Hello Walks,
You pretty much described fibro in men. Pain near the tender points, fatigue, fog, muscle pain, etc. There is some good information online dealing with this. Search fibromyalgia symptoms in men. Also, I am a man with fibro. If you have any further questions, send me a message and I'll do my best to help out.

Kel

I have a friend who's a guy (not on this board), and he has fibro. His sounds very much like you describe. I haven't talked to him lately, though.

I hope you can get to the bottom of things so you know what's going on.

We have a few men on the board (not as chatty as us ladies, of course!), and that seems to be pattern with them more than with women. The pain near but not really "at" tender points, the fatigue, the history of pain issues that seem to accelerate, and did I mention the fatigue? The men who've shared on our board (and to whom we're grateful for their input and experience) have almost all described such an onset pattern, as well as the variation in "pain point" location.

My rheumatologist who diagnosed me in 1995? Was male, and had FM. Which, back then, was heresy. Men? Getting a girly disease? Unthinkable! But he thought it and didn't dismiss it.

My neuro says that pain referral in men can vary from women depending on where in the body you're testing. FOr example, the literature does not cover much on groin injuries in females, so the fact my pain refers differently meant a pelvic injury went untreated for six months. I didn't fit the "chart". (Which was male. Umm...)

I also, as a female, often have pain nowhere near the "supposed to be". That's from old injuries and scarring, which can interfere with the whole Textbook Ideal. And fibro tends to have its "hot spots" in each individual, without any respect at all for those charts!

If you've been screened for the usual suspects (celiac, viruses, blah blah blah), then see if you can find a rheumy or neuro who specializes in Fibro diagnosis and/or treatment. GPs can diagnose but aren't the best ones to do so as a rule.


Luck and blessing,
Leo (lioness)

Aloha! Welcome to the site!

I'm a woman but your description sounds similar to mine. I remember in my early fibro stages always having spasms, now not as often. And then feeling like I just ran a marathon when I hardly did anything. Over the years started getting pain around my joints one by one. I have pain at my tender points, but I also get lots of pain in other odd places that are nowhere near the spots. I think in general we fibro people will have pain all over. But the map of tender points is for docs to check the spots we usually have most in common (as part of the test to make a positive diagnosis).

I had a guy friend who has fibro and his pain was mostly in his back. I think he may have complained about headaches and fatigue, too, but I don't remember.

PS. I remember my muscle pain used to get so bad I was crawling to the the bathroom.... also had trouble holding up a toothbrush and brushing my teeth (from the back and forth motion). So I had to get an electric toothbrush.

If you haven't seen a rheumatologist yet, you probably should.

" I have not seen a doctor yet for fibro " Fibro isnt an illness you can diagnose yourself. A lot of other illnesses can mimic fibro. Drs will check your blood for many other things and that is just the beginning of getting a proper diagnosis.

I'm a male with Fibro and it sounds pretty much like I have. My pain is wide spread throughout my body. Some days my muscles are so tight I feel as if I been lifting weights all week. Then again muscle tightness runs in my family. My dad whom is 81 still has muscle tone. Our muscles never relax. Add fibro to the equation and it's unreal at times.
Muscle relaxants sometimes ease or mask the pain.

There are probably lots of males with fibro who have no clue as to what it is. When I trace my dads life backwards I believe he had fibro most of his life. Men overall do not seem to talk about it much. I rarely ever meet another male that openly experiences the kind of debilitating pain that I do. I'm not even sure what pain points I have since fibro manifests in so many different areas. When asked by a doctor what seems to bother you I can never quite give them a straight answer which frustrates them. Doctors cannot handle multiple pains at once and these days they will never research your problems do to lack of time and compensation.

Best to get yourself checked out anyways. If everything checks out normal, good chance it's fibro related. We are known for having normal blood results. There is a group online "Fibro for Men". To me it sounds like both men and women experience similar stuff, yet fibro comes with it's unique set of problems for each individual.

I experience weird stuff like all my teeth and gums hurting, weird reactions from eating food, and a host of other weird sh*t along with the common stuff on the everyday fibro pain listings. I would say you are lucky that you can still work and hopefully whatever it is that you do have doesn't progress. Having lay down 10 hours each day is no picnic. I had to custom design a computer stand the I can use in a laying down position because all the ones that are being sold fall apart.

Best of luck!

Do you all know that the American College of Rheumatology has recently ELIMINATED the 18 points of pain requirement for the fibro diagnosis??

When the doc touched all my supposed tender spots, none hurt; and I still got diagnosed with fibro. When that requirement is eliminated, then, yep, I fit the picture.

Check out the websites of Mayo Clinic, Medline, etc. to see the updated info.

I've been aware of them eliminating the pressure point test. I'm not sure the doctors are quite up to speed on that. I would definitely fail that criteria.

Sorry man, but that sounds like what happened to me 12 years ago. I woke up one morning and it felt like I strained all my muscles at a football game. This feeling hasn't gone away and only grew stronger. Sorry man... keep your head up and find a good Dr.

Renewing support. It's as if men are too unlikely to get the fibro dx and women are too likely to, so we both lose out somehow....

Keep trying, vent away, ask questions, we're a pretty diverse group, we've seen/tried a *lot*!

I do think there are manifestations in men that aren't the same in us gals, if only because we've got some basic biology in the way. Also, the diagnostic criteria were established using a patient pool of predominantly *women*, so it only makes sense men can't "fit" perfectly. The heart attack diagnostic critera are male-based, after all, so women often get "missed' on that.

Medical science---there's a reason they still call it "practice"!

Hi Walks,
To me, it sounds like you have FM going on. I was diagnosed 20 years ago, and am a man as well. I really don't believe that the pressure point "test" is of much value in diagnosis, and there are no blood tests (that I know of anyway) that can definitively diagnose FM.
Anyway, I totally relate to your description of muscle pain and fatigue. I am not a physician (but I play a good one on t.v.), but I wonder if there is some overlap between the muscle spasms you may experience with CP, and if with FM, it makes diagnosis all the more confounding and the pain doubly worse.
Anyway, I visit a pain management clinic in Green Bay, and the nurses tell me that they actually see more men with FM than women. I thought that was strange. So, as one person in the thread wrote, I think FM has been largely a "closet" disorder that men don't talk about. You know how society expects us to uphold a false standard of our manhood!
In the interim, until you are diagnosed, some things that have worked for me include hydrotherapy and/or baths with epsom salts (very, very relaxing for the muscles), Cymbalta (effective for pain and depression), and a bit of very mild yoga exercises, even light massage therapy.
I really wish you the best, and if you are diagnosed with FM, just to let you know it is not the end of the world, but it is an incredible yoke to shoulder. As a few of the thread writers suggested, there is a lot of info on the web that is very helpful.
You have a great one, and all the best to you.