Can you get bone pain with Fibromyalgia?

[fanakerpan24]

For the past 18months I have been getting pain in my thigh bones, hips and pelvis. It is not muscle pain its deep within the bone itself. I told my pain consultant about it last week as it has become more painful and more frequent, I asked if it was arthritis but he said at 33 i was too young for it to be that. He said it was because my body was overloaded by the fibro. I have never heard or read anything about bone pain with fibro. I have had fibro for 14 years

[moonbeam1_]

I will be interested to hear replies to this. I am currently awaiting a diagnosis of Fibro and one of my symptoms is joint pains and particularly my left hip. I am on Co codamol for this so it is generally under control. My GP has just sent me for a hip xray and I am awaiting the results, but I do get pain in other joint as well and they are sharp stabbing pains.

[fanakerpan24]

Hi moonbeam

Yes joint pain is a symptom of fibro and yes i get those too hands, knees etc but I am talking about in the bone itself. I get radiating pain through my hips, pelvis and down my upper thighs. its not joint pain its defiantly bone pain hence me thinking it was arthritis

[moonbeam1_ in reply to fanakerpan24]

Arthritis is a disease of the joints so the pain is usually joint pain rather than bone pain. hope this helps

[sophie22]

I have bone pain in my hips and shins, I have had MRI on hips and been told they are clear and yet my bones continue to be really painful, I have had fibro for 14+years so it could just be overloud, I wish I knew for sure. Gentle hugs xxxx

[secondhandrose2 in reply to sophie22]

I had scans which showed little damage and yet was/am in pain all the time so I decided to see an experienced psychotherapist privately - I had already seen an NHS one and just been given exercises and referred to the pain specialist. Anyway the private physio did the usual examination and told me that the although the pain is in my hip or other joints it is actually coming from the spine, however not the usual between discs problem but from some other place - she showed me on the skeleton and explained how it works. She said that when we have disc pain on a temporary basis, perhaps due to moving badly or lifting incorrectly, sometimes we adjust the parts of the body we use to avoid the pain, and I have been doing this for some months. She prescribed first that I stay on Gabapentin, Duloxetine and Ibruprofen for pain relief and for two weeks lie on a tennis ball placed exactly under the particular trigger points. She helped me to identify where they were but said they will vary at different times and that initially lying on the ball makes the pain much more intense but to stay on it until the pain numbs, then to remove it and find the next painful trigger point and so on, just once a day every morning. I am struggling to lie on the floor due to vertigo and other joint problems but someone advised me to use the tennis ball against a wall which I will try to do tomorrow. I thought some of you might like to try this.

[fanakerpan24]

Thanks Sophie. Hugs back lol.xxx

[Ginsing]

Hi I too suffer with bone pains as well as the muscles. All my ex rays come through clear and when they give you your results they look so satisfied but if they are okay why do they hurt so.! It is Fibro we know that it- it shouts from our bones, ligaments,our bones but the x rays ok this is a vicious circle we know where the pain comes from. What we need is pain killer management. So sort out your meds try taking two paracetamols before you take your other stronger meds. The paracetamol eases the stomach and makes the stronger meds more effective.

Hope this helps a little

xxgins Keep smiling through la la lalala

[fanakerpan24]

Thanks gins. Just frustrating as this is a pretty recent thing didn't get 'bone' pain before. Wondering what has changed in the past 18months. Consultant has written to my G.P to tell her to change my painkillers from co-codamol to tramadol and for me to try a duloxetine in place of fluoxetine. He did want me to have fentanyl patches but having had oxycontin in the past and hating being like a zombie i refused, he said that was our 'plan b' then lol

[secondhandrose2 in reply to fanakerpan24]

The physio I saw recently said definitely not Tramadol for the particular kind of 'bone' pain as it relaxes muscles and makes it worse. The medic consultant in specialist pain relief said to take Tramadol but it made the pain much worse for me so I will go with the physio who recommended a nerve pain relief agent like Gabapentin which I now find works well with Duloxetine. If the pain is very bad then I also take Ibruprofen along with a stomach liner.

[Fibrofoggiest]

Hi fanakerpan, I couldn't agree more with gins, I get deep pain in my bones, and I've been thinking it's down to arthritis which I also have. What Gins and Sophie say makes perfect sense, and I have to thank you for raising this as I thought it was something only I felt or that I was imagining it.

I'm pleased that your consultant has changed your medications is a good thing, both drugs are very useful and like gins so wisely says, add in the paracetamol, why it works so well I'm not sure, but it does make a difference.

