lovinghands

Hi

Sorry I haven't been posting much lately, haven't been feeling too great. I had an appt with the rheumatologist today and have been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. Do any other members have experience of this?

Smiles

Hi Mommabear, so sorry you're not well, I have no experience with fibromyalgia, I have a touch of arthritis developing just as Mums did - fingers, knees and feet/ankles so far but quite manageable. Here's a link to the Arc (Arthritis Research) website, there's a clear, informative page there if it helps.
http://www.arc.org.uk/arthinfo/patpubs/6013/6013.asp

Best wishes
Luv
Pam

OMG how spooky is this! I was only talking to my mum tonight about how unwell I've felt and she said maybe I had that. I have no idea as I've not been to the docs but over the last few months I've been suffering with really bad aching legs and sometimes arms and then like a stabbing type pain randomly in my legs and arms to. I should go to the docs but you know what it's like keep putting it off! If you don't mind me asking Karla what were your symptoms???
The weird thing is people think I'm ok but somedays I constantly feel like I've got flu even my ankles hurt and walking up the stairs really hurts my legs.
At least youv'e been diagnosed so fingers crossed you can start feeling a little better now - keep you chin up!

Alison xxx

Hi Mommabear
Sorry to hear you have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia. I was diagnosed with it about ten years ago. I was living in America at the time where they have been more aware of the illness than we have over here. However I now have a great GP who is very understanding which is a great help. I have found over the years that one has to deal with each symptom (and there can be many) individually and there are quite a few meds now used to ease the symptoms. Added to which I have learned to listen to my body and to pace myself which is one of the most important things you can do. Pilates is a great help too. If you want to chat more - you can e-mail me on MJRawlins@hotmail.com.
Take care
Mary

Sorry to hear about this. I don't have this myself but a lot of my endo friends do - there seem to be quite a few of us that get lumbered with both

Hope you're getting some help from your doctor now you've been diagnosed.

Take care x

Not a very nice thing am told hopefully you get the help you need take care xx

Oh you poor thing. Take care.
Love Mad Maureen X

So sorry to hear the news on this thread. I DO hope the Dr will get you all the right pain relief soon.

Hi, I have Fibromyalgia, my mother has it too. I was diagnosed with it about 3 years ago. It's all about pacing yourself, soon enough you find a balance. I have only just found mine! But I understand what it is like. Im fairly young (28) and male, which is quite a rare thing I think?

hi,
Me to I'm 37 and i have had it for 3 years.
I have to agree with all that's been said by all the fibromyalgia suffers.
The biggest lesson i learned was,don't worry what people will think.I used to make sure all my housework was done first thing and struggle to get it done , but after going to a pain management course i learned the concept of pacing (so very hard to do).So somedays my house isn't as tidy as others somedays the drying up isn't done (air was invented before tea towels).Anyway when people come to visit they would rather see me in less pain (and very less grumpy) and i would rather be now as a happier person than a grumpy cow with a tidy house.The pain management and occupational therapist really helped and they teach you lots of tricks on coping ,it can be a bit of a battle to get the services but they are worth it.
good luck to you it will get easier......... em

Have to agree with Neil and Em - I tend to do something then sit down and knit for a while, get up and do something else and then sit and knit again. Takes me all day to do simple things that people who don't have painful joints could do in an hour but hey ho - it works! xx

mommabear and brillmini - so spooky that you have written this - I have exactly the same symptoms (was diagnosed with Psoriatic Arthritis about 5 years ago but only mild and someone has said they think this is what I have) but the last year I have had such pain in my knees - weird feeling in my legs - pain in other joints and flu like symptoms 1-2 per month & the worst tiredness I can explain - am in the process of going through the motions with Doctor to try & get them to understand me and send me to consultant (which is not easy) - Im obviously sorry that you have been diagnosed but glad that the Doc has diagnosed you - from what I understand its very hard to get Drs to understand - go over to the Arthritis site shown by prfungi its very good - take care of yourself
ps any tips from anyone on what to say to Drs would be great xx

Dear f1 widow,
My fibromyalgia was caused after being hit by a van whilst walking (and she drove off and left me)that was 3 years ago but it took 2 years to find out what it was .I saw many doctors who were so dismissive and said it was down to the post traumatic stress after the accident .I had to show them it wasn't "all in my head" and the way i did that was i went and bought a notebook and each page was a day .On each page I drew the outline of a body twice ,one of the front of me and one for the back.Where ever i felt pain i marked the drawing .I found out that this helps the consultant because there are fibromyalgia points on the body.I also wrote the numbers 1 - 5 as a pain score and wrote a few lines of what i had been doing that day and wrote about how i was feeling ,tired ,knackered,headaches etc.I tried to keep it brief because i knew i only had a very short time to make the consultant understand how bad i felt..
I couldn't believe it the notebook worked ,within about 20 mins i was told it was fibromyalgia .My consultant was very good to me and sent me to a pain clinic and i have adaptions at home from the occupational therapist .(Please don't panic about adaptions i have it quite badly).I know that without the notebook i could never of explained everything and even the consultant had said i had made his job a whole lot easier.
Good luck and do try the notebook ,it will even help convince your GP - (it did mine)
em

Hi Mommabear, so sorry about your diagnosis. It seems quite a few of us on here have fibromyalgia, I have had it for what must be going on for 15 years.
Like Neil and some of the others have already said, the only way is to pace yourself, difficult when you just want to get on with everything but it is the best way to cope. I still do it wrong though after all these years, then find I have to sit down for days on end because of the pain and fatigue.
Treat each symptom seperately and as you get it, but you must look after yourself more now, just eat properly, get enough sleep if you can, that sort of thing.
I do have it fairly badly, but there is so much help out there for most of your symptoms. Everytime you get something new, go to your gp and get it treated. I have just been in hospital as a day stay patient to have anaesetic injections in my back, so I am hoping they will work well and help with the pain, I wont know if they are going to work for another week or so yet. I find it helps to have naps in the daytime, seems to recharge your body, doesn't always help but sometimes it does. Pain clinics are very good for fibro too.
Its about ten days now since you started this thread so I hope you are coping OK. Try not to worry, you will be OK, let us know how you are getting on x from Vera