Fibromyalgia patients

Can you describe your fibro to me generally? They say thats what i have but i really wonder if thats whats really going on or if its something else. So wondering what it feels like for YOU.

my wife has it and she has a hard time describing it to me.....ill ask her again and see if she can post a reply

thanks brian - it doesnt have to be long and detailed, just a general description of symptoms. I know i can Google this, but i prefer to get a hands on idea of what people experience.

Im so sorry your wife suffers from this too - please send her my care and thoughts. And you too.

On a bad day.

Like someone kicked the crap out of me when I was sick with a bad case of the flu.

Everything hurts. Even clothes.

Dead weight exhausted. Lifting my arms can be difficult.

Good day.
Recuperating from the flu.

I also have Chronic Myofascial Pain (CMP) so it's hard to tell sometimes.

honey, they even decided ours wasn't fibro, but caused by Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, nevertheless the thyroid replacement hasn't helped

we have been left with chronic fatigue, all types of muscle pain, but particularly the inabilty to raise our arms above shoulder height without excruciating pain, facial neuralgia, feel like crap all the time

make them test EVERYTHING !!!!!!!!

with fibrom for me.. - stress triggers swollen glands in my throat region... fever like .... bad case of flu... with aches .... pains...

bad days... extreme tiredness, aches.. brain can't think clearly.. interacting with people.. clerks... anyone is.. difficult... joint pain... hurts.. to move.. to lay down to sleep - if I can... my skin hurts...my hair hurts..

just days... aches... and if my son hugs me.. I scream.. because.. it hurts... walking.. sometimes hurts...have a few hours.. where I can do somethings... do.. then rest...

All of us will have somewhat differing experiences though a lot in common too.

You say you've been diagnosed with fibromyalgia but still wonder - something to keep in mind is that you can have fibro and something else too. What I mean is - probably their diagnosis is correct, and if you still feel that other symptoms etc. aren't being correctly addressed - definitely ask for more tests.

Many of us say we feel like a semi truck has hit us most every morning, I have that experience too. Sometimes I swear the semi hit me, rolled over, backed up, and did it again!

I have both chronic fatigue syndrome (which differs from chronic fatigue) and fibromyalgia. One rheumatologist explained his understanding to me by showing me two overlapping circles, the two illnesses have things in common, but also are different.

I'm always achy to varying degrees. Often clothing can even bug me, especially with lots of seams and fitted type clothing. I'm achy, tired, often exhausted, and I don't bounce back from exertion like I used to. I go through bouts of fibro-fog when it is difficult for me to focus much less figure out how to talk.

Often I'm really sensitive to lights, noise, smells, and touch.

Hot baths, light exercise, and menthol muscle rub help take the edge off my symptoms a bit.

http://www.fibromyalgia-symptoms.org...treatment.html

I don't have FMS, but CMP and yes, OB it can feel like I was run over by a truck, on a good day!

for all of us who wake up each morning feeling like a truck ran over us

For Me - its body pain that seems to have certain points of entrance.... followed with a chronic lack of energy that is enforced by an awful feeling of having a death fighting flu that never leaves - and it always has to have that "did a semi just hit me" aura to it.

... sleeping a lot is my only escape and the only immediate way to receive comfort from the tiredness that takes you - rather you've given your permission or not.

HI, I am a newbie to this site but since I have fibromyalgia thought that I would dive in. I would describe FM much like the others-flu-like aches-all-over. It feel like every single fiber of my body is inflammed. I toss and turn at night, trying to get some pressure off the muscles. No mattress is soft enough (it's like the old story of the princess and the pea!!). I had a resident at a local medical school (neurology department) tell me flat out "there is no such thing as fibrymyalgia". I hate to admit it but I wished it on her!!! The only relief I get is when I am in warm water like a hot tub. I can actually get a good nights sleep. I don't just sit in the water, I do mild stretches. it seems to loosen my muscles.

woooooooooooooooooooooooooow.....
Sorry for taking so long to respond - i wanted to wait for a bunch of responses.

