Im new on here . Ive had s fibromyalgia diagnosis from a rheumatologist and a neurologist and have got the opportunity to attend a rehab programme at a pain clinic . Ive got a problem accepting it and keep looking for a physical explanation . How do you know which symptoms are fybro and which are something else ?
I have terrible left hip , thigh and shin pain . Left neck pain , headaches and shoulder pain and today elbow wrist and finger pain . My eyes water and are sore .
I dont know - feel helpless
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Thomas-rose
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Hi Thomas-rose,I understand what you are going through because I went through same thing in 2017-18 when first diagnosed by rheumatologist.
Firstly, the symptoms, for me, have been coming and going, pain pys visit to different parts of bodies at different times.
With time, practice, exercise, medication and meditation one can live with fibro. It's not the same as before but I don't see it defining my life now (most of the time).
I can say what all helped me at that time.
- foam rolling
- stretching exercises (look for app called : Stretching Exercise - Flexibility)
- Yoga. Many free youtube guided sessions for 5-30 min practice sessions.
- massages, deep tissue massage.
- painkillers. I tried celecoxob, gabapentin, ibuprofen, duloxetine. Gabapentin had bad side effect for me so didn't take it for long. Most of these have withdrawal effects so dont quit cold turkey when feeling better.
- Meditation. It will feel pointless at first and your mind will wander. But if you keep practicing you will notice difference. Headspace is a good app for starters
- Walking out in the woods. Even if it hurt, I walked for 30 sone minutes anyway. This was adviced by my doctor.
I hope you find your peace soon. Different things work for different bodies so best to try and observe what makes you feel better.
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Hello and welcome, it can be very hard at 1st accepting the diagnosis, for me I felt like it all made sense when diagnosed why certain places hurt or ached as I didn’t know I had fibro. Some days seem better than others with aches and pains but a lot of people including myself say pacing your body throughout the day is key. Pain meds can be helpful and take the edge off, just finding something that helps on a daily basis. I find gentle exercise can helps , some try yoga, gentle stretching. Differently a warm bath each evening is a must for me , relaxing the muscles. . Hope you find the forum helpful .
Hi Thomas-rose and welcome to the club nobody wants to join. All the advice I would offer would be to treat yourself gently and kindly, once diagnosed we all struggle with understanding it. Just remember you are the same person you were five minutes before the label was pinned to you.
The dreaded fibro is different for all of us and what works for one may not work for another. I am a strictly no meds person as I seem to react negatively to all the ones I've tried, others on here are the same and some can't function without meds. For me it's processed food free diet, gentle exercise, bio freeze gel, tens machine,hot water bottles, weighted blanket, hypnotherapy and chiropractor to keep me functioning. I also credit the occupational therapist with her recommendations for reasonable adjustments at work for keeping me in employment. It's very much a case of trial and error.
Any new symptoms that appear are not necessarily down to fibro and it is always worth checking them out first. We all tend to blame fibro for everything and delay seeking medical advice. We've all done it and probably regretted it as it can delay treatment.
The hardest thing to do with fibro is to crack the art of pacing. Google the spoon theory if you are not familiar with it. On better days don't go charging around doing all the things you have'nt been able to get done as sure as eggs is eggs you will crash and possibly put yourself into a flare. Gently gently does it and remember to rest when you need to. I find 10 mins of housework more than enough before I need to rest. Listen to your body.
Don't be afraid of asking questions, we are generally a friendly bunch on here, and nothing is too silly to ask as believe me it will have been asked before.
Hi Thomas-rose or sue... O.o :-)It's helpful to generally "accept" it, but still keep looking for physical explanations for every single symptom, for triggers, ways to relieve each of them. Some people stop looking and prefer putting it down to fibro. They look on long lists of over 200 symptoms or ask here on the forum, and it's often mentioned by others.
I learnt to get a feeling for each symptom, describe them to all docs and physios and managed to get all local pains down with the help of trigger hunting, supps, expert acupressure & relaxation types etc..... Just cos I got/get them down and others like sleep, Ache, fatigue etc. under a bit of control doesn't mean they weren't/aren't fibro tho. But there were others that didn't fit. You say: eyes water & sore - if they are dry, that could just be sicca syndrome or maybe Sjögren's Syndrome. Had that tested, it wasn't Sjögren's, so sicca - which doesn't help, so you're left with treating many symptoms individually anyway. Unless you find med or in my case supps that helps on all pain areas or in my case symptom types. Just as an example: I've always had odd further symptoms, which I got under control, like IBS, or not. Then the jabs sparked a 'new' condition, MCAS, which revealed that that is probably what I've always had a tendency for, and who knows may have resulted in the fibromyalgia... Because I'm an eager trigger and supp hunter, and avid reader, I found quite a bit of help for this inside of 2 months, like for fibro inside of 2 years. But after all my combating, fibro didn't allow my activity levels to get higher than 40%, and first the 1st jab and now the 2nd have floored me down to 10% for more than 2 months each.... That's where radical acceptance comes in, but actually earlier, because once you accept it, instead of going into denial, you have more energy to change what can be changed....
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