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.
Hi, I am new here and haven't been diagnosed with fibromyalgia however have all the symptoms. Chronic fatigue, chronic pain, and overall inability to do things I once did without any problem. I have had an immense amount of stress in my life, and I am finally in a place where I can do what I just did and reach out and communicate for the first time about how I feel. I have changed my diet and recognize i am very intolerant of gluten and sugar as well is difficult for me to manage. I either have no sugar in my diet or tons usually during my cycle. I am feeling very defeated because I've been extremely depressed. Trying to make changes to my life before adding yet another medication to my days. I currently am medicated for depression, hypothyroidism, anxiety, ADHD, and high cholesterol. I feel like I take too much medication and still have no energy, tons of brain fog and I either sleep too much and still don't feel rested and have a hard time completing minor tasks or I cannot fall asleep like tonight, and my brain doesn't stop and I go the night without any sleep because I fear not waking up in time for work. I am terrified that I have lived like this for so long that it has become my norm and unless i hear any promising stories of anything that has worked, I fear that my depression and fatigue will take over my life more than it has already. I have already lost everything financially and have no credit to even turn things around. I need support and hope. With everything I've been through, especially in the past 5 years, I credit being alive to my 4 year old twins as they have been my only reason to hold on to hope and literally survive each day. But I'm sick of not living and I hate that my kids suffer as a result of what I am not able to do physically. I'm ready to make changes and want to start my own business, but not without my health getting better.
Where do I go to get a proper diagnosis and will this even help at all?
Thanks for listening, feeling like an awful person. I often feel like a 90 year old woman trapped in a 41 year old body.
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I'm alive, I'm sleeping like a rock, and for some reason I wanted cherry juice so that seems to be helping. (??? Weirdo that I am.)***Infamous therapies over history:1. The Attic. The madwoman in the attic is a motif in literature going waaaaaay back: the nutty female relative is locked in the attic. (See: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte for a grotesquely racist version of it, and Charlotte Perkins...
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Welcome to the Perseid meteor showers, the "biggies" usually every year. (The Leonids beat 'em one year IMHO).AND today much of the northern hemisphere will see 5 to 99% solar eclipse. How cool is that? Your best bet is to be in the UK or norhtern Spain, where totality is excellent before sundown. Me, I'll get a super duper tiny itty bitty slice of it, so little that it won't be noticeable. New...
So first step? Neurologist and rheumatologist. Both are specialties that dx and deal wiht fibro, since it's neuromuscular, and since th eruling-out process includes many ailments in their specialties. You will hear a lot of things about weight, diet, exercise --- and they'r eall true, b/c they're true for ANYONE with ANY ailment from coronary disease to yellow freaking fever, so there y'go. I do focus on healthy diet/weight and managing whatever exercise I can, b/c it helps convince my body to go to a less "red alert" state eventually. (It does work, I promise. I live at yellow alert. I can live at yellow.)
And yes, a dx helps. While only a third or so of us with Fibro are helped by SSRI/SRNI drugs like Lyrica and Cymbalta, hey, you could be in that third! Anotehr drug regimen that helps some is low dose naltrexone. We've seen peole only succeed with opiates (which leaves us outta luck, these days) or with combos of drugs and therapies. We've tried acupuncture, warm water pool therapy, you name it... and if it's BullSpit? Some troll tried to sell it on this forum and got banned ASAP.
Ask questions, but remember not to supply answers. For one thing, docs dismiss patients who do that. FOr another, you'r enot a medical doctor, and even if you are/were? You can't treat yourself. Bad idea.
So start with bloodwork. Lots of it. Basic CBC, electrolyte, nutrient panels, to rule out underlying active infections, nutrition deficiencies (thes are often traced to a GI issue that can be treated or managed, such as celiac disease), and similar causes for your symptoms. You can be evaluated by a physiatrist -- a speical medical doctor who is also a lot like a chiropractor --- for structural issues, altho' X-rays and such can do that. Electromyographs (EMG) are rotten in my opinion but can determine if there's a nerve issue, and that may be a slipped disc.... You can see there's a LOT to rule out!
Most of all, don't give up hope and be your own advocate. It takes energy you think you don't have, but I've been at it for 20 years and still ticking. (And kicking medical butt as needed.) Keep pain journals, diet jorunals, note what triggers what pain the worst/ most often. Check your sleep patterns. (Yes, I know, twin toddlers, trauma, etc.). Get counseling to cope or just have a place to vent and get suggestions for stress and pain mangement --- some therapists specialize in such. I go to one these days, and it has taught me much.
Come here as you need, b/c even the prospect of fibro is scary. It seems HUGE and yet... I've lived with it for 20 years. And *lived*.
Oh, and oddball remissions do occur. I think I'm currently the only one active right now on DS Fibro, but I'm not the only one who has reported years of minor to no symptoms, even without meds, and we never did know why! *headdesk*
If and when you receive the official diagnosis (dx is the shorthand).... Fibromyalgia for Dummies is our go-to guidebook for us, family, and even medical professionals.
Cheers, and welcome to the forum, and I hope you know what I mean when I say: I really hope you haven't got fibro!
Leo
Susan