Hi there!
My name is Aimee, I'm 32, and I live in Bothell, WA, about a half hour north of Seattle. I'm originally from the north east (NYC metro area), and I moved here a little over 7 years ago. I live with my ex, we had an amicable break up, and with my 2 cats, Calvin and Hobbes.
I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia a little over a year ago, in December of 2011, and also have general anxiety disorder, which I've known about since I was a teen. I've also had some run ins with PTSD, but on the whole I have made peace with a lot of those issues.
I used to be an incredibly active person working in the theater industry building stages (the actual structures and temporary structures, not set dressing, although that's fun too), but it was really hard on my body. After ripping a para-spinal muscle in my upper back I decided that I didn't want to put all of my eggs in that basket, as I couldn't see myself doing that kind of work into my 60's, and the industry doesn't lend itself to incredibly comfortable retirements. It -can-, but a lot of the veterans of it seem to suffer from a lot of health issues that tie back to old injuries, and they end up blowing their retirement money on doctors. To cut this bit short, I did a life cost analysis, and then cut my losses and moved here so I wouldn't be tempted to keep getting back into it.
In August of 2011 I started noticing that I was very tired all the time, was suffering from a major increase of anxiety which I had under control previously, for the most part, was getting very stiff and achy in specific parts of my body that I knew I hadn't overtaxed, was having some cognitive issues with not remembering words, or what I was "just about to say" or completely spacing on major things. I had very little motivation to go swimming (something I love), and developed a complete disgust for walking anywhere, and started taking the car all the time. I had a massive hives issue where they would come and go for a few hours a day. I worked from home all but one day a week, so I didn't notice until later that waking up in the morning was an actual issue, except for the days I had to go into the office. I just wrote the difficulty off as not being on "a schedule". At that time I lived with my boyfriend (now ex that I live with) and a roommate (good friend) down in a Seattle neighborhood. I went to the doctor for the hives, because I thought I was having an allergic reaction, but I'm finding articles and evidence that this could have been the time at which the fibro was starting to make it's home in me.
In December of 2011 I experienced a series of excruciating pains over the course of a couple of weeks. Being a long time klutz I have developed a tolerance to pain, but these were off the scale. Luckily I have not had anything quite like that, since. My doctors and I felt they were unrelated to my fibro (post diagnosis), and were caused by some pinched nerve issues, but when I was being screened and tested my general practitioner thought I should go to a rheumatologist to be screened more in depth for some other things, such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, etc. After a bunch of testing, talking, and experimenting, I was diagnosed with fibro.
Since then I have gained an unseemly amount of weight, have had some adventures with treatment plans (both doctor approved and a little more... independent - I'll elaborate when I feel more comfortable here lol), cheated on my doctor once and came to regret it, learned to appreciate my ex and his compassion for me and my health even though we aren't right for each other romantically, and have bonded with some friends from times past that I didn't know where dealing with this, or similar issues. I spent some time looking for an online forum or support group to join and have been greatly disappointed, but I don't think I will have that experience here. A lot of the forums and groups were made up of pure complaining, which is fine but not productive and so not for me, or people only posting pictures of cats and babies, which is also fine, but also not what I'm looking for in a community for this. I enjoy off-topic and ranting about being in pain as much as the next person, but when there is too much of it, it makes the important things get lost in the sauce.
Anyway, I'll end this with a brief list of the things I've tried, and my personal experiences with them. My constant disclaimer is that these are my personal experiences and I don't ever mean to say that something does or does not work conclusively for everyone.
Namaste!
~Aimee
My name is Aimee, I'm 32, and I live in Bothell, WA, about a half hour north of Seattle. I'm originally from the north east (NYC metro area), and I moved here a little over 7 years ago. I live with my ex, we had an amicable break up, and with my 2 cats, Calvin and Hobbes.
I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia a little over a year ago, in December of 2011, and also have general anxiety disorder, which I've known about since I was a teen. I've also had some run ins with PTSD, but on the whole I have made peace with a lot of those issues.
I used to be an incredibly active person working in the theater industry building stages (the actual structures and temporary structures, not set dressing, although that's fun too), but it was really hard on my body. After ripping a para-spinal muscle in my upper back I decided that I didn't want to put all of my eggs in that basket, as I couldn't see myself doing that kind of work into my 60's, and the industry doesn't lend itself to incredibly comfortable retirements. It -can-, but a lot of the veterans of it seem to suffer from a lot of health issues that tie back to old injuries, and they end up blowing their retirement money on doctors. To cut this bit short, I did a life cost analysis, and then cut my losses and moved here so I wouldn't be tempted to keep getting back into it.
In August of 2011 I started noticing that I was very tired all the time, was suffering from a major increase of anxiety which I had under control previously, for the most part, was getting very stiff and achy in specific parts of my body that I knew I hadn't overtaxed, was having some cognitive issues with not remembering words, or what I was "just about to say" or completely spacing on major things. I had very little motivation to go swimming (something I love), and developed a complete disgust for walking anywhere, and started taking the car all the time. I had a massive hives issue where they would come and go for a few hours a day. I worked from home all but one day a week, so I didn't notice until later that waking up in the morning was an actual issue, except for the days I had to go into the office. I just wrote the difficulty off as not being on "a schedule". At that time I lived with my boyfriend (now ex that I live with) and a roommate (good friend) down in a Seattle neighborhood. I went to the doctor for the hives, because I thought I was having an allergic reaction, but I'm finding articles and evidence that this could have been the time at which the fibro was starting to make it's home in me.
In December of 2011 I experienced a series of excruciating pains over the course of a couple of weeks. Being a long time klutz I have developed a tolerance to pain, but these were off the scale. Luckily I have not had anything quite like that, since. My doctors and I felt they were unrelated to my fibro (post diagnosis), and were caused by some pinched nerve issues, but when I was being screened and tested my general practitioner thought I should go to a rheumatologist to be screened more in depth for some other things, such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, etc. After a bunch of testing, talking, and experimenting, I was diagnosed with fibro.
Since then I have gained an unseemly amount of weight, have had some adventures with treatment plans (both doctor approved and a little more... independent - I'll elaborate when I feel more comfortable here lol), cheated on my doctor once and came to regret it, learned to appreciate my ex and his compassion for me and my health even though we aren't right for each other romantically, and have bonded with some friends from times past that I didn't know where dealing with this, or similar issues. I spent some time looking for an online forum or support group to join and have been greatly disappointed, but I don't think I will have that experience here. A lot of the forums and groups were made up of pure complaining, which is fine but not productive and so not for me, or people only posting pictures of cats and babies, which is also fine, but also not what I'm looking for in a community for this. I enjoy off-topic and ranting about being in pain as much as the next person, but when there is too much of it, it makes the important things get lost in the sauce.
Anyway, I'll end this with a brief list of the things I've tried, and my personal experiences with them. My constant disclaimer is that these are my personal experiences and I don't ever mean to say that something does or does not work conclusively for everyone.
- August 2011 - Prednisone - was for massive hives reaction, didn't even get rid of the hives
- December 2011 - Gabapentin - side effects too potent to continue
- December 2011 - Ultram - worked a little but GP wouldn't re-prescribe after 2 weeks worth
- December 2011 - Methocarbomal (spelling?) - no noticable effect
- January 2012 - Toradol - not much help, also not a long term solution
- January 2012 - Tramadol - out of everything, worked the best. Still on this as needed
- January 2012 - Flexeril - also works a bit, still on this as needed with the tramadol
Namaste!
~Aimee
