Hi,

I'm 36 years old and I've been dealing with chronic pain after a car accident for ten years. Two years ago, I was in another, much smaller collission, and my symptoms have gotten much worse ever since. A few months after the second accident, I went to a primary care doctor to discuss the wide-spread pain I had, heart palpitations and other symptoms. He said it was fibromyalgia and sent me to a rheumatologist.

However, the rheumatologist ruled out fibromyalgia, since he said I didn't have all the tender points in the right places. Also, I had some abnormal bloodwork (low platelet count, low red blood cells, positive ANA, anti SSA and SSB and more). So he suspected some kind of arthritis but the symptoms I have are not definite enough to say which kind.

I've been in physical therapy for two months, but I only seem to get progressively worse. My physical therapist says I definitely have fibromyalgia, although I have told him that the rheumatologist said that I didn't.

So I started reading about fibromyalgia again, and especially how it relates to previous injury such a whiolash. In my search I found several articles and books by doctors who said that fibromyalgia (and whiplash also) was a sign of psychological distress, due to poor posture, the patient's own fault etc. I understand that we're not allowed to post links to other websites, but these can be found by putting the words "fibromyalgia" and "whiplash" into a search engine.

So now I'm confused. I was thinking of seeing another rheumatologist to see if he could confirm the diagnosis of fibromyalgia, but I'm not sure if that's what I should do now. I'm not depressed or particularly unhappy - I'm just tired of being in pain everywhere all the time and I don't know what to do! I thought the physical therapy would help me, but so far I only get worse and worse. :(

Sorry this was so long. Any thoughts?

:wave: Hey Jenilee70, don't give up, get a 2nd rheumy opinion, a lot of other conditions can run alongside fibro and p/t is always worse first and beneficial 2nd. Have you told your p/c doc what the rheumy said? So you got two health care professionals saying yes to fibro and one saying no, try again. My doc reckons as well as fibro I've probley got MS, but the neuro chap said not enough clinical evidence, but my doc is insisting that there is a degree of MS:( I go with my doc, he has looked after me for over 24 years and I trust him, these consultants don't know us, we come in and go and the chances are we never see them again. I was diagnosed, given a fibro leaflet and discharged from the rheumy clinic all in about 30 minutes!:confused: have found out about fibro and treatments etc from this forum, fibro help line and my doc. By the way there is about 43 different types of arthritis around, just to make life that little bit more interesting :rolleyes: I wish you luck Jenilee70 and hope you find the answers you need very soon. Let us know how you get on, take care keep well Snoozyowl;)

:wave: Hey Jenilee70, don't give up, get a 2nd rheumy opinion, a lot of other conditions can run alongside fibro and p/t is always worse first and beneficial 2nd. Have you told your p/c doc what the rheumy said? So you got two health care professionals saying yes to fibro and one saying no, try again. My doc reckons as well as fibro I've probley got MS, but the neuro chap said not enough clinical evidence, but my doc is insisting that there is a degree of MS.
Thank you so much for you reply, Snoozyowl. I realize that I may have fibromyalgia and some kind of arthritis as well, since my bloodwork indicates that there's something else going on.

The problem with the arthritis diagnosis is that my symptoms are all over the place. The results from the bloodtests point to Sjögren's, but I don't have particularily dry eyes or mouth, so I don't satisfy the criteria for that. There's lupus in my family, but I don't have those symptoms either and don't want them since it's such a terrible disease. I have three out of four symptoms for lupus.

However, I have almost every single symptom of fibromyalgia and then some. When I look at a chart of the tender points for fibro and try to press them, they're all painful. I think the problem the rheumy had was that I have such widespread pain that the tender points are no more painful than other parts of my body (control points). I also have swollen joints, but like you said, it could be two conditions since fibro often accompanies other diseases.

Anyway, I feel a bit better and I'm going to go ahead and try another rheumy. If he says the same thing so be it. :)

:wave: Hey Jeni keep us up to date with yourself, thoughts are with you try to keep smiling:D take care hugs Snoozyowl;)

p/t is always worse first and beneficial 2nd.

One more thing I was wondering about: How long does it usually take for physical therapy to be beneficial? When can I expect to start feeling better? :confused:

It's been two months and I just get worse. I've only recently started to do tiny little exercises, since before he said that I was in such a bad shape that he didn't want me to start with the exercises yet. So mostly it's been soft-tissue massage, manual therapy and ultrasound therapy (sound waves).

Sometimes I think I am getting better and some parts of my body HAVE gotten better (for instance my hands), but then something else comes up and some new pain starts to bother me. It's really frustrating and it's also very difficult in my job.

However, this p/t guy is supposed to be very good and I don't want to give up and just resign myself to daily, constant pain all over my body. :(

:wave: Hey Jenilee, First, the p/t is benefitting you in some areas, don't forget everyone is different on how p/t helps them and to what degree. It does seem, that you just get one thing sorted and something else starts playing up, its the way it goes, I know its a worry when you are still able to work, unfortunately I can't and its frustrating enough when I've planned to do something and am unable to do it when I want, so I do what I can manage that day and do the other thing when I can. I'm glad you are still able to work, I do miss nursing and I'm still resentful:( that I can't do that anymore, but I have to concentrate on the things that I CAN still do and you will do the same, take each day as it comes and don't give up on your p/t or your job, you try to make some adjustments so things are less painful, have you started a plan, a diary to see what sets things off? Make notes for when you see the 2nd rheumy. What do you do for a living? I've just noticed, DOH!:rolleyes: you're in the UK as well, about 25 miles away from me, as the crow flys:cool: Every fibromite works towards keeping their pain managable on a day to day basis, have a look through the other threads, honest you will see what I mean, you are not alone Jenilee, not now you've joined this bunch:jester: look forward to your next post, take care, keep well Snoozyowl;)