I've Been Diagnosed With Fibromyalgia

[lonelyheartemma]

Maybe this shouldn't go in Good Day and Recovery but I do see it as a good thing. It's not like it's a new thing, it's something I've had for a long time.

It means the pain I feel all the time is real pain and serious pain. I haven't made it up and there's a reason why it's there and why it hurts so bad and the reason is called fibromyalgia.

Finally someone listened to me and heard what I've been trying to say for a long time.

The rheumatologist did say there was no medication that can help. She said the best thing I can do is listen to and play music. I don't think that's going to work because I'm always listening to music and I don't find it any good for pain relief.

but there are other things I want to try.

• Massage- even if this doesn't help, it's going to feel very nice when it's happening. It should relax my muscles which might help as tension makes me headaches worse.
• Yoga- this has been known to help with mental and physical problems. It's also a way I can get exercise without increasing my heartbeat to dangerous levels or making myself ill from running around. I think there's a good chance it will help me in one way if not every way.
• Walking- this will be easier once I finish therapy. Atm I walk to therapy and back which is 4 miles altogether and it takes me several days to recover (car/bus etc makes me travel sick which is worse and it takes days to recover from that too). But once I've left therapy I could do a mile every couple of days or something and build up to a mile a day.

The rheumatologist also said cbt can help and my therapist would know what to do but I've talked to him and his mentor and neither of them see how cbt can help. The mentor also wants me to end therapy quite soon (tbh after recent events I'm glad it's ending) so there probably isn't time to do anything. So I'll focus on the other stuff.

[pepsimeg]

Hi emma sorry you have been dx with this but I also understand the relief of finally having a dx.

There are plenty of suppprt forums for fm.

I have had fm since 2006 and have gone from not being able to walk upstairs to walking miles (witj breaks in between)

My advice to you is pace yourself and do not be tempted to do loads morre if u having a good day. Listen and learn what your body is telling you.

I wish you luck xxx

You will have flare ups and in time you will learn what triggers them

Tbh for me meds never helped. I took shed loada of pills at the start but then decided to wean my self off them but everyone with fm ia different and find different ways of dealinh with it

All the best

Emo xx

[maddy harper]

so sorry you have this condition.

have heard that it can be very painful.

[Eagleheart]

LHE- I'm glad you've had the dx.It can make you very ill when you are not believed,even though you're telling the gp about how much pain you are in.A couple of gp's i've seen haven't even tried to disguise their scepticism about my fibro.Infact,just a couple of weeks ago,i saw a locum & he told me my fibro pain is all in my mind & doesn't actually hurt on a physical level.Can you believe the ignorance? I offered my forearm to him so he could feel the REAL lumps in my muscle,but the ignorant twit just carried on lecturing me about how i needed to stop making things up.

Fibro is a serious condition.I hope you will not have to face any negativity about your dx.You need to make adjustments in your everyday life,but life goes on & it is good.xxx

[maddy harper]

remember, you have all of us to come to talk to when you want to

[lonelyheartemma]

Thank you for your replies It's good to know I'm not alone with fibro but I'm sorry you have it too.

Emo I am finding stairs very difficult atm, especially going downstairs. It's good to know this is something that can improve. It is very tempting to do as much as I can on a good day and I usually regret it so I'll try to remember what you say and be careful. It's difficult as my parents are both very active and are very busy all day. I feel so lazy but I just can't do as much as they can. But I'm ill, they're not. They can't do much when they're ill either. They go to bed when they have a cold. So it seems fair that I should take things a bit easy when I have fibro- which of course is every day.

It is painful Maddy but it could be worse. And as you say I have my friends on here for support

Eagle my mum says similar things about fibromyalgia. She accepts I feel pain but she says it's not real, it's just my brain being silly and not reading the pain signals properly. It probably is true that the pain is out of proportion to the 'injury' but it's not my brain being silly, it's me having a physical illness. It's shocking how ignorant some doctors could be. At least he's just a locum. The usual locum at my surgery is awful too but in a different way. She spends thirty seconds asking if I want any of my medications increased then she says goodbye! Maybe there's a reason why they don't have a permanent job! But my old GP is now working as a locum so there are some good locums out there.