I am constantly trying to figure out if I do have fibro. I know I have chronic pain, I know I have chronic fatigue, but I don't know if I have real fibro. If I don't take my ultram, I feel like I have the flu. That is the best way to describe my pain. I am tired and achy all over, mostly muscular.
I did see a rhuem nurse practitioner a while back and though I have many of the trigger point issues, she thought it was more musculo-skeletal related to some back issues I already have. They did a basic check on my thyroid and it was WNL. So, don't know. She wasn't an actual Doc, don't know if that matters. I am looking for help and suggestions that are from patient to patient. I'll ask the other questions later with my doctor.
Anyway, thank you so much for any help you can pass my way!

Hi. My fibro feels like fatigue and achy like the flu. It also feels like deep muscle pain like someone punched me. Sometimes my skin has a burning sensation. Light burns and the sound hurts my ears and i am sensitive to cold and cold fronts trigger pain flares. The sound of my computer is about to drive me nuts. This means my central nervous system is jacked up and i have to get quiet and relaxed or i will flare. I also get brainfog which is where you forget your words or lose the end of your sentences before you have a chance to get them out and also have some confusion/spaceyness. I have difficulty sleeping. I either wake up during the night or wake up very early in the morning. I had 11 tenderpoints the last time i was checked. I can only find the ones on my collar bone area. When they are touched by the doctor, I about shoot through the ceiling. I have multiple trigger points in my back, buttocks, and abdomen which are painful. We are all a bit different in our types of fibro pain. Many of us have old spinal injuries. I had an old whiplash and then injured my hand and i think that is what set it off.

I suggest you have a tender point exam with a rheumy that has fibro patients. most of them do. Sometimes they will do an MRI to rule out MS and a lab test to rule out lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. If you have the tenderpoints, then you get to have fibro. My daughter has cfs and fms. So I kind of know how you feel. you can go through the posts here and see if you can relate. There are alot of them about pain and other symptoms.

I hope you are feeling better soon.

thank you :) I have bad muscle knots all over my upper and mid-back. It seems fibro makes muscles sore to touch, yet I need deep massage to feel better. I think maybe those are from stress-I think I may just need to try the diagnosis again, see where it takes me this time.
Again, thank you.

Hi,

My fibro is much like starr's the all over achyness, the deep burning pain, it knows no limits or boundaries in my body, I feel it in my neck, shoulders, hips, back, chest, elbows, legs, and lately my ankles seem to be giving me fits. The cold it like a blanket of pain. I am easily irritated by sounds. It is a cruel disease and I hope that you don't have to endure it.

I was just saying last night that it has been at least ten years since I have had a day without some sort of pain.... blah!

Bless You,

do you think I can have the achy flu like symptoms without the muscle tenderness????

see post below

My body aches with this deep gnawing ache that makes me want to move my legs, arms or hands to try to get it to go away. I am most aware of it when I'm sitting /laying still. It's sometimes hard to go to sleep but Lyrica helps to make me sleepy. After sitting /laying for as little as 15 minutes, my whole body gets stiff and it hurts to get up and get moving. All of the tendons at my major joints (ankles, knees, hips, shoulders, elbows, wrists) are tender and hurt when touched and I also have bursitis in most of them. The ulnar nerves in my elbows hurt a lot. When I'm at my worst, I feel like I have the flu with very bad body aches and I can't concentrate on anything. All I can do is rock back and forth in pain. I've found that getting up and moving helps me not think about the pain, but the more I move and use my muscles (especially housework type stuff) the more I pay the price in a day or 2 by feeling even worse than before. Last time I cleaned it took me almost 2 weeks to recuperate. If I don't get the proper amount of sleep for me, the next day, the pain and stiffness is worse. Tiredness and fatigue is a problem and sometimes I wake up just as tired as when I went to bed the night before. Come to think of it, I think constantly fighting off the pain makes me tired.

Sorry you're hurting. I hope you don't have this.........it's no fun at all !! I'm no doctor, but the flu-achy-tired description sounds like it. My rheumy did a bunch of blood tests to rule out autoimmune dieases and anything that would act the same as fibromyalgia. They all came back negative, so that's when he diagnosed me. Every time I go to see him, he does more blood tests to make sure my situation hasn't changed. I hate having this "THING", but I'm grateful it won't affect my organs in the future.

