Fibromyalgia Support Group

I started with thyroid problems. I had surgery to remove the left thyroid way back when I was about 25 years old. Then the right side of my thyroid along with an 8cm growth was removed almost four years ago. That last operation messed my parathyroids up and my body lacks the ability to process (make?) calcium; therefore I have to take A LOT of calcium 3,500 - 4,000 mgs a day along with Calcitriol which is super Vitamin D. I have been fatigued since my last thyroid surgery and started having a lot of pains in my body. I was dx on March 31st of this year.

I was in an abusive relationship for a very long time, divorced, remarried and then quit my job, got a shoulder surgery caused by 1st marriage. well anyhow after that during my recovery on my way to my 1st interview after working for same co. after 20yrs 6wks of shoulder being out of place had a car accident. emgcy rooom dr said no big deal.. after that I was never quite right and kept getting worse and worse. Alot of sleeping disorders since I was a child...Yes I think I had it a long time, but the stress triggered into full blovwn fibro and a very weak 40 yr old woman..I was a very active woman as well..So no this is not working well for me either..But I know all things will turn out.. I will have good days..I may not have all good days or hours at a time even, but some are ok...

I was always an active kid and teen. I was on a team sport year round. I got mono when I was 14 but recovered quickly from it. I didn't experience any undue stress, no abuse or anything like that. I was pretty healthy in my 20's and 30's. I've never had the flu, just battled occasionally with tonsilitis. Shortly after I got married, my stepdaughter had a mild virus called 5th disease (it's Parvo B-19) and I got it from her. Because I had just gotten married and moved into my husband's house with his 4 kids, my immune system wasn't exactly up to par due to the stress. This virus threw me a huge curve ball. I had a high fever and couldn't even keep water down for 3 days. On the 4th day I woke up to severe pain in my joints. I couldn't even bend my fingers to make a fist. The joint inflamation was horrible and it felt like someone was sending electrical currents down my arms and legs. This little virus that usually goes away in 3-5 days was coursing through my system for 18 months. Everytime my blood was tested in that time period it showed that I was still producing active antibodies for the parvo B-19 virus. This happens in less than 3% of people infected with it. Initially I was diagnosed with RA. Then a little over a year into this, my symptoms changed and I began to have the signature muscle pain of fibro. There is no fibro in my family. Just lucky me.

I'm still not convinced that our vaccination protocol doesn't somehow alter how our natural immune system should work.

I am learning to pace myself. I do a few chores and rest, etc. I also have problems with memory, forgetting things,etc, This is not good for work. I sometimes wonder what I will do, I will not get enough social secority on early retirement, basically have nothing to my name after a bad divorce and the worrying probably brings on episodes. The spinal cord stenosis gives me terrible cramps in my feet and legs which I have to take muscle relaxers for. The muscle pain I try to endure but have Vicadon if it gets unbearable. However, I hate taking these drugs. People don't see to understand the good/bad day thing. I know at work some think I am faking. What a mess!

I agree with what Peace and the others have shared. It is what it is, and I don't care for the most part what they call it....except when I get ignored or given a look like I should be ashamed. Then, I care!

For me, It was a slow building problem. But looking back, it's all clear to me now.

Dad passing away, car accident the following year, noticed things like I couldn't clean the house AND take care of the lawn in the same day anymore. I used to be able to whip through it all in 4hrs. Now it takes me 4 days....to only start it all over again =)

I believe with out a doubt my Grams had it. Now, my mom is starting to see how she is like me in many ways. She's saying things like....I'm just like you...blah blah blah.

And I'm fearing my cousin has it now.

In the meantime, I am doing what I can when I can to help control the symptoms. As HARD as it is, I try to stay active. Because of this I have very few...truly disabling days where I simply can't move at all....not even to get up to go to the bathroom on my own. Everything else is when I'm just being dumb and overdoing it. Which is a fine line and I am still trying to discover those boundaries.

The more I read and learn I'm beging to believe that my illness is the result of a virus. I think I had CFS first starting when I was 24 or 25 I started having chronic ear and throat infections and then when I was 39 I had breast cancer and the chemo treatment lowered my immune system so much that the CFS and Fibro just took over.

Also since there is no history of breast cancer on either sides of my family I wonder if the CFS is the cause of my cancer.
Who Knows I just want a cure or better treatment.

I also wanted to add that I agree with Unduki. I too believe this is some form of the HPV virus. There are thousands of forms of it out there. It's the only one common denominator we all have amongst ourselves.

This is sure an interesting read.
Thanks for all the replys, and for posting this topic raindrop.

Gentle hugs to all, Sherrall

one of my drs. thinks it's a sleep disorder and that if we can sleep well we'll feel much better/ an experiment was done with some college kids, kept awake and awakening every few hours and never getting into deep sleep and they had fibro symptoms within a week. don't remember who did the experiment. you know that this kind of sleep is used for torture. not allowing deep stage 3 and 4. and look at michael jackson's death and heath ledger's they both were half crazy from insomnia and g-d knows what they took to knock themselves out. i know just how they felt, i felt this way when i od.deed. just couldn't turn off my brain. that was 3 years ago. almost died.