Thursday, July 17, 2008

Fibromyalgia?

My rheumotologist hinted that I might have this when I went to see him last year. He ran tests, found nothing, so I started going to an acupuncturist. The pain eventually went away, so I cancelled my next appointment with my rheumotologist. 


The pain came back about 2 months ago. I had an appointment to go see him a few weeks ago, but had to cancel. I called for another appointment and can't get in to see him until November. Over the past several weeks, the pain has become almost debilitating at times... somewhat worse than it was last year.

So.. being the nurse that I am (which I have found to be more dangerous at times than helpful.. LOL), I began doing my own research to see if in fact it could be fibromyalgia. I assumed that fibromyalgia could only be determined by ruling everything else out, but I also found that I pretty much have classic symptoms according to what I've read.

According to Wikipedia, here are some of the symptoms... and I seem to have all of them:

1. Pain.. of course

2. Many tender points or Tactile Allodynia

3. Irritable bowel syndrome (I was diagnosed with this almost 2 years ago)

4. Sleep disturbances



I am going to try to get an appointment with a rheumotologist in Charlotte (the other one was at Duke). I am hoping to get in sooner than November. 

I would love to hear from anyone who has fibromyalgia or knows anything about it. I have read about "possible" treatments, but none of them seem that promising.

3 comments:

Leah said...

Hi Christy. My mother has Fibromyalgia and I am 27 and was diagnosed when I was 14. Between the two of us, our symptoms are very different in terms of where our pain is located and accompanying syndromes. The focus for treatment is treating symptoms--pain, depression, poor sleep, etc. It truly varies for every person, so the best thing you can do is find a doctor (general or specialist) who you trust and work together at each part a bit at a time. That's my advice, at least! I hope you find answers and good luck with your appointment!

Debbie said...

My mom, also, has Fibromyalgia. I know that there are like 18 pts. on your body that when touched are painful. If you have at least 11 or them, you have Fibromayalgia. I, also, know that unlike arthritis you need to stay active in order to feel better. She had have a very painful shoulder which can make it hard to play tennis but they go anyway. By the time they are done, it feels better. I went to a seminar on it once & they said they same thing. You need to say active. I will e-mail you with her e-mail address & ph. #. I am sure she would be happy to answer any questions that she is able.

Somer Love said...

I hope your pain subsides soon!!! I have had some bouts with arthritis where I couldn't even move and my mom would even have to roll me over in bed.

NOT FUN!!!!

I hope you can get into the doc sooner!