Sending posting healing vibes your way

Foggy x

[fanakerpan24 in reply to Fibrofoggiest]

Thanks foggy. Hoping change of meds might give me some relief. Hugs.xxx

[Ginsing]

Just a thought I do take duloxatine an it is brilliant. I take it in the morning as it kept me awake at night - nb most things keep me from sleeping, just at mo I am sleeping about 4 hours a night much better.

So if your doc suggests duloxatine give it a go xxgins

[fanakerpan24 in reply to Ginsing]

thanks for the tip. its most welcome as i suffer from insomnia too so that would have been a nightmare lol.xxx

[Deaf_Havana]

fanakerpan, this was a great post to read through. I experience terrible bone pain both in the joints and bones themselves - it sometimes feels like the joint connecting my thighs to my pelvis have slipped out of place because they click when I walk. No one ever told me it could be fibro related and when I told a rheumatologist I was told I must be imagining it! Good to know I'm not alone.

Hope your meds change helps xx sarah

[fanakerpan24 in reply to Deaf_Havana]

thank. sarah.xxx

[cathy1110 in reply to Deaf_Havana]

I have it in my bones to i worriy as to why i do have fibo and never read anywhere that can be in my bones as well but is so painfulxx

[Wheelem in reply to Deaf_Havana]

When my hip bones & knee joints hurt I can deep tissue massage my ITband and it releaves the pain. All those muscles are connected

[Celticmoon]

Hi there

I, too, get severe bone pain and am on high doses of morphine-based painkilling drugs for it. When my GP asked me to define my symptoms some years ago I produced a many-paged document for her listing around 42 different symptoms from mild to severe. Actually listing all my symptoms, when or how they manifested themselves, what made them worse - & better helped me. I broke the pain I get into three categories as one type was very different from another. Bone pain, which I called "core pain" I sited as a cold, intense and toothache like, while the muscle pain or cramps I called "fluctuating pain" as this tends to be somewhat responsive to what I've done during the day. Finally the nerve pain, which was sharper and not always present I named "Fireworks" as this, to me, seemed appropriate. Obviously the names I chose were to describe MY symptoms, you may find another name more suitable... Most of my pain tends to fall into these three groups - sometimes I have just one type while at others I am bombarded with all three but it is the core pain that will often have me climbing the walls and leave me feeling panicky and tired. The fluctuating pain, as the name suggests tends to rise and fall and can also be extremely challenging to deal with as my muscles cramps and twist sometimes for hours making it impossible to use my hands etc. The Fireworks are shooting type pains that mainly affect the extremities (hands, feet and sometimes face, elbows) with their sharp knife like stabbing pain. I found doing my list of symptoms very helpful in the fact that I discovered many things about my pain - and more importantly what actually triggered and helped to relieve them. I'd recommend anyone to make such a list, even if it is for your own use - sometimes writing things down really does help to focus your mind on giving a better description, which in turns helps you and others achieve better understanding. I don't feel that age has much to do with this either... I'm a bit puzzled that you've been told that you are "too young" to experience a particular kind of pain. After all children have arthritis and non specific pain... It seems a conditioned response when a cause cannot be identified. I've had pain in varying degrees for the last 33 - 35 years, since I was 19 or so and have been told (as you have) that it is an overload of pain signals that sets up Fibro as your body gets used to receiving the pain signals until it is unable to distinguish "real" pain from non-specific pain without cause, which is however REAL. The specialist I saw said there is a very real connection for some women between Fibro and years of gynae problems, which I certainly had - so for me this makes perfect sense. That isn't to say that if you have never had gynae problems you cannot have Fibro!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm sure all the men who suffer are testament to that. Rather I feel he was trying to explain how the overload occurs and that in my own case this is what happened. So, in other words the root cause is neurological. I'd like to add here that the names I've called my pain are my own interpretation of MY own particular pain - they are not titles given to me but just how I described it to someone else.

14 years is a long time to be in pain and I really hope there will be something useful you and your doctors can work on together to establish a way forward from (& find relief from) the endless cycle of pain you're in.

