Telltale Signs and Symptoms of Fibromyalgia?

[aydensmom]

What would you say are the main signs and symptoms of fibromyalgia? I know that chronic pain is one of the main symptoms. Fatigue may also be another. However, are there other telltale signs and symptoms as well?

 

[Wickerman]

For my godfather the first symptoms were just chronic pain, mainly on the lower back and legs. :|

 

[aydensmom]

Yikes. It seems that chronic pain is one of the most common symptoms of fibro.

 

[Izac Joz]

One tell-tale symptom, I have seen and observed is constant mood swings and depression, However, it often happens to hypothyroidism patients too, so you might need a good diagnostic check-up to see what it is all about.

 

[aydensmom]

Thanks Izac Joz. I was curious because I know different people suffer from different symptoms. This makes sense though. I know with my mother, she was experiencing mood swings along with chronic pain and fatigue.

 

[dorothymoreno]

I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism about a year ago and I am taking medication for it and a lot of my symptoms were being tired all of the time,pain in my lower back, in my legs and upper body too sometimes. I wake up everyday with some type of pain. I was also told I have carpal tunnel as well. I have been taking the medication like I was directed to by my doctor but I still have some kind of pain what seems like constant. I have told my doctor about this but she says it is my arthritis. Then I was reading about Fibromyalgia and found a lot of the symptoms I am having are similar to the symptoms of fibromyalgia or at least seem to be. My doctor doesn't really listen to what I am saying most of the time or at least I feel she isn't because she just blows it off as part of the thyroid condition and diabeties, so I have just left it at that till now that I read about this. is there any kind of test that can be given to see if I might have this problem or how do you know other then the obvious symptoms.

 

[kris]

Signs to look out for
Abdominal pain, bloating, nausea, and constipation alternating with diarrhea (irritable bowel syndrome)
Tension or migraine headaches
Jaw and facial tenderness
Sensitivity to one or more of the following: odors, noise, bright lights, medications, certain foods, and cold
Feeling anxious or depressed
Numbness or tingling in the face, arms, hands, legs, or feet
Increase in urinary urgency or frequency (irritable bladder)
Reduced tolerance for exercise and muscle pain after exercise
A feeling of swelling (without actual swelling) in the hands and feet
Chronic muscle pain, muscle spasms or tightness
Moderate or severe fatigue and decreased energy
Insomnia or waking up feeling just as tired as when you went to sleep
Stiffness upon waking or after staying in one position for too long
Difficulty remembering, concentrating, and performing simple mental tasks ("fibro fog")

 

[aydensmom]

Signs to look out for
Abdominal pain, bloating, nausea, and constipation alternating with diarrhea (irritable bowel syndrome)
Tension or migraine headaches
Jaw and facial tenderness
Sensitivity to one or more of the following: odors, noise, bright lights, medications, certain foods, and cold
Feeling anxious or depressed
Numbness or tingling in the face, arms, hands, legs, or feet
Increase in urinary urgency or frequency (irritable bladder)
Reduced tolerance for exercise and muscle pain after exercise
A feeling of swelling (without actual swelling) in the hands and feet
Chronic muscle pain, muscle spasms or tightness
Moderate or severe fatigue and decreased energy
Insomnia or waking up feeling just as tired as when you went to sleep
Stiffness upon waking or after staying in one position for too long
Difficulty remembering, concentrating, and performing simple mental tasks ("fibro fog")

Thanks for this list of symptoms. It's quite interesting. Some of these symptoms can likely be confused for other illnesses and disorders. For example, the whole abdominal pain thing, that could easily be looked at as IBS, which is something my mom has along with her FIBRO.

 

[1sweed]

Since the above mentions most of the symptoms I will just add the electric shock feelings in back and arms, and head. I would get severe pain in my head and get these electric-like shocks that felt like blood vessels were bursting in my brain. Try explaining that one to your doctor without his eyes rolling and shaking his head thinking that this woman is crazy. One thing that makes Fibro so bad in diagnosising it is that it has symptoms like lots of other medical conditions, so do not pracitice self-diagnosis. Usually lots of testing is needed to rule out other conditions like MS. Just having diabeties alone can produce some of the same types of symptoms and if you start telling some doctors what you think you might have they will stop listening to you. I found my family doctor to be the most patient man on the face of this planet in helping me deal with other doctors. I think he was more understanding because his wife had the same things going on and other doctors were rude to the both of them too.

 

[Libragirl67]

Unfortunetly I also have hypothroidism. So what is a result of the fibro or the hypothroid. It is hard for me to distinguish. I do know that the pain in my legs is probably more the fibro then anything else. My fatigue I tend to blame on the hypothroidism. I do not have to many bouts of depression. The one good thing about hypothyroidism is that it can diagnosed and treated. As we all know fibro is way more ellusive. But mostly I feel the pain and the tired feeling. I do not have to many more symptoms other than that.

 

[mudrock]

Irritable Bowel Syndrome. I wasn't ever diagnosed with IBS. It came on with Fibromyalgia. The IBS for me, cleared up the last couple months... When I started low carb dieting. Ridding of caffeine and sugar and junk food from my diet.

 

[dcloutier]

One of the things that I was told is that there are certain points on a fibro person's body that are more sensitive than others.

Fibromyalgia Pain, Tender Spots ? Fibrocenter.com

I know that for me it's true. What about yourself?

I also have hypothyroidism. I think it's crazy that I've been diagnosed with both fibro and hypothyroidism for quite sometime and never realized that so many other people had both illnesses as well.

 

[SulaBlue]

Yep. Also frequently seen with diabetes and PCOS, I understand. I have all 4 :|

 

[suadela]

I too have Hypothyroidism and Fibro... Thats kinda strange how many of us have both...

 

[CavaloBranco]

Chronic muscle pain, muscle spasms or tightness