sarah xx

[Tinamarie]

I explained to the Disability people,that I fall over alot both indoors and out,their reply..........when falling no one is in danger!!!! nuff said!

[gizzmo]

i too have fm and had to go to appeal to win my right for d.l.a. which took me a year to do but i did have it back dated and now i am doing the same for carers allowance for my husband.,i hope this helps

[gizzmo]

also i have been told by a couple of medics that f.m. can be a fore runner to m.s. hence the similar symptons,this isnt to say everyone with f.m. will get m.s. but 1 can lead to another and many f.m. suffers also have lupus

[loll]

My first tests were to rule out MS.My specialists said fm and ms are very similar in the way it affects our bodies the only difference he said was that fm sufferers have more pain than ms sufferers.and fm is not life threatening,but i dont really know how bad the pain is for a ms person.

[LindseyMid]

Some of the ways MS can effect you that shouldn't happen with Fibro include vision loss, temporary paralysis and urinary incontinence. However as some people with Fibro have focusing difficulties, issues with low blood pressure causing paralysis type symptoms and irritable bladder, it is easy to see that it can be hard to differentiate between the two! Fibro has numerous neurological symptoms associated with it, but anyone with a high level of neuro symptoms or more severe neuro symptoms, like those above, should get a referral to a neurologist to be assessed for MS. If a neurologist thinks it's possible, then they can order MRIs and Lumbar Puncture tests to see if they can see signs of MS - the tests aren't 100% though.

[caz66]

It might be a bit harsh, but dont you just wish a top politictian, or a dozen GPs would get CFS/FMS . They might actually feel for us, and get something done to help us .

[KimLH]

This MS v FM has been a very interesting read, as recently my daughters brother-in-law was diagnosed with MS, so if I am having a bad day or in a lot of pain I now get thrown at me "At least its not MS like poor Trevor" although I do feel for Trevor and his family, it does often strike me that at family get together, where we will both be, he walks in tall and cheerful with no aids and I am having to be supported by 1 or 2 crutches, after having to rest up for at least 2 days prior so I may be in some fit state to attend, he is up on the dance floor joining in while I can only sit and watch, I know it will not always be like this for him and in time he will be far worse of than myself, I do feel a little angry that at the moment neither our illnesses can really be seen by the naked eye, he is taken seriously and I am just a whinger who should just get on with it.

That may have sounded a little harsh to some, and I am in no way saying that MS does not hold a far nastier outcome than FM, but why should it be that MS sufferers have REAL pain and FM sufferers its all in our heads??

lol Caz no your not harsh I say the same and I am sure we are not alone, I often say to people that say "It's only Fibro for goodness sake" just spend one day in my body then tell me its all in my head!!!!!!!!!

[GaynorN in reply to KimLH]

My husband has recently been diagnosed with ms and I really do feel for him as it was a complete and utter shock. But the thing I cannot get my head round is the fact that his is taken as a critical illness and fm is looked upon as a 'make believe' illness. I have had fibro for a long time and the pain and immobility are unbearable sometimes. I have never been assessed for ms but in all honesty my symptoms fit that diagnosis to a 't' as I'm sure many of us do.

[Tinamarie]

Sufferers of MS have the MS society to help them,and they have been wonderful to my nephew.We have nothing,no one believes us,and that hurts as much as the condition itself!!

Has your daughters brother in law had a lumbar puncture? if not he may have been mis diagnosed and has another condition.

[KimLH in reply to Tinamarie]

Yes he has had all the tests, he is now in remission?? is that right. They say he could get worse with each flare-up, they can't say how often or how bad the flare-ups will be each time. Kim

[jazher]

Hi,

Me and my very good friend who we have grew up together and have worked at the same places as each other have been ill for some time.

We both have the very same symptoms,( i am in more pain than her though) and we were both diagnosed with fibro within a year apart.

Now three years on and she has leisions on her brain and is looking like she has MS. She said to me to get a mri so i asked for one and was actually given one and it came back normal, so i have fibro.

They are both just as bad as each other i think, but my other friends think i should just be happy i dont have MS, but they dont get how bad fibro is aswell.

kel xxx