Wishing you well. xxx

[fanakerpan24 in reply to Celticmoon]

hi Celticmoon

Thank you for taking the time to reply in such a personal and detailed way. Its good to know that there are other people experiencing similar health problems. I think you're approach in 'documenting' everything is a excellent idea. I saw my G.P yesterday she has basically washed her hands with me in regards to the fibro - now that I have seen a pain consultant again she wants him to deal with that side of my health issues. She didn't even want to discuss anything saying 'he's the expert you should do whatever he says'. Fair enough comment but to not even want to discuss!!! Its not like i can just get an appointment with him like I can with a G.P it takes months to get an app with him. Time for a change in doctor maybe even surgery all together as I'm getting no support from my current one only 'you have my sympathy' lmao sorry but I really wanted to smack her when she said that...she hasn't an iota.

Sorry rant over lol. You have been very helpful and inspiring. I am going to document everything and make another app to see the pain consultant

[secondhandrose2 in reply to fanakerpan24]

I found the pain consultant absolutely useless in that he prescribed Tramadol which is a very heavy drug whereas Gabapentin is a nerve pain drug which Tramadol is not, it is just a global painkiller but very strong and addictive.

[TheAuthor]

Hi fanakerpan24

I sincerely hope that you are feeling as well as you possibly can be today? I also have bone pain but I also have arthritis and I can usually tell the difference in that when my arthritis plays up I get a swelling and the skin gets a reddish tint to it.

As a matter on interest, I was diagnosed with arthritis in my knee joints when I was only 25 years old. I was then immediately sent for a DEXA scan to check my bone density. So you are not really too young to have arthritis.

I genuinely hope that you can find some resolution and relief to this problem.

All my hopes and dreams for you

Ken

[fanakerpan24 in reply to TheAuthor]

Hi Ken

Thanks for replying. I know i definitely have arthritis in my right knee due to an injury i sustained in the accident that triggered the fibro. So i know that i'm not 'too young' to have it. I get swelling and its get very hot to the touch. However I have queried whether i have arthritis or not before and I'm just given the brush off. At this stage I feel that my G.P things I'm just 'attention seeking' or maybe a hypochondriac because among other things I suffer from depression and anxiety. I think a change of G.P is called for and in future I should take some one into app with me who sees just what I'm going through, maybe then i will be believed. I'll wont give up...can't let the pain win lol

[Shazzzy]

Hi fanakerpan, just wanted to ssy i have had athritis since I was 14( i am now 50) and ive seen babies born with it, no such thing as being too young for athritis, its just less likely thats all.

[fanakerpan24 in reply to Shazzzy]

Thanks for this. I'm glad I posted this as now quite a few people on her have stated they had arthritis from a young age. Its something I can look into before my next app with my pain consultant.

[gracesgrandma]

Hi fanakerpan (my mum used to call me that when I was younger :o) I have this pain and I call it my bad to the bone pain.

[fanakerpan24 in reply to gracesgrandma]

Thanks for your reply. hahaha my dad used to call me fanakerpan when i was a lot younger lol, its from spike milligan... who my dad is a huge fan of.

[secondhandrose2 in reply to gracesgrandma]

You have just reminded me that my mum also used to call me that! Strange how I have never remembered before. The term must have been around when we were young.

[loppyloo61]

Hi Franakerpan, Sorry to hear that you a experiencing such pain, in your major joints, ie Hips ect. I"ve had Fibro well over 25 years but it has only been the past few years I started having horrendous pain in hip, shoulder ect. that reduced me to tears. Reumatologist found out I had Bursitis of hip,as I said pain was unbearable! Thankfully she gave me an Injection in my hip which relieved chronic hip pain within couple of days. Unfortunately Bursiitis did come back again after a few months and had to have another Injection to help relieve the pain but @ least so grateful that they work!

I am not saying you have Bursitis of hip but perhaps it is worth enquiring with you Reumatologist if an Injection may be of help to you. Good luck

Sending positive healing energies & hope your pain gets resolved asap!

Best wishes

[fanakerpan24 in reply to loppyloo61]

Thanks for replying. Maybe I should see a Rhematologist again....at this point in time i think i have to wait for a until i get new medication give them a chance and take it from there. The bone pain is a recent thing its only in the last 18 months its been present, but in the past few the pain has become more frequent and more intense.

I think patience is needed with this one...luckily its something I have to have most people on here will have had to be very patient lol

[loppyloo61 in reply to fanakerpan24]

Hi Nat,

I agree with mitzblue, you can have Arthritis from an extremely young age, my son was Diagnosed with Arthritis @ age of 16 years old!

I hope/pray what ever is causing this deep bone pain is resolved for you as soon as possible. Its bad enough to have Fibro pain but it there is something out there to help you with the other pain, I"m sure it is well worth pursuing to get some pain relief for it @ least?

