I have Fibromyalgia
Submitted by Lady-Carissa on Wed, 10/09/2013 - 12:27
Quoting my post in a group:
[quote=Lady-Carissa;267138]
Hello,
I am new here, but I am here to tell you my story and continue to tell how I live with fibromyalgia and it's complications.
To start with I need to tell you what fibromyalgia is, and that is easier said than done. Wikipedia defines fibromyalgia as: Fibromyalgia (FM or FMS) is characterized by chronic widespread pain and allodynia (a heightened and painful response to pressure). Its exact cause is unknown but is believed to involve psychological, genetic, neurobiological and environmental factors. Fibromyalgia symptoms are not restricted to pain, leading to the use of the alternative term fibromyalgia syndrome for the condition. Other symptoms include debilitating fatigue, sleep disturbance, and joint stiffness. Some patients also report difficulty with swallowing, bowel and bladder abnormalities, numbness and tingling, and cognitive dysfunction.
My story is this:
I will start by telling you that previous to 2005 I was as healthy as a horse. I actually was working 3 jobs (1 FT and 2 PT). Then in Jan 2005 I was in a very bad car crash. My initial injuries were a severely broken heal bone, breaks in each of my hands and many bumps & bruises. The prognosis was actually very good. The injuries themselves healed very well. But, from the start I was experiencing extreme amounts of pain that my Drs could not explain. The trauma to my foot actually ended up causing severe degenerative arthritis in both my ankle joint and my subtalar joint (also located in the ankle area). All the pain I was continuing to experience was essentially chalked up to the injuries and then the severe arthritis. I often tell people there are more pictures of my foot at the hospital/clinic than there are of my face anywhere else. This is how often I was seeing Drs for these problems. As time went on I began having other problems. But I really was not to heavily concerned with them because it was the pain and immobility that was my biggest concern. I would bring things up when I would see my primary care Dr, but since I was not overly concerned about these things they were sort of dismissed. Some of these things include: frequent urination, really bad headaches, insomnia, and unrestful sleep, being tired all the time, seeming a little more confused than normal, forgetting more things than normal, some anxiety feelings that I had never had before, irritable for no reason, bruising more easily, just to name a few. But as I mentioned all this seemed minor compared the other pain I was experiencing. This didn't all start at once. It was a gradual thing over time. Then in 2009 I was started having severe abdominal cramps and nausea. Obviously not thinking any of this was connected. I made an appointment with my Dr. He ran many tests and actually did a gastriscope. All of which turned up nothing. So I was diagnosed with IBS (Irritable Bowel/Bladder Syndrome). But things were not getting any better. By July of 2009 my employer asked me take a leave of absence to get my medical issues figured out. After much evaluation and testing and many medications I was finally diagnosed with fibromyalgia.
At first I was overjoyed to finally have a diagnosis. I thought great now we can treat the problem and I will get relief. Well I thought that until I started learning about what it is and that it really isn't known exactly what it is. This also means they really don't know how to cure it or 'fix' it. They have medications that seem to relieve some of the symptoms, which is better than nothing, but still hard to deal with.
To this day I have not returned to work. I am still fighting to get Social Security Disability. But it is an uphill battle.
The things I currently deal with regularly are: Every inch of my skin burns (if you think of the worst sunburn you have ever had, that comes close to what every inch of my skin feels like every minute), frequent severe headaches (by severe I mean 5 Excedrin Migraine make the headache tolerable, but still there), Mood Swings, Fibro Fog (which is an absolutely horrible memory, basically if I don't put something in my calendar in my phone with an alarm I will forget it, not might, will), Fibro Fog also means things like driving home and not even realizing to turn onto your own street until you are passed the street, then go out of your way to turn around and get where you need to be, Abdominal cramps for what seems to be no reason, Urinary & Bowel leaking - this also creates a greater risk for infections, Fatigue, Depression, Insomnia & unrestful sleep.
Then if I do anything I am sure to experience a 'flare' within a day or two. The severity of the flare is completely related to the amount of exertion spent for the activity I did. For obvious reasons the more physically involved the activity the worse it is. But just last past weekend I went to a 2 1/2 hr play on a Fri and then on Sun went to a local baseball game. Both of these events were tickets that were given to us and were a use it or lose it type thing. Normally I avoid doing more than one thing or event in a week. But in this situation I really didn't have a choice. But I paid later I had a very severe flare that lasted several days. And this was all because I allowed myself to enjoy a couple events where I would sit and watch the event for a few hours over a couple days.
To define a flare: a flare is an increase in the number and/or intensity of symptoms. Worsening pain and fatigue are generally the first two symptoms noticed in a fibro-flare. But other symptoms like poor sleep, increased cognitive dysfunction and digestive disturbances are often experienced as well. Often these symptoms make it nearly impossible to even get out of bed. Some flares only last for a day or two but others may continue for several weeks or even months. It's those long flares that are the hardest to deal with. But every flare is completely disabling.
So now I have told my story. I want my posts to reflect what I am going thru. I am hoping to post at least once a week or more so stay tuned.
