You may be experiencing a flare. But, given that it is all centered in your head and neck, call your doctor. Not everything can be blamed on Fibromyalgia. Take care.

Hi. Yes it may be a flare but a flare will subside. If it's continuing probably should get checked out. Some other diseases go along with fibro very often,
Feel better !

Yes, I experience this also. Problem being it's so hard to know when to get something checked out or not. It seems that 98% of the time doctors are clueless.

Hello hello. Welcome to the group.

It's a very known problem for FMS patients to have a hellish time getting proper medical attention for new or increased pain complaints. Fact of the matter is that you live with your daily pains. You know them, no matter how much you hate them. You know when something is different. You know when something is much worse. And even if it is FMS pains, things have (once again) gotten bad enough that your quality of life is reduced to a point you don't find tolerable. It unfortunately takes a lot of self-advocacy to grab the "care"takers by the ear and have them understand that one of two things is happening:

1 - symptoms of something else are rearing their heads. Co-morbidity (having more than one disease) in FMS is very, very common. Just because a person has one disease doesn't suddenly make them immune to ever manifesting another. If a pain is in a different location or has changed in nature, it's obviously not normal pain. The pain being different in every way rather takes the "normal" part out of the equation. They need to do their job, and do what they can to get your quality of life back up.

2 - for whatever reason, your FMS pains have increased and/or manifest in different locations. Clearly current medication isn't quelling it enough. Perhaps medication should be re-evaluated, physical therapy considered to strengthen core muscle groups to take strain off badly effected areas, or lifestyle needs to be discussed to see how much strain the body is being put under. In other words: they need to do their job, and do what they can to get your quality of life back up.

Just because they don't have a simple answer doesn't mean they get to wave you off. But many will try to, unfortunately. Confusing cases. Controversial cases. Many a PCP seems to just want to get rich off diagnosing sprained ankles and over-prescribing antibiotics for every little thing (don't mind me - my partner is PhD in the field of microbiological pathogens and antibiotic resistance, so that's a big gripe in our household about modern medicine).

If your doctor has some sense in her, maybe consider talking to her about it. If you don't feel like your doctor is pro-active enough or knowledgeable enough about FMS and the conditions that often tag along, consider switching to another PCP if possible. Perhaps one who specializes in FMS, or at least in any conditions that would leave them more understanding. Chronic pain, rheumatic disorders, osteoarthritis and some auto-immune diseases can lead to symptoms close to FMS, so anyone specialising in things like that might be more up to date on fibro-related things.

Sorry for the novel. I definitely understand how frustrating it is when someone else deigns to tell you what your pain is or isn't, without running tests, and when they obviously don't feel the pain themselves. We're with you, and we understand you. Come back any time for questions, or for commiseration/celebration about your doctor appointment. There is also a daily check-in thread for us fibromites to just socialize about our day with people that understand what we go through.

Good luck with everything!

I have a ton of neck pain. I have to use icy hot on my neck just to sleep each night. Have you seen a chiro? Not everything is fibro. I found out I have one leg longer than the other and spine is slightly twisted causing even more pain in my neck and back. Not what I need with all this fibro and nerve pain. But I have also heard of others having a lot of neck pain, and it is from their fibro. It's so hard to tell. I would tell the doctors and look into as much as you can. We should never give up finding answers for ourselves. Hugs

goodness, hugs that don't hurt. depending where exactly your neck pain is - bone pain, muscle, glangular system, is it nerves being pinched maybe, so many things it could be - or combinations fo tthem - you know this already too -

so frustrating -

but, if it might be a serious something, and the dr. most likely will assume and brush you off - it's the fibromyalgia and it is the holiday hours - what have you

anything involving your neck/head/face - worth going to urgent care to be on the safe side.
if you are able to. i know insurance is nuts if you have it and the co pay isn't.....terrifying. peace of mind though is priceless - again, if you can.

my eyes are up to that - being in pain and having a rough time off and on seeing. i have fibromyalgia dx and now M.S. - but 20/20 vision/?? couldn't believe it, but i do. and not the M.S. stuff w/my eyes. it is - no reason given for the problems. it is weird, that's all i get for answer. and: use reading glasses as needed.

i get migraines too sometmies.

my neck has so much wrong with it from whip lashes - 3 of them, in one car accident i had several different directions of them so - more really. now, have other stuff going on there adn it was fortunate that the neuro did further mri and exray as found new spinal cord injury. you don't know. they don't know and shouldn't assume.

it really is difficult as w/fibro we have such trouble with pain, in the neck too, that we become confused and don't know when to ask for help.

Welcome, so sorry about your pain, it can be the worst especially when its constant all day and night! Im a few months new with Fibro (well I found out that thats what it was a few months back but have been in pain off and on for about a yr or so). I find that when its colder I hurt more, if im sitting to long, I hurt more. I will pray that things at least ease up for you...

Tenderness to touch, brain fog (or fibro fog as you may wish to call it), dead arm feeling, sort of strange issues with your eyesight - I've dealt with all those things, so it all sounds pretty normal, well as normal as anything can be for living with fibromyalgia.

As others have said, no one else can know your body the way you do, so if you've got a sudden new strange pain that doesn't make sense to what you've always dealt with regarding the fibro, then you may want to see your GP to be certain it isn't something completely different since nothing says that once we've got fibro we can't have another ailment (though many doctors do seem to just want to lump everything that is ever wrong with you under that umbrella once you're carrying it). If you've had flares before and this all feels different then it'd be good to see your doctor but if you've never had a flare before and this feels more like a heighted level of what you generally experience, then it likely is just a flare up and it's nothing to be greatly alarmed about just know you need to really take it easy for a while since it could take some time for things to level off a bit. If you've been under a lot of stress lately that could magnify your symptoms and that could explain some of the issues you're experiencing. But if it is any consolation, what you've described sounds pretty normal (for fibro) to me and I've had fibro for over 10 years now.