Do I have Fibromyalgia? Post your stories...symptoms...how you cope..

[Wifezilla]

Two things you can do until you can get to a doctor...

1. Make sure you are getting enough vitamin D. Vitamin D deficiency is RAMPANT. You WILL NOT get enough from a vitamin or from your food. The average female uses 4000 IU/day. Unless you are supplementing, you need sunlight without sunscreen daily.

2. Take fish oil. A lack of essential fatty acids causes all kinds of neurological problems.

 

[Turtle]

thanks for the info on Lyme Disease that is the next on my list to test for. that and Diabetes which runs in my family. My mom has Fibro and I have asked if its hereditary and have been told no. I get told that Fibro gets diagnosed because they cant find anything else which makes me mad because it makes me think they are just trying to appease me. I have pain down to the bone and sometimes my muscles will feel like I have one big mild charlie horse all over. they will not give me any major pain pills because they say they will not help. well they do when I really need them but I hear "I dont feel comfortable prescribing narcotics when we are not sure what it is." Its pain darn it, I wish I could make them feel it for 10 minutes and they would give me it that I know for sure.

 

[Turtle]

Quote:
I have read up on both of those and you are correct. I have been taking the vitamin D and just started with the fish oil. Havent seen a difference yet but it does take time for it to start working.

 

[Wifezilla]

"According to peer-reviewed clinical research, inadequacies of vitamin D have been linked to chronic musculoskeletal pain of various types, muscle weakness or fatigue, fibromyalgia syndrome, rheumatic disorders, osteoarthritis, hyperesthesia, migraine headaches, and other somatic complaints. It also has been implicated in the mood disturbances of chronic fatigue syndrome and seasonal affective disorder.

Current best evidence demonstrates that supplemental vitamin D can help to resolve or alleviate chronic pain and fatigue syndromes in many patients who have been unresponsive to other therapies. Vitamin D therapy is easy for patients to self-administer, is well tolerated, and is very economical. The documents on this page provide detailed background information and practice recommendations."
http://pain-topics.org/clinical_concepts/vitamind.php

As for dosage on vitamin D and the type I recommend.... Carlson's Liquid D drops. Between 4000-10,000 IU/day. Higher dose if it is winter and you are overweight or sick. Have blood levels tested and adjust dosage as needed.

 

[MagsC]

I have fibro myalgia so this thread is very informative!
For me, one of the things I have to do is not OVER do, space out activities througout the day or it is a certainty it will act up more. Many is the time I have rushed through house chores and such only to feel practically crippled the following day! So, slow and steady.

Also, and I am not sure WHY this is, maybe someone else does, stress over a certain point causes it to flare up as well.

 

[sutillman]

So glad I found this thread. Have the exact symptoms you do, including the thyroid problem. I have been taking Synthyroid for several years. Do you have problems with headaches? I have had a weird headached everyday for nearly two years. Was finally refered to an ENT doctor who thought it was temporal arteritis. Biopsy was negative. Now I have an appointment with a neurologist. But I have days, like the last three, when every joint in my body aches. Right now, I could lay down and sleep for ever it seems. No fever, but feel that way, weird right? I am so tired of feeling like this. I live in a small town and after a year and a half, my family doctor just said he didn't know what was wrong with me! What do you do?

 

[AmyJ]

I was diagnosed finally a few years ago. It took a year or two to get a diagnosis though. I started having symptoms a few months after I had my daughter, and knew it wasnt normal after having a baby tiredness from lack of sleep and I had pain all over all the time. Make sure you get to see a Rhuematologist. Mine has me on a muscle relaxer and vitamins and it has helped tremendously. I'm getting better at managing it and not over doing it as everyone else has said too, but the pain never really goes away totally and sometimes my back will hurt more or my hips, arms etc. Weather, tempurature outside, that time of the month affects it too. And I'm so glad its not just me, it seems like others here are having the same things affect them. Good luck and hope you find out soon.

 

[Western Chick]

Quote:
Yes! The headaches were the first chronic pain I dealt with, I think they're related to neck tension because I have them pretty well managed just seeing a Chiroprator. I do still get them though- usually in the temporal area and around the back of my head, into the neck.

For the rest of you who have been diagnosed, I'm getting the feeling that the pain you experience is more general, all-over the body pain all the time. I can relate to the flu-like ache analogy, that makes sense. But does FM ever manifest as more of a specific source of pain? For example, I've been dealing with pain in my leg for a couple months now. Sometimes it's better, sometimes worse but it all seems to radiate from a tight muscle high up at the top of my hamstring (low butt area). I've tried many things but can't seem to work the pain out of the muscle.

Maybe I just have poor posture habits or old injuries creeping up causing me pain?

 

[Turtle]

Its the leg pain I first started getting. Bad leg cramps that would wake me up at night and I would have to walk for half an hour to get it to calm down. still have them just not as bad. Get your thyroid checked it might be contributing to the leg pain.

 

[PeepsInc]

Your symptoms sound like mine. Only I've been confirmed to have limes disease from a tick bite. Ticks can give you many diseases from bellspalsi to a form of meningites. I believe in exercise and eating rite. Medicines always have some side affect that's usually worst than the original problem.