Earlier post on probable cause of Fibro (post 3 days ago I think)

[Yorkshiregirlie]

I saw my GP this afternoon and showed her the article from the Washington Times re the probably cause of fibro and, regrettably, she knew nothing of this although she has copied and circulated to the other docs at the surgery as well as forwarding it to my rheumy (who I was meant to be seeing tomorrow but who has changed the appt to Nov 22nd!). Anyway, she says she's going to have a long chat with the rheumatologist about it so that when I do have my appt next month, there will be some tests and possibly treatment relating to the article. We'll have to wait and see what she's arranged. In the meantime, I have always suffered horribly painful left ribs and put most of it down to the fibro but I found out today, that's not the cause for most of the pain. It seems my ligaments (or maybe she said tendons - blasted fibro fog!) but these are longer than normal and are the culprit for the majority of the pain. There's a new kind of pain clinic up my way (Calderdale Royal Infirmary) which the GP has referred me to and she says they have a new unit specialising in this kind of problem. Again, I can't remember what she said but she's going to post me a leaflet about it when the surgery gets some more so I will also post details of that because, you never know, this might be a common problem for people on these pages who had no idea about it (just like me). Sorry I don't have an definitive response about the original article but I hope my rheumy will have some positive comments to make when I see her next month. Phew!

[Mazz64]

Hi thanks for sharing this with us, will be interesting to hear what the rheumy has to say about it, hopefully the pain clinic will be able to help with your rib problem

Hugs Maz xx

[Yorkshiregirlie]

Thanks! Fingers crossed, eh?

[Mdaisy]

We will look forward to any medical professional opinion of this article. Thank You for taking the trouble to bring it to their attention I will be forwarding many interesting posts to our information team as their opinion may be of help too.

[Yorkshiregirlie]

My pleasure Mdaisy. Anything that might lighten the load of this horrid condition has got to be worth exploring. I promise to faithfully post all the medical information received.

[crop]

I haven't seen the article you're talking about. Would you mind posting a link to it please? Thanks x

[Yorkshiregirlie]

Der Crop, Here you go: communities.washingtontimes...

[haribo36]

Many thanks for that,iam going to copy the article myself and show my g.p as well

[Yorkshiregirlie]

Good luck!!! you might find this useful too. blacktrianglecampaign.org/2...

[Fibrofoggiest]

Hi Yorkshiregirlie, thank you so much for posting this, I have always "joked" with friends that my internal thermostat it up the creek, this made for very interesting reading. Let's hope it's the start of some better understanding by doctors who dismiss our illness !

Foggy x

[Yorkshiregirlie in reply to Fibrofoggiest]

Fingers crossed!

[donna]

Hi Yorkshiregirlie,,

Well done you for taking the article to the Dr !..I hope your Rheumy is helpful at your next visit..I just posted on the thyroid debate my experience..my Rheumy said to me that my Fibro problems would improve when I was sufficiently medicate for my thyroid problems which has turned out to be true..

Re your chest pain / ligaments ...I suffer from this as well and it is called Costrochronditis worth a search online . in America it would come under the heading of connective tissue disease... I also have Lupus SLE and more!

I do hope your Dr starts to help you more...it might be a good idea to ask for copies any blood test results you have had done at your GP's in the past ,and if there aren't any ask for TSH ( thyroid stimulating hormone) T4 and Anti TPO antibodies,and T3 if they would do it...also Vit D ,B12 ,Follate.....join the HU Thyroiduk forum ,post any blood test results you have there along with the reference ranges.they vary between labs...

Good luck in your pursuit of better health!

[haribo36 in reply to donna]

Thanks for posting that info about blood tests.When I see my g.p I will ask for these tests as my health is so bad

[Yorkshiregirlie in reply to haribo36]

Good luck and I hope you get some definitive answers.

[Yorkshiregirlie in reply to donna]

Thanks for the heads-up over the ligament thingie; I'll deffo do a search on this because I felt like she (the GP) was speaking to me in Chinese, i just couldn't take it in at the time. I did have a load of blood tests recently relating to the thyroid question but they all came back negative. The vit D though is something else. My readings are so low they're practically off the scale, despite taking 4500iu of Desunin every day for 12 weeks! (My allergy to UVB sunlight has a lot to do with this though as well so go figure!) Thanks so much for all the info. I'll be asking my rheumy to repeat them (if she's willing) because I'm convinced there's something else going on with my blood. Hey-ho, all we can do is soldier on for now.