Lady-Carissa[/quote]
[quote=Lady-Carissa;267138]
Hello,
I am new here, but I am here to tell you my story and continue to tell how I live with fibromyalgia and it's complications.
To start with I need to tell you what fibromyalgia is, and that is easier said than done. Wikipedia defines fibromyalgia as: Fibromyalgia (FM or FMS) is characterized by chronic widespread pain and allodynia (a heightened and painful response to pressure). Its exact cause is unknown but is believed to involve psychological, genetic, neurobiological and environmental factors. Fibromyalgia symptoms are not restricted to pain, leading to the use of the alternative term fibromyalgia syndrome for the condition. Other symptoms include debilitating fatigue, sleep disturbance, and joint stiffness. Some patients also report difficulty with swallowing, bowel and bladder abnormalities, numbness and tingling, and cognitive dysfunction.
My story is this:
I will start by telling you that previous to 2005 I was as healthy as a horse. I actually was working 3 jobs (1 FT and 2 PT). Then in Jan 2005 I was in a very bad car crash. My initial injuries were a severely broken heal bone, breaks in each of my hands and many bumps & bruises. The prognosis was actually very good. The injuries themselves healed very well. But, from the start I was experiencing extreme amounts of pain that my Drs could not explain. The trauma to my foot actually ended up causing severe degenerative arthritis in both my ankle joint and my subtalar joint (also located in the ankle area). All the pain I was continuing to experience was essentially chalked up to the injuries and then the severe arthritis. I often tell people there are more pictures of my foot at the hospital/clinic than there are of my face anywhere else. This is how often I was seeing Drs for these problems. As time went on I began having other problems. But I really was not to heavily concerned with them because it was the pain and immobility that was my biggest concern. I would bring things up when I would see my primary care Dr, but since I was not overly concerned about these things they were sort of dismissed. Some of these things include: frequent urination, really bad headaches, insomnia, and unrestful sleep, being tired all the time, seeming a little more confused than normal, forgetting more things than normal, some anxiety feelings that I had never had before, irritable for no reason, bruising more easily, just to name a few. But as I mentioned all this seemed minor compared the other pain I was experiencing. This didn't all start at once. It was a gradual thing over time. Then in 2009 I was started having severe abdominal cramps and nausea. Obviously not thinking any of this was connected. I made an appointment with my Dr. He ran many tests and actually did a gastriscope. All of which turned up nothing. So I was diagnosed with IBS (Irritable Bowel/Bladder Syndrome). But things were not getting any better. By July of 2009 my employer asked me take a leave of absence to get my medical issues figured out. After much evaluation and testing and many medications I was finally diagnosed with fibromyalgia.
At first I was overjoyed to finally have a diagnosis. I thought great now we can treat the problem and I will get relief. Well I thought that until I started learning about what it is and that it really isn't known exactly what it is. This also means they really don't know how to cure it or 'fix' it. They have medications that seem to relieve some of the symptoms, which is better than nothing, but still hard to deal with.
To this day I have not returned to work. I am still fighting to get Social Security Disability. But it is an uphill battle.
The things I currently deal with regularly are: Every inch of my skin burns (if you think of the worst sunburn you have ever had, that comes close to what every inch of my skin feels like every minute), frequent severe headaches (by severe I mean 5 Excedrin Migraine make the headache tolerable, but still there), Mood Swings, Fibro Fog (which is an absolutely horrible memory, basically if I don't put something in my calendar in my phone with an alarm I will forget it, not might, will), Fibro Fog also means things like driving home and not even realizing to turn onto your own street until you are passed the street, then go out of your way to turn around and get where you need to be, Abdominal cramps for what seems to be no reason, Urinary & Bowel leaking - this also creates a greater risk for infections, Fatigue, Depression, Insomnia & unrestful sleep.
Then if I do anything I am sure to experience a 'flare' within a day or two. The severity of the flare is completely related to the amount of exertion spent for the activity I did. For obvious reasons the more physically involved the activity the worse it is. But just last past weekend I went to a 2 1/2 hr play on a Fri and then on Sun went to a local baseball game. Both of these events were tickets that were given to us and were a use it or lose it type thing. Normally I avoid doing more than one thing or event in a week. But in this situation I really didn't have a choice. But I paid later I had a very severe flare that lasted several days. And this was all because I allowed myself to enjoy a couple events where I would sit and watch the event for a few hours over a couple days.
To define a flare: a flare is an increase in the number and/or intensity of symptoms. Worsening pain and fatigue are generally the first two symptoms noticed in a fibro-flare. But other symptoms like poor sleep, increased cognitive dysfunction and digestive disturbances are often experienced as well. Often these symptoms make it nearly impossible to even get out of bed. Some flares only last for a day or two but others may continue for several weeks or even months. It's those long flares that are the hardest to deal with. But every flare is completely disabling.
So now I have told my story. I want my posts to reflect what I am going thru. I am hoping to post at least once a week or more so stay tuned.
Lady-Carissa[/quote]
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