Everything that all of you are explaining is EXACTLY how I feel - the feeling like your going through a bad flu all the time, the feeling of being beat up - it almost feels like someone beat me with a phone book(sorry to be graphic) and im achy all over. Not to mention the pressure of a bra or other restrictive clothing hurting - even a tight sock sometimes hurts.

Well, I guess thats kind of validating. Now if i could find a way to get my poor GI system to settle down I would be alot better off.

Stiffness, pain, fatigue, very much like you guys explained it. Seems like less humid, warm, and sunny days help most. I can really feel it more when its not like that. Winters are hard, which I think adds to my depression. Because I am almost non functioning physically. I know some of this is also my arthritis. But I also feel it in my muscles alot worse too.

For the first time in months I will be seeing my pain doctor again. I am going to check with him on Lyrica that they've been advertizing on tv. I am only on Ultram ER right now. Which from what I am told is just a pumped up version of Tylenol. And Mobic for my arthritis. Have any of you tried Lyrica for your FM? Does it work? Mandy if you want me to take this to another thread let me know. I will I dont want to hijack your thread.

no sweet thats fine. I wanted to learn all I could so keep on trucking. Im fine with a change of subject. Ive heard of lyrica too but do we have it up here in canada yet?

It is not easy at all! But we must not let it control us, we must control it. That is my motto. I not only have Fibro, but CFS, IBS, ADD, RLS, etc...many more dignosis'....I wake up exhausted and in lots of pain, but I push myself to play competitve tennis, simply because it makes me feel "normal". I refer to it as my "therapy". I understand that it is an individual disease/syndrome. Each day is a new day and we must take one day at a time and remember to do something each day that makes us happy. Keeping a positive outlook will also help more than you realize too.

Just my 2cents hoping that it helps at least 1 person.

For me..

Wide spread pain in my neck, shoulders, chest, back, hips, knees, ankles, arches of my feet.

Constant tiredness, but trouble sleeping. Waking up never feeling like I've had a good night sleep.

Headaches, dizziness, nausea, depression, fibrofog (memory impairment),numbness in legs and heals, fluctuations in weight, heat or cold intolerance, chemical allergies.

Basically like you have the flu all the time. You feel like your limbs weigh a tone. I use to be a Scout (like Boy Scouts) when I was younger. One night we built a hut out of sticks and bark etc. Our hut was at the bottom of a tree so I spent the night sleeping on tree roots. This was before I was diagnosed but waking up the next morning was similar to the pain I feel every day but imagine having the flu on top of that. So if you ever want someone to know what it feels like to have Fibro just for one day get them to sleep on tree roots in a hut while they have the flu!


I hope it's not what you have. It's terrible. I have both Fibro and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I have had Fibromyalgia since I was 11 and CFS since I was 15. I'm 18 now and it's ruined my teen years.

I talked to my pdoc yesterday.... and told him I thought that my fibrom.. was contributing to depression at times... because of uncontrolled pain... and not being able to move...

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr he can't prescrible "narctotics"... grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr..

I told him my internist wouldn't help with any pain control.. he said get second opinion.. and I said she is ... grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

so am in a major flare.. hips.. legs... owie...

I'm going to repeat what some others have said.... it's like the worst case of the flu you ever had... it's like having a bus run over you - repeatedly... it's pain all over bad enough to make you think death would be better than continuing to endure.

Before anyone gets mad at me about that last statement, I'm not saying I'm considering killing myself. But there are times the pain is so bad, times when the pain has gone on for days and days and days that I think I'd rather be dead that have to continue.

There is a laundry list of symptoms that go with fibro and I think I've had them all.... body pains, fibro fog (I can't put two thoughts together), short term memory problems, IBS, headaches, trouble sleeping because of the pain, never ending fatigue, inability to string words together so they make sense. I have what I call "stupid days" because I feel dense those days.

Someone mentioned trying Lyrica. I tried it a few months ago. I could not tolerate the side effects. I was stoned out of my head the whole time I took it. My pdoc said it effects some people that way. PLEASE - I'm not telling anyone that's what will happen to them. I'm just saying I can't take it.

Freewill, sorry to hear your docs are not very helpful. I'm blessed with an angel of a pdoc. He listens to me and treats me like I'm a mature, adult, human being.