Fibromyalgia - could it be something else?

cagneyfan

Hi all,

I've recently been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia after being in and out of the Rheumatologists room faster than a burglar's dog.

I've got other problems with my back and feet and he never even took any notice of me when I tried telling him - with the view of making sure he got all the correct symptoms from me and not lumped other things in which were completely separate.

Anyway, I said about 3 sentences and was diagnosed which I thought was disgraceful as the symptoms I managed to say could've pointed towards loads of different illnesses. So I left wondering if I did indeed have this condition.

I just want to know if anyone else has it. I ask because today and for the past few days I have been so tired/fatigued/weak/depressed/in pain that I can hardly bear it. I'm walking like I'm drunk because quite honestly my blood feels like it's water, my flesh feels like jelly, I hurt in places and my bones feel like lead.

Does anyone know if these symptoms - which I know could well be Fibromyalgia - but could they point to something else. I have a doctors appointment next week and I'd like to go in with something to say other than just take the meds without question for the Fibro, expecially as I may not have that condition. I'm not lying when I say I was diagnosed far too quickly to be absolutely convinced of the correct diagnosis.

Tired and in pain could be any number of things....

Sorry for the long rant

Elle7

I have all the symptoms you have, and also have Fibromyalgia.

As their is no diagnostic test for Fibro, everything else has to be ruled out first. This includes things like arthritis, types of lupus, etc. If you haven't had other things ruled out, then the diagnosis could have been premature, its hard to say.

Have you tried seeing what helps the pain and tiredness? I know some conditions are helped by different things. For example, I was tested for MS, and was told that heat will make the condition worse. This didn't happen for me, so we ruled it out, but I had the tests anyway, which confirmed it wasn't that (well, they were inconclusive, but we are going with that I don't until I'm retested). Does complete bed-rest help? Or is it a case of nothing is helping, and you need to stop doing everything and let your body completly recover in its own time? That's how it will be for fibro.

I hope this has helped a bit.

grunnie

I have the same symptoms too and saw the consultant for all of 2 minutes and he said I had fibromyalgia. All the info I have found has been from the internet not from the consultant.

Mrs_P_Pincher

Ask your GP to check your thyroid, ferritin, Vitamin B12 and folate, Vitamin D. If you have had a lot of stress, or major life events in the last 5 years, ask about getting your adrenals checked as well.

Fibromyalgia is just a fancy word (I think it's Greek) meaning muscle pain so in that sense the consultant has not told you any more than you already know. It's a symptom really rather than a diagnosis, and quite often there is an underlying cause. If you can find that, and treat it, you should be able to feel a lot better.

Mrs P P

cagneyfan

Elle7 wrote: »

I have all the symptoms you have, and also have Fibromyalgia.

Does complete bed-rest help? Or is it a case of nothing is helping, and you need to stop doing everything and let your body completly recover in its own time? That's how it will be for fibro.

I hope this has helped a bit.

Hi,

No bed rest doesn't help as my joints hurt too much. It's that awful situation in the morning. I'm so tired that I want to stay in bed, but in so much pain from lying down I have to get up.

cagneyfan

grunnie wrote: »

I have the same symptoms too and saw the consultant for all of 2 minutes and he said I had fibromyalgia. All the info I have found has been from the internet not from the consultant.

Hi,

It's so frustrating! I do believe that I probably have fibro. It's just that it was diagnosed faster than frankly a layperson who'd read a few things on the internet! And he's meant to be qualified!

What angered me (although I was a right phoney in the room and stayed politeness itself!) was that he never considered my other problems and seemed to just lump them all in together - yet they are definately separate conditions, but all cause pain.

I'm now worried that a) I may have something else, and b) that from now on every time I whinge about anything it'll just be put down to Fibromyalgia!

It makes me so mad that people wait ages to be seen and then are in and out so fast. 2 minutes to see, talk, examine and diagnose someone is a farce

Emmzi

even with private company healthcare it took my boss 9 months to get a diagnosis - then there was a support programme inc painkillers and exercise to get him back up and about.

I would think there were lots of other things it could be. But if the treatment would be the same the specific name may not matter.

You are getting some support and treatment?

thetope

i got diagnosed with fibromyalgia by a rheumatologist. i subsequently developed crippling sciatica and visited a chiropractor who took x rays of my spine as part of my initial consultation. it turned out i actually had a scoliosis (abnormal curvature of the spine). i began a programme of treatement of chiropractic and physio, within weeks my fibro symptoms had dramatically decreased and within 6 months i was pain free. of course it could be a coincidence but getting it treated pretty much changed my life

clairibel

Those symptoms could be other things as well as it describes ME Myalgic Encephalitis of which i was diagnosed with 5 years ago.

But i saw a neurologist and had physical tests and had an MRI to rule out other things before my diagnoses was reached and it took me 4 years to reach that point and i had to keep going back with symptoms and being told its post natal depression, depression.

I would not be happy with the quick diagnoses you had. MS also has the same symptoms as do other illnesses, Plus a lot have Fibro as well as other things like ME. Personally i would go back and ask for a referral to a specialist.

Bennifred

The trouble with the symptoms you describe is that it could be any one (or more!) of several different things. It has been my experience that different "experts" put the symptoms down to whatever their "specialism" is :mad: Neurologist says MS, rheumatologist says Fibro, etc. They just seem to want to put you into a neatly labelled little box, and symptoms that don't fit are ignored or brushed to one side....
As a previous poster said, those terms are just descriptions af symptoms - nobody seems willing to consider that they may actually being caused by, for instance, an infectious agent eg Lyme disease or something else.
There must be hundreds of people out there who end up suffering and uncertain:(

cagneyfan

It's so annoying. I stayed away from doctors for 14 years and only went back last year as I felt much worse with new symptoms developing over the years.

I honestly wish I'd never bothered because I feel more depressed now than I did then.

I went to the pain clinic almost 2 years ago which came about due to a legal case regarding a foot injury. I thought it may be a chance to get back into the 'system' and hopefully get something done. The pain clinic reccomended a 'multi discipline pain management course' due to all the different pains I was having.

Guess what? It was declined as the pain clinic was not in my local Primary Care Trust. Yet my PCT does not do this course! Appealed against decision so many time I can't recall - they said they could see no reason to suggest any improvement in comparison to what I currently receive. What I currently receive is a lidocaine pain patch for my back - which has nothing to do with the fibromyalgia.

Why on earth send me to a pain clinic if the fact that it's out of my PCT means I won't be to get any treatment they reccomend. It took ages to be seen, my second appointment was a year apart. So now if there is a pain clinic locally no doubt the same will happen again.

I honestly think they just mess you about so that you just give up and not bother them

I COULD SCREAM!