Fibromyalgia Support Group
You're not alone in your pain. Fibromyalgia is a condition that can be difficult to diagnose and manage. If you're trying to cope with pain throughout your body, sleep problems, general fatigue, or other common fibromyalgia symptoms, you're in the right place. The community is here for you to talk about therapies and share your challenges.
I've been a member of the Depression forum on here for years. I've also suffered from IBS since puberty hit. I started going through peri-menopause a few years ago. I've also dealt with fatigue to varying degrees since puberty. I used to think that maybe I had CFS, but I never had ANY physcial pain. I moved from the Midwest to the South 3 years ago -- I had lived in the Midwest my entire life. Last summer, my peri-menopause symptoms got worse, and then allergies hit later in the summer. Late in the summer, I caught a bad cold on top of my other symptoms, and I finally went to the doctor. I bought over-the-counter natural menopause support pills, which have definitely helped that aspect, and I started taking an antihistamine. I was given other medications for my symptoms at the time, and I found that Sudafed and Flonase caused EXTREME muscle tension and agitation, even in extremely low doses. I did not take either for more than 2 days because I couldn't tolerate them. I had different side effects to other run-of-the-mill prescription and over-the-counter medications and I stayed home for 2 weeks trying to figure out which symptoms were due to illness and which were side effects. Eventually I got myself down to an antihistamine, an inhaler, and the menopause pills, and things improved. One day I woke up feeling incredibly rested and alert -- something that is rare -- I figured this was how "normal" people feel after a good night's sleep. I was thrilled. That continued, but in a few days I started noticing pain in certain parts of my body -- always on both sides -- shoulders, elbows, hips, knees -- but not the joints themselves -- around the joints, I guess, is the best way to describe it. My doctor didn't know what to make of it. Then winter hit, and I noticed that as it got cold, I felt more fatigued and the pain lessened. Now the temperatures are rising, I'm not as fatigued, and I'm starting to notice the pain in my shoulders again. The funny thing is that I haven't been depressed since my periods stopped almost a year ago -- haven't needed any medication for that at all -- I get down sometimes, but it doesn't "stick" like it used to. My IBS has also improved since then -- I think I've had 1 or 2 bouts when I wasn't careful about my "trigger" foods. I know that depression is considered a symptom of Fibromyalgia, as well as IBS. Is it within the realm of possibility that I had some symptoms of it (or CFS, or something similar???) for most of my life, and now I'm just experiencing the pain symptoms? I'm completely flummoxed. Any thoughts or insights would be appreciated. Thank you. :)
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Another day, another ouchie?My bruised achilles tendon (don't ask) makes my foot numb. Wonky on meds, whacked it.Now, as to fibro:A lot of reports are going around some parts of social media that fibro (and dang near anything else) are caused by post-Covid, post-flu, post-vaccinations, post-pick-something.1. Your risk of death or serious complications beyond "ow, that shot hurt!" are typically...
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Years ago, I won a mirrored armoire from my job. It's in my bedroom but I rarely stand in front of it. Yesterday, I had to have a dexascan done so I had to change into a gown. There was a full length mirror in the changing room. I'm aware that I gained 5 to 7 pounds over the last year from cheating on Keto but I didn't know what it looked like. It was a reality check.
Hormones, allergies, age.... these are all factors that affect us. Time for a full workup, IMHO.
Eliminate RA, thyroid, everything ending in =itis, etc.
And sinc eyour depression is alleviated, or isn't "sticking".... and so much else is improved re: IBS? .... yoru body could be in a transition period.
Get the blood work. Get the CT/X-rays of joints and adjacent areas. See a neurologist and rheumatologist, who are the usual specialists for fibro. It could be all sorts of things --- particularly as it seems related to weather, from your post.
And we're experts on living with fibro, not knowing if it *is* fibro. We've had members find out years later that they actually had something else, and all sorts of different therapies and and and.... So... Best I can say is, journal the symptoms, triggers, etc., and start asking doctors to answer why the patterns exist.
Good luck. Sorry I can't be more helpful. Healing hopes to you!
You can call your local hospital and ask for the physician referral service. Ask them to match you up with a rheumatologist, neurologist or a pain management specialist. Fibromyalgia is a diagnosis of exclusion. When every other possible source of chronic pain has been eliminated, than Fibromyalgia is the culprit. You have a long road of testing ahead of you. Take care and good luck.