Try and rest as much as you can. Do you have a heating pad for those painful areas? Mine helps my back alot. I am a cook/ manager of a restaurant and have to be on my feet all day, and do heavy duty stuff, not fun and very hard on my body.

When you see the rhuemy it might help to bring a pain jouranl with you. Keep track of the worst pains and when you feel the most tired. He will be able to see the pattern and hopefully give you some meds to help ease your pain and fatugue.

Good Luck Hon..it sounds like you must be in the retail business.

Hopefully you will get some help from the rheumy. The biggest thing is to ALLOW yourself to rest every chance you get. Keep us posted!

Gentle hugs....

Just because you have Not been Diagnosed, does Not mean you cannot be proactive...took me a very long time to get any kind of Answers...and Alot of times those Answers will Only bring on More Questions...

Stay here with us...we will TRY to help you as Much as we can...trying Different things...different combonations...sometimes just having someone who Feels Just Like YOU Do is Treatment enuff...as fear dwindles, the Body feels better...

when I first got here I was a WRECK...Just Finding People to offer up the "Emotional Support" I Desperately needed brought about Alot of healing...

Keep reading...Keep Posting...talk to us about Anything and Everything...there is Going to Be plenty of People who CAN Relate..

Hugs !!

its okay thats why we are here, to vent! :) try to find out what is best for you - cold is best for me. I have my house somtewhere from 60 to 68degrees. hot showers works best for my legs. I do not know why I am different from others, but I like the cold when I am out of the showers, but steaming hot showers work well. I am on the couch when I can be ( i have a 3 year old) and on this site a lot. I do not like the sun so I try to hid from it and I am in comfy clothes. Crocks work best for me and i am sure you can get black to where for work. I get bigger size than usual just in case if my feet swell. I know I have been in pain these past couple of months, but this has been working a little... hopefully you can find out what works for you - do you have to work? can you work a little? can you tell your job you have this and maybe sit down for a little while there? I take it you work retial b/c of the holidays? I try walking now, but if i have to stop for a while, I stop. I used to work retail and go in the back for little breaks here in there. I had a good manager. I really hope you can get some rest and remember we are here for you!
hugs and love

Yeah, I work retail. Unfortunately my manager isn't the kindest person in the world or my biggest fan. If you check out my journal, you'll see some of the issues I've had. I strongly believe that she thinks I'm faking or doing this for attention/sympathy....so I just try to muscle through at work as much as I can.

When I came on here I got alot of ideas for supplements.

I take Vitamin D, B6, B12, Omega 3-6-9, Calcium/Magnesium, iron, a multi-vitamin and melatonin for sleep.

The difference is very noticeable.

Something to remember is that you need to get good sleep in order to deal with this monster we have. Without sleep, I notice that my pain is much worse.

I've learned alot from being on here.

Take care.

You are not alone. There are quite a few members here who have to work even with this miserable shit. I can't even imagine the misery of working when I feel like death is knocking at my door.

I hope your rhuematologist gives you a diagnosis. It will give you some leverage at work. It won't matter what your boss "thinks" then she will HAVE to make concessions for your disability.

I agree with the hot shower/bath idea. I've also heard of heated "pads" that can be purchased and will stick to parts of your body for help during the work day. I've also had good luck with BioFreeze, it's kind of like, oh, shit, can't remember what it's called! Somebody, tell her what I'm talking about! Thanks!

Loving Kindness

I've seen all the posts about supplements...I'm definately going to ask the rheumy about that. I'm just concerned about how it might interact with my prozac and stuff.

An update....I do feel a little better,or I've gotten used to the pain or something....but I managed to clean out the fridge and "pantry" (closet where I keep food)...cleaned out the cat box and the area around my kitchen table and took a shower. Pretty good I guess. Now I'm gonna try and do some schoolwork and it'll be a productive day despite pain.

Thanks for the support everyone.