Have I got fibromyalgia?

[JoLouise88]

Morning all! Hope today is a good day for you all.

I need your guys help! I’m struggling with coming to terms with this pain. Soooo I’m asking- am I looking at my pains being fibromyalgia or something similar?

So firstly the pains in my legs from the knee down to my toes- it’s horrendous! I mean my joints hurt and ache and my muscles literally take in turns cramping! And my right foot has this pain like I have a knife stuck in my heel. No matter how much I stamp and rub it’s just there!

I have this dull ache in my right arm from the shoulder down. It does bother me but I try to ignore it. But then this shooting pain slowly goes down to my fingers! Now that I can’t ignore!! Both my hands ache and feel stiff also.

My neck and headaches- I’ve always suffered so I’ve learnt the difference between the start of a migraine and a headache.

Sinuses- really silly but are sinuses effected by this condition? This horrible stuffy nose just wont go away?

Itching? I actually scratch my body so hard it marks my skin? My skin somewhere is always itchy!

I’m tired! I feel drained and when I feel tired I just can’t keep my eyes open? It’s not a nice feeling when your forced to have to stay awake when you feel like this.

I’m really looking for some advice. I do try to keep upbeat but this has days were it beats me and gets me down!

I’m currently being treated with sertraline, Pregablin and codiene. I have this ibuprofen gel which was prescribed last week so will keep rubbing in my knees and ankles to see if I can at least ease the pain

Sorry for the essay!! Jo x

[Dizzytwo Moderator]

Hi there nice to meet you I have had Fibro for over 30 years and my GP told me many moons ago. All we can do is treat the symptoms as they show up. And I still do that now.

Almost everything you wrote about can be fibro related. But they are also stand alone health issuies that none fibro people suffer with too.

Your foot pain for example could be plantar faciitis. I have this extremely painful condition and it's not related to my fibro.

This time of year many people suffer from season sinus problems. Again not necessarily fibro related.

What I'm trying to say is if are suffering so badly then may I suggest you speak to your GP or your pharmacists. Not everything we feel is fibro related. It's not impossible to have a number of things going on at the same time.

I take a nasal spray when my sinus is bad. I use orthotics in my shoes and slippers all the time. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to put foot to floor some days.

But if your symptoms are new to you I would get them checked out. Like I say not everything is fibro related. I hope you can have a good day xx

Momo

PS if you want to lock your posts to this community only this link will show you how for privacy reasons.

healthunlocked.com/fibromya...

[JoLouise88 in reply to Dizzytwo]

Thankyou for your reply. I have just had a good read about plantar faciitis which is something I will put forward to the doctor also. I’ve never heard of this before so this is going to come in very useful.

Yes I understand totally. It’s obviously a very hard one to diagnose. Plus I don’t really want to be diagnosed and treated for something when like you said it may just be lots of things going on at once.

It’s the shooting and stabbing pains over my body that first made the doctors suggest fibromyalgia. It’s just becoming difficult to live with when the pain is not giving me a break. This is why I asked for people’s views as too wether you guys who also suffer daily believe I am suffering from the same condition or not. That way if people don’t think my pains 100% relate to fibromyalgia I could look down other routes.

All answers and options are so important and helpful so Thankyou. You have certainly give me something to look into.

Thankyou again Jo

[Dizzytwo Moderator in reply to JoLouise88]

Your very welcome. May I ask who diagnosed your Fibro and as your GP done all the standard blood tests to rule out any thing else that maybe going on before diagnosing fibro xx

[Midori]

Hi there and welcome!

Getting a Fibro diagnosis can take time, as all the symptoms and signs need to be assessed individually before a conclusion is reached. This can take a Looong time, (in my case 20 years!)

This is because many symptoms cross over with other conditions such as MS and CFS/ME.

It is also possible to have Fibro alongside CFS/ME.

Have you been referred to a Consultant Rheumatologist? That is the commonest way to get a diagnosis, although there are a few GPs coming along now who are capable of diagnosing it.

Hope this helps,

Cheers, Midori

[JoLouise88 in reply to Midori]

Hi! Thankyou, well my old doctor was pretty much sure and even noted a diagnosis of fibromyalgia. I have recently moved area and my new doctor is not happy with this and is now just classing this as a chronic pain condition on paperwork.

This is how my post has come about!

I’m just so fed up of medication and pain but in my mind for what?

I’m being referred to alsorts of doctors etc

But I’m just now concerned as too what this is. I came around to the idea of fibromyalgia and how I was going to cope long term but you guys have the best advise and can say it does or doesn’t sound like fibromyalgia and I can then look into what else this could be!

Sounds ridiculous like I’m asking for a magic reply but you have much more knowledge of these conditions then I ever have!

I appreciate the reply 🙂

[Midori in reply to JoLouise88]

All through our own experiences, we are all sufferers here! Doctors (in the main) Have neither the time or energies to diagnose, also they don't know what it feels like. We do.

Cheers, Midori

[JayCeon]

Hi I keep asking these kind of questions for my oddities too, things I've not heard belonging to fibro before. But really it doesn't make a difference. The question for me is if anyone's got any ideas for getting it down. So here goes...

I got almost all of my pains down by analyzing situations, changing activities and with * gentle osteopathy, trigger pointing, exercises etc. That's the direction I'd look for the pains in the legs and feet, in the shoulders and arms and hands, and the neck. I've found loads of trigger points or exercises for everything. Just newly learnt hand exercises, incl. qi gong balls. Getting the pains down is more important to me than the stiffness. Neck and butt are ongoing / recurring, but better than before.

I've newly got more headaches because my blood pressure meds are getting it down more. Before it was drinking too little, but I've stepped that up: 2 litres before "2pm". Eating, sleeping, fresh air and breaks are the other main reasons. Bad sleeping would then be a typical fibro consequence.

I often have a stuffy nose from the middle of the night on. Dunno why yet. Workarounds: Nose strips, a harder small pillow under a half of my face, so I can lie face down, getting up, cold showers. My ENS says I should get the nose operated but I won't, I wanna find what aggravates it.

My skin has always itched, long before fibro, praps atopic dermatitis, but without rashes. So I keep all contact with water, soap & all synthetics down to an absolute minimum, that helps. I could have Sjögren's (autoimmune), which would mean a dryness syndrome, which can include the skin too. But that doesn't help any more than to take the dryness seriously.

The tiredness meant a gradual but big change of my life-style. 10 years ago I could still sometimes dance all night, then I had to go down to 1-2 hours 11pm-1am, then 2-3 years ago only on a good evening, feeling 9pm was OK, but 10pm was too late. Now I get tired at 5 or 6pm if I'm lucky, otherwise 2pm. And try to stay up till 9pm or 10pm. I need much more sleep, but need longer to get thru with it, cos I have 3-8 breaks per night. Amitriptyline didn't help much, it was analyzing and targeting up to 10 reasons. Sometimes it's just my eyes that are tired and that could mean dryness, i.e. closing eyes, blinking.

Drained is a good word for the exhaustion after overdoing things which can mean doing easy activities for more than 3 mins. or sometimes even 30 secs.

All meds gave me side effects (skin & seizures), amitriptyline 7+ side effects, and I'm much better off without.

And I keep plugging it: cold showers and Wim Hof's breathing exercise. When I can't do my whole body cryotherapy. That's all more against the general fibro-ache & -exhaustion.