Anonymity

JDtweety-

Well, all I can say is welcome to the board. Hopefully many of us will have good tips and information for you!

I am no doctor, so I'll just say that up front. Fibromyalgia is very difficult because many, many symptoms can be classified as "fibromyalgia symptoms." Each of your symptoms, thus, could be considered a symptom of fibromyalgia.

Unfortunately, as I think you will discover more and more as you conintue your research into this disorder, many patients with fibromyalgia also have other