Fibromyalgia

[AcroSplat]

Just wondering does anyone currently here suffer from fibromyalgia?

Ive had a dull ache type of pain in my sholder, behind the bicep muscle, around the elbow and in my wrist for 7 weeks now. I mainly feel it when i pick thinks up or if im typing on the computer - so now i just have to use one hand with my left arm resting on a pillow....sometimes i feel the ache when my arm is resting... but mosty when i use it.

Prior to this, i spent 6 weeks prior to the onset of this pain with Anxiety brought on by Labyrinthitis. I had 24/7 dizzynes, muscle twitching, leg and arm jerking... in which i thought i had MS, and then ALS/MND. and then 6 weeks later i developed this dull pain in my arm.... which ive had for 7 weeks now as well as the continued twitching. (which has gotten better and only gets worse when i sink back into worry)

Anyway i went to the drs today to find out what this arm pain was, which is actually causing my wrist to feel weak. The dr felt around looking for tender points ....... and i had 0 tender points...... but still said i had a a bit of fibromyalgia, but its not a formal diagnose. He did say you can still have fibromyalgia with out the tender points...... is this true ???

To be honest i dont really understand it, and i still dont know whats causing my arm pain. Ive never had arm pain before this Anxiety started, but the Dr did say everything was related to the anxiety.

Im so sick to death of this Anixety crap, and its crazy symptoms. I just want to get back to normal but it wont let me go.

[judipat]

Hi

I dont understand how your Dr can say you have a "bit" of fibromyalgia. What I know about it, you either have it or you dont!!. I dont have it, but have a very good friend who does. It took months for them to diagnose it and she was diagnosed by a rhumatologist. She has lots of aches and pains - sometimes quite severe and she gets tired very quickly too.
Trouble is, fibro can mimic a lot of the classic symptoms of anxiety - cant win can we ???

Take care

Judi

[Southern_Belle]

Hi AcroSplat,

I do have fibromyalgia. I was diagnosed by a Rheumotologist which is the best doctor to go to for an official diagnosis. The only other diagnosis that goes along with fibro are myofascial pain disorder and chronic fatigue disorder. As for the trigger points I have always thought you had to have a number of them to have a diagnosis of fibro.

Are you starting to lose movement with your arm? Such as you can't lift it as high as the other one? Or, you can't bend it the same way as you can the other one? If so, I would suggest going to see an Orthopedist. Good luck and I hope it feels better soon.

Take care,

Laura

[daisy76]

Hi

I have fibro, and fom what i know of it it an only be diagnosed by the tender points. As some one else has said try to be referred to a rhematlogist.
I was undiagosed for 4 years, all my sysmptons i was told was axiety, they are very similar and can mimic the same.
For peace of mind go get checked again.
Have you tried an osteopath for the arm pain, mine was excllent when i lost feeling, had jerking and pain, within 5 sessions had more or less normal feelig.

Good luck, please feel free to P M me if ou need to.

xx

[sheba2]

Hi I also have fybro and believe me it would not be located to just one arm and you would have extreme fatigue almost like you had just had the flu. The tender points are in various areas and you have to have several for a diagnosis. You may also suffer with IBS. Years ago when I was a young teenager I had something called fibroitis (I think that is correct) I had it in my neck and shoulder. Basically it is inflammation of the muscle and nerves in an area often brought on by stress/anxiety or simply from being in a draft. It can be quite mild or very severe. I could hardly move with mine and it affected my back too. I think you would do well to see a physio as they could probably help loads. Good luck

[AcroSplat]

Thankyou all for replying.

I cant remember much what my Dr said ..... but i did ask about the tendor spots and i have no tendor spots and he said you could still have it or something like that.

He didnt diagnose me with it, but said that it would be likely that i would/might suffer from it in the future. My dr said that my inflamatory markers were high in a previous blood test, i dont know if this is related to Fibro.

[dorabella]

I was diagnosed with Fibro by my GP. He didn't try looking for tender points etc. but realised from my description of symptoms that I had it. When I consequently read up on the subjectI realised he was correct.

Fibro can be brought on by all manner of things - unusually hot or cold weather, repetetive motion (using a limb or joint to perform continuous actions such as keyboard use, digging in the garden, painting and decorating etc.). It does affect everyone differently and you will find that the symptoms range from aching joints, numbness, nausea, prickling or stabbing pains and even sensations of burning. Heartburn is another common symptom, restless (twitching) legs, Irritable bowel, costocondritis (pain and burning sensations in the muscle fascia around the ribcage, and my own particular bugbear!).

All in all an uncomfortable and unpredictable condition for which there is so far no cure and very little relief.

All the symtpoms you describe are typical of fibromyalgia and I hope that it doesn't become too unbearable for you. Some of us long-time sufferers have learned how to live with it (I've personally had it for more than 10 years), but I would seriously recommend you educate yourself about the syndrome. There are lots of publications on the subject but one of the best is a book by Devin Starlanyl on Fibromyalgia and Chronic Myofascial Pain which you could easily track down on the internet. There is also a good on-line support group you might log onto (if we are allowed to mention them on this site - I'm not sure) which is Fibromyalgia UK - lots of advice from other sufferers and some medical articles and advice. Have a look see.

Hope this helps.

D.

[precious78]

This is something I have considered before. I have a lot of what my chiropractor calls trigger points all over my body, but no one has ever suggested there is somethign wrong.

I don't really want to google fibromyalgia but I am curious about it as I often feel tired and like I have mild flu like aching joints and muscles.

[sheba2]

Hi acrosplat

I've just had a consultation with 2 rheumatologists and wanted to share this with you. I was diagnosed with fibro. 6 years ago. Then 3 years ago I was told by a different gp that fibro doesn't show up on blood tests. As I had raised inflammatory markers it was likely that I now had polymyalgia rheumatica. I was put on steroids and told that I needed to reduce the dose until I got to a level that was good. Anyway I spent the next 3 years on steroids at first they were great but over a period of time the effect was not so good the pain and tiredness were almost as bad as before. So I had a word with my gp and he suggested I saw a consultant.

The consultant was amazed that I was told I had polym. or fibro. I actually have an inflammatory arthritis which they are now sending me for loads of tests to establish which one. He said that you don't get raised markers with fibro and that I was way too young to have polym. So basically I have taken steroids with all there long term probs for 3 years when I shouldn't have. I think as you have raised markers you should ask to see a rheumatologist now. Mine is really annoyed that I am seeing him 6 years late. He said it is much harder to diagnose now and they have to do many more tests than they would have done. I hope this helps but I really wish I had been more pushy.

[mitrajane]

Hi. About 3 monoths ago I began to feel dizzy after I had a mild panic episode that I was able to stop by going to the gym and sweating it out. Shortly afterward, along with the dizziness came some tingling (which really scared me) and then came the involuntary muscle spasms and sometime jerky movements of my hands (ex. my fingers will suddenly move on their own) and some blurred vision. All of these symptoms would come and go throughout the day and sometimes they wouldnt appear for as long as half a day or more. During this time I thought I had MS or fibromyalgia, although I had an MRI that came back with no indication of anything. Does that sound familiar to you?

I went to a Fibro specialist and he thinks I definitely have fibromyalgia. He has a protocol to reverse the symptoms that can be found at fibromyalgiatreatmentcenter.com

Perhaps you can check it out.

I'm still not sure if all my symptoms are just related to panic/anxiety or if I really do in fact have fibro.

good luck to you!