I think I will have to see someone, even if to just help a little. I don't get worse days later over doing it one day-usually if I lie down for a little bit and take my pain meds, then I am good later on. I sleep long hours, twelve to fifteen sometimes, but that could be due to my meds, discomfort, working twelve hour days, and STRESS. I have a lot to figure out. I think I need to really write all my symptoms down, what happens when i do what etc...
Good example-when we went to Orlando, I went great most of the day, but then around five or six hours later (after walking around the park all day) It is like I hit a wall and can barely make it back to the car. I get to bed IN BED by six or seven (after the hot tub AND a bath) then sleep til the next day-I often wake up not rested, but toss and turn all morning-But, then I can do that all over again the next day, but it is the same thing again. This is why I am so scared to have kids-I don't know where I'll get the energy from! And, then there is pain control DURING the pregnancy and after with breast feeding (If I chose to do that).
I think at the most it is fibro and at the least a good bout of CFS AND CPS.
I appreciate all the feed back. talking helps

My "thing" feels almost exactly as Murphi1024 describes it. Then you can add that there is a little invisible troll like creature armed with an ice pick that stays within a few feet of me and when this little bugger gets the whim, he/she/it jabs me in any "handy spot" with the pick. Sometimes it feels like it just gets the surface, other times feels like it's jabbed in really deep, but somehow magically doesn't affect the surface. I also have re-occurring "carpal tunnel" in my wrists and elbows. I say re-occurring because I can feel just fine, then suddenly any movement causes sharp stabbing pains in one of those areas. It lasts a few hours (can't lift anything with the affected limb) then mysteriously is gone. I wake every morning with a "wetness" in my ears, and periodically have ringing in my ears (recently discovered that this is a Fibro symptom as well) if I can manage to sleep anyway. The major muscle groups of my upper back and neck/shoulder area are almost constantly in a state of tension, some days so tight it affects my breathing. I could go on because I have just about every symptom I have ever read about with this condition, and no, it's not something that just happened to appear after I found out it was a Fibro symptom, I searched by symptom and invariably ended up being directed to a fibro symptom web page. Hows that for ironic. I found a symptom checklist and was astonished to find that I could check off nearly everything on most of them... bummer, and still had more annoying symptoms that aren't on the lists.

Bottom line is, I wouldn't wish this stuff on my very worst enemy! Hope you feel better soon and I hope even more that you don't get like me and a lot of others like me. Bless you.

It is actually really hard to describe to someone. I was diagnosed in January '05 of years of testing and medications. Fibromyalgia is what they came up with. They believe I have actually had the symptoms since I was younger. I have a widespread all over body pain. It is a deep muscle pain, with headaches, extreme fatigue. I am light and sound sensitive. Depression goes along with it as well as irritable bowel, dizziness, insomnia, etc. The list of symptoms are outrageous and I have every single one of them. I have tried trigger point injections, physical therapy, massage therapy, exercise, chronic pain meetings and a zillion medications. Fibromyalgia is something that you have forever. You can get it under control, which can take 1 month or 2 years. It is an individualized treatment program, what works for one, may not work for another. If you can find the right mix of meds and some kind of low impact exercise, like yoga, most people can do okay. I have been one of the unlucky ones, can't seem to find the right mix and I feel so crummy and in so much pain that I can't seem to get myself exercising. I know what I need to do, I just cant' get there yet.
Good Luck!

so, then could I just have chronic pain with chronic fatigue and not have fibro?? I just don't seem to have the same muscle problems along with the hearing and bowel stuff (I have been somewhat constipated since my lumbar fusion in 2004 and when you always take pain meds, it is normal plus my diet isn't as good, working on the fiber intake). I guess I should be happy, but still just not satisfied! I am so sorry to you all by the way, having fibro. My MIL has had it since she was diagnosed with Lymphoma (and is now a four year survivor). She can't work at all-My heart really goes to her and she is in CA, me in MO and there isn't much I can do from here. best wishes to you all. and, thank you

It is definitely possible that you have chronic fatigue and chronic pain. Basicall they run every test known to man on you. When everything comes back normal and there is nothing left to test for and no explanations as to why you are feeling the way you feel, you get the diagnosis of Fibromyalgia. The best thing to do is right down all the symptoms that you have, keep a daily journal for a couple of months on how you are feeling and what you are eating, that will help the doctor. Another thing to think about...gluten allergies can cause some of the same symptoms, bloating, chronic pain, fatigue, insomnia, etc. If you haven't already, get tested. You would be surprised at how many people have this allergy and feel awful for years and don't even know it.
As for having kids, I have 3. What triggered a lot of my symptoms was my pregnancy with my twins. It took a complete toll on my body. However, it is different with each person. I have a friend that has fibro, just went through 2 pregnancies in the last 1 1/2 years and she hasn't had any problems. It is pretty amazing what our bodies can handle. Get your symptoms under control and go from there.
Take care.
Kim

My Fibro feels like a terrible hangover combined with the way you'd feel the next day if you went to a gym and worked out for a few hours after you sat on the couch watching TV for 10 years. I agree with some of the board members that Fibro feels like the flu, but my Fibro feels worse than the flu