Sending positive healing energies your way

(((gentle hugs)))

Lynn XX

[Mdaisy in reply to loppyloo61]

Hello All,

Link to Arthritis Research UK for anyone who may need more information ;

arthritisresearchuk.org/art...

Emma

FibroAction Administrator

[loppyloo61 in reply to Mdaisy]

Bless you for that Link Emma, very thoughtful of you. I shall certainly be having a look @ that later, Much appreciated. (((gentle hugs))) Lynn xx

[mitziblue]

That's soooo not true. You can have arthritis or a form of it at any age. I suffer with the chronic pain in my hips at night. See a pain specialist. Hope this helps.

[fanakerpan24]

Thank you all for taking the time to reply. I'm glad i posed the question on here. I never expected so many replies or to gain so much information to go back to g.p or consultant with. Thank you all again. Nat. xxx

[Mdaisy]

Hello Fanakerpan24,

I wondered if you've had any bloods recently as you may consider checking your Vitamin D levels, please see link & symptoms in adults;

patient.co.uk/health/vitami...

Many people with Fibro have a low Vitamin D including myself, a low vitamin D is likely to make your Fibro symptoms worse too;

Vitamin D deficiency is very common, although many people don't have symptoms and may remain unaware of the problem. But as possible symptoms include fatigue, muscle pains and muscle weakness, it is easy to see how these could seem to worsen symptoms of Fibromyalgia Syndrome. It can be diagnosed through a simple blood test (Lindsey Middlemiss Founder & Chair of FibroAction 2009)

fibroaction.org/Articles/Be...

This may be something the Doctors may like to investigate to eliminate it and then further to this you may feel you'd like to discuss your concerns with another GP for theit opinion as they may like to investigate further.

If you want information on Arthritis, I would consider reading the information on Arthritis Research UK;

arthritisresearchuk.org/art...

I hope this is of interest

Best Wishes

Emma

FibroAction Administrator

[fanakerpan24]

Thanks Emma. Very useful info definitely something to look into.xxx

[lymeliterate]

find another doctor. any doctor who says you can't get arthritis at age 33 is totally uneducated. even children can have arthritis.

[Thivitra]

What about having bone pain on my right arm..its very new to me..i normally suffer from the pain on my legs..

[Jayke2160]

Hi all. Cousin from across the pond here. I'm very grateful to have seen this post. I have been experiencing bone pain - soreness, tenderness, etc for some time. It's not muscle pain, it's bone pain.

I have had lower back MRI's a few years back and now I have to have MRI's done of the neck and spine (looking for MS which is likely not a productive move, but that's a long story). I also have to have my tailbone x-rayed because of severe pain on that front (pun intended).

I see a chiropractor once every 3 weeks. It's really the only relief from the tight feeling my body gets and I always feel better after the fact. He runs this vibrating massager over my back before starting to loosen the muscles, but more and more I can't stand it touching my spine. My bones feel as tender as soft tissue and it doesn't seem to be improving

My MRI years ago gave me the same sort of "Oh it's not that bad" response from my doctors that some of you seem to have been given. Maybe the bulging disc and arthritis isn't that bad, but apparently some damned thing is wrong.

Nevertheless, it is so good to learn that I'm not alone. Too often society in general, and doctors in particular, can lead me to feel like they're saying "It's not real. It's all in your head."

[jackie4ball]

Hi Fanakerpan.

I have had fibro for over 25 years and mine has always been joint pain. Saying you are too young to have Arthritis is rubbish as children can have arthritis however if they have done X-rays and tests etc to rule it out then that is definitive that it’s not arthritis. My pain has got worse over the years but I do now have OA in my hands, hips, knees. Now getting very bad back pain which if I do go to sleep wakes me up I find I can’t lie in one position all night as it becomes too painful and I like to sleep on my back but that then wakes me with backache and I have to virtually curl into a ball to stop the pain. I hope you find something that will help you.

Take care gentle hugs Jackie

[Fibronat]

I'm so relieved to read this , I was diagnosed about 15 years ago and it's only recently that my bones have really been causing extreme pain , yes I have flue like aches and pains in my limbs almost all the time but never like this. Even lying down is utter agony. I have had a really bad flare up that just won't ease . Gp sent me for loads of testes just to rule out anything else. She was extremely compassionate but at the end of the day she said it's all down to the fibro and stress is escalating the pain levels .

I'm sorry that you are in this pain , I'm looking at trying infrared sauna treatment. I'll let you know if it helps. Gentle hugs