[haribo36]

I get a lot of ain't I between my ribs,is this costochondritis? If so,what's the treatment for it as my tramadol dosent touch it when it flares up x

[haribo36 in reply to haribo36]

Oops! Sorry,meant to say I get a lot of pain

[Yorkshiregirlie in reply to haribo36]

Didn't even spot it, that's how on the ball I am.

[donna in reply to haribo36]

Haribo36 any chest pain ,rib pain,pain in arms or shoulders and breathlessness MUST always be taken to your GP or if that bad to A&E ., always be on the safe side as its easy to put everything down to diagnosed already sickness Fibro for instance! But we can't always blame it on the old faithfuls ,always hanging around!,

I mentioned the Costrochronditis to Yorkshiregirlie as she had seen her GP who had checked her out and mentioned the ligaments ...but hadn't given her. A Name for it! I had been to A&E on a couple of occasions ,where they thought I was having a heart attack..and once the bloods had been repeated I was deemed ok..although still in pain..and sent home .when I saw my GP he gave me the diagnoses as he specialised in Rheumy before he was a GP ..lucky for me!

It is very painful. Mine does respond to resting up as your not moving about so much ,but I make a cup of tea and I'm back to square one..!

Anti inflammatory drugs are usually used in this case ( tramadol isn't one of those) .. And can help ..I unfortunately can't tolerate these so don't take any pain meds..it does subside after a while but can last months s

Best wishes Donna

[donna]

I am also allergic to sun light and UVB lights ...it came with the Lupus diagnoses 4 years ago prior to that the sun was no problem .then even with sun cream hat and sun glasses.I now become quite ill if I go in the sun and it can cause a bad flare and my rash on face erupts!,,

I know you said your thyroid tests were negative..but ask for a copy from your GP ,you are able to have a copy for yourself..it is good for future reference ..so you can see the pattern emerging. Did you have an anti TPO test done? This will show anti thyroid antibodies..if these are present it would mean you have Hashimoto's thyroiditis...the autoimmune type of thyroid trouble....you can have antibodies which make you feel rough! And tired and poorly...but your TSH might show normal or lightly raised in which most Drs won't treat your thyroid .. ... Which is where we came in on the negative or normal blood results,...! It's a shame we all don't have a blood test when we are all young when most felt at their best and WELL! We would then have a well baseline to go by so when things go wrong and we feel poorly ..we can say that's my reference range when I felt good! Xx

[Yorkshiregirlie in reply to donna]

OMG! This sounds ominous. But you're right about the tests; I must get a copy because I'm sure what you're describing sounds so pertinent to how I feel and I deffo know something isn't right. So fed up with always feeling hellish. But I'm in good company so that makes it all so much easier to bear, knowing there is empathy and understanding whenever I need it. Thank God for this community!

[haribo36 in reply to Yorkshiregirlie]

And I will second that too!

[Yorkshiregirlie in reply to haribo36]

[donna in reply to Yorkshiregirlie]

I didn't mean to alarm you xx you could well have thyroid anti bodies Hashimotos ....and feel really poorly it swings high and low and can be like this for years ..it's worth having a read about Hashimotos ...Mary shomen has a good book..do an Internet search the more info you have the more you can stand up for yourself...you know that you don't feel well...and know one has to live in our body and cope on a daily basis!

My sister has antibodies that have been playing up for a couple of years and she also feels poorly ,tired ,and all the rest..she has said that both our mum and myself have Hashi's and can't they start her on a low dose of levo to see if she improves....if you were in America it is the norm to start meds ASP so you don't crash...but here in England they wait to pick up the pieces!

Bestwishes Donna x

[Yorkshiregirlie in reply to donna]

Another thing I've never heard of! I WILL research this because as I think I mentioned, Something is up - I just don't know what. Maybe this will explain things. (Not that I want to have it, I just want to put 'a name, explanation and how do i deal with it' to whatever it is I DO have. Sorry if that didn't quite make sense, not firing on all cylinders.) Thank you for this info; I'm a firm believer that knowledge is power and it all adds to the bigger health picture.