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 Guys,
I am new to this support group and have a question for you guys who might have had this diagnosis longer than I. I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia by a Rheumatologist who ran blood tests for common auto-immune diseases, all of which came back negative. I am still unsure though if what I'm dealing with is fibro.
I have had a fever of unknown origin daily for seven months that cannot be explained by blood tests. I have pain in both muscles and joints. Essentially my entire body hurts at this point. It just keeps getting worse. I do have the tender spots all over my body that are associated with Fibromyalgia, but I also hurt just about every place on my body when pressure is applied.
I had heard that fibro really isn't a syndrome that effects joints, and I guess because a great deal of my pain is in my joints I am confused. For instance, within the last three weeks every joint in my body has progressively gotten more painful and noisy. They pop all of the time. Just in getting dressed in the morning, my hips, shoulder, elbows, and hands will pop multiple times. These aren't like pops that relieve pain, they are causing pain. My fingers and toes feel like I've jammed them and it's hard to move them without a great deal of pain.
I don't know what to do. I am really confused by my symptoms and the fact they are progressively getting worse. Is this all just an aspect of Fibromyalgia I am not familiar with? Please, I would appreciate absolutely any input or advice.
I am new to this support group and have a question for you guys who might have had this diagnosis longer than I. I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia by a Rheumatologist who ran blood tests for common auto-immune diseases, all of which came back negative. I am still unsure though if what I'm dealing with is fibro.
I have had a fever of unknown origin daily for seven months that cannot be explained by blood tests. I have pain in both muscles and joints. Essentially my entire body hurts at this point. It just keeps getting worse. I do have the tender spots all over my body that are associated with Fibromyalgia, but I also hurt just about every place on my body when pressure is applied.
I had heard that fibro really isn't a syndrome that effects joints, and I guess because a great deal of my pain is in my joints I am confused. For instance, within the last three weeks every joint in my body has progressively gotten more painful and noisy. They pop all of the time. Just in getting dressed in the morning, my hips, shoulder, elbows, and hands will pop multiple times. These aren't like pops that relieve pain, they are causing pain. My fingers and toes feel like I've jammed them and it's hard to move them without a great deal of pain.
I don't know what to do. I am really confused by my symptoms and the fact they are progressively getting worse. Is this all just an aspect of Fibromyalgia I am not familiar with? Please, I would appreciate absolutely any input or advice.
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In my experience, which is only that as I have no medical training, anyone who has pain as you do primarily in the joints probably has something else going on other than fibromyalgia. You add the constant fever to that and in my opinion and experience, it increases the odds of something other than Fibro.
That doesn't necessarily mean you don't have fibromyalgia, as many of us have more than one diagnosis. It does mean you would probably be wise to keep pushing for a better explanation for some of your symptoms.
A Google search for low grade fever and joint pain together brings up a number of hits. This is the link to one of them. Don't let it freak you out - the one scary thing on the list would definitely show up in blood work. I post it just for more paths you might pursue and as an example. http://health.yahoo.net/symptomsearch?addterm=Fatigue&addterm=Joint+Pain&addterm=Low+Grade+Fever
In any case, pain is pain in many respects, and you are welcome to hang out here with people who have a clue as to what you're feeling, both physically and emotionally.
Thank you for your response. I really appreciate that you plugged my symptoms in, I had actually not used that site before. I am also a member of the Chronic Pain Board, but a lot of the time they recommend writing on the boards pertaining to our diagnosis. I have quite a few diagnoses, but the one that my doctors always bring up is fibromyalgia. I have never though that this diagnosis was quite right. No tests have ever come back positive for other diseases. The fever and primary joint issues have reinforced my doubts lately.
I am in between primary care doctors right now. The three I have tried to switch to have turned my case down claiming they are not the right fit for me. I think my case is too complicated. So many tests and scans have come back normal. It's so frustrating! I know there is something wrong, but finding someone in the medical community who cares enough to really talk with me and evaluate things is proving to be impossible.
I am wondering if I should try and schedule with the Rheumatologist who I saw before. I literally only met with him once. He was quite nice to me, but after the blood test he ran looking for auto-immune causes for my pain and problems came back normal, he said it was fibro and that he couldn't really do anything else and to go back to my primary care physician.
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Lyme Disease
Ehrles-Danlos Syndrome
Welcome to the group. I really understand that feeling that fibro is not right. lol I been saying that through like 5 different types of Dr. and they all keep telling me yes you have it. Except it.
but like Peace said most of us have other things going on as well.
I all so have really bad join issue, including low grade temps, and swelling. I have server Pustular Psoriasis, and am on a scary med to keep it under control. All the Dr. are really surprise I am able to take this med, because I have had such bad reaction to every thing else they tried, well except for lorazapam.
They believe my join problem is early onset of psoriatic arthritis. Because of my over sensitivity, it is not even showing up on the test they done, but it doesn't stop the pain, and swelling.
I do see a chiropractor regularly. He does help with it, but it never lasts long, and some time I need to see him 2 a week. But unfortunately my insurance runs out fast, then it depends on how much I can afford.
I hope you are able to find more information on what going on, and find some treatment that will help you with the pain.
Sending you some caring positive thoughts.
I called my rheumatologist this morning as well to let him know about these recent issues and I am scheduled to see him on Monday morning. He did say he's not sure what else he can do for me since the blood work in April all had come back negative for auto immune diseases. I still want to physically sit down with him and discuss these issues.
So, I know that sensitivity to touch is often an aspect of fibromyalgia. But can it get worse as time goes on? I know my body is extremely sensitive to touch and pressure concerning my torso/back region, but this morning when I was shaving my legs I almost wanted to cry due to the pain from just running the razor over my legs. My legs have been somewhat sensitive before, but no where near the level of pain I was had this morning. Does the sensitivity just get more severe as time goes by?
You may also want to watch to see if your body temp dips, which is called and "inverted fever". So instead of going up to 99 or 100 my temp will go down to 95. I work with someone who is studying nursing who says this is not possible, but for me it has happened numerous times and I have tried using a different thermometer, etc. You will know if this is happening because you will feel extremely cold and not be able to get warm, but will not sweat like you do with a regular fever. I only mention this because you said that you do run fevers, which is how I started, then the inverted fevers came about.
An alternate theory is that I am becoming cold blooded, because I only run the regular fevers in summer and the inverted fevers in winter. Maybe it is not Fibro but I was bitten by a radioactive snake or something and didn't realize it! LOL :)
My Fibro ebbs and flows. I go through periods where I feel pretty good, have some energy, tolerable pain and function fairly well. Then there are the times when the pain is awful, I can't think and all I want to do is stay in bed and not move (not a good thing to do, just makes it worse). I have all the tender points and everything else hurts too, at some point, but no fever. The negative results on your blood tests is a good thing, even though it's frustrating not getting answers to your questions. I suggest trying to find a Rheumy who is also an Internal Medicine doctor who is willing to help you get to the bottom of this health issue. Having a fever is never a good thing. Keep looking for a good doctor. You need answers.