Recently diagnosed with fibro

[ToniD]

Hello, I've recently been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia [on the 3rd to be specific] and I have little to no knowledge on what would help it, what are all the symptoms [common or rare], or even what it is really..
I only know from my rheumatologist that it can cause nearly all of the symptoms I deal with every day, like pulse fluctuations, chronic pain, chronic fatigue, and poor temperature regulation.

I'm also wondering if there's anything else that are common symptoms?
And is it normal for fibro to be diagnosed in a 20 year old, while also dealing with symptoms since age 14?
And does it effect life expectancy at all? I don't think it would, but I'm worried that it does..?

Thank you for taking your time to read this btw!!
Any help at all is greatly appreciated, also if anyone has good resources/links on information let me know, thanks!
Sorry if I'm not using the forums right btw, I've never really used a forum site before

 

[cookiebaker]

hello and welcome!

while not super common to be diagnosed so young, it is not unheard of either. many suffer for years and years before being diagnosed.
FM is not a death sentence by any stretch of the imagination (it wont kill you), but it will be something you will need to learn to manage for the rest of your life since there is no cure at this time. There are plenty of good resources to be found both here, and other reputable sources.

Sunkacola has some great advice and ideas to help cope here. Diet can quite often have a big impact on how we feel, so trying some of her dietary suggestions may be worth your while.

Lots of great information throughout this forum, as well as general support and empathy.

Hope you can find some relief, and calm, here

 

[sunkacola]

I second cookiebaker's suggestion to start by reading this post:

My advice for managing fibromyalgia (especially for newcomers)

I am not a doctor or anything, just a person who has lived with fibromyalgia for several years now and has done a lot of research and trial and error experimentation. What follows is just basics. There are a lot of variations. You will find your own versions of everything I say, as this is not a...

www.fibromyalgiaforums.org

If you have questions, feel free to ask. We are here to support you.

 

[JayCS]

Hi Toni - great of you to reach out! That will get you a long way.
There's so much on this forum already that it's best implementing above "advice post" and then ask questions about that if necessary, or if you already have specific questions about any treatments that have been suggested to you you can do a search for them with the magnifying glass above right or ask for particulars, as is best for you.

I'm also wondering if there's anything else that are common symptoms?

There are many symptoms, but it's best not to attribute everything we have to it. I like to get absolutely everything checked and double checked, because it doesn't interest me at all if it's fibro or not, what I want to know is any physical connections that might help me find a treatment etc.
Your pulse fluctuations for instance is something I'd get checked if you haven't already...
So it's good that you're asking for common symptoms.
For that it'll be helpful to have a look at the 5 listed in the "Severe Symptom Score" in the ACR 2016 criteria attached that you haven't mentioned yet -
(fatigue'd be #1):
2 waking unrefreshed, 3 cognitive symptoms, 4 headache, 5 pain or cramps in lower abdomen and 6 depression. (2 = "insomnia", 3 = "brain/fibro fog", 5 = "IBS".)

while not super common to be diagnosed so young, it is not unheard of either.

There are a few studies that focus on "juvenile fibromyalgia", but like male vs. female it doesn't really make a difference to the fibro symptoms, while it may make some difference how you are able to cope with it.

For me fibro was the first reason to go on the forums too, but in the 90s I realized and greatly used the power of being able to talk with people all over the world with the mailing lists that were used then, as forums weren't as closely moderated and full of trolls.
Reading the forum rules first is sensible, but the biggest things you can accidentally do "wrong" here apart obviously from being militant or unkind is trying to post external links. This and using words like gooogle or comm ;-) will put you in a moderator queue and that will possibly also be edited.
To keep track of recent discussion most of us start with "What's new" and then "new posts".
If you prefer to read but not write on certain threads you can put them on "Watch" above right, so that you'll get an alert (the bell up right)
In the preferences you can make sure you're also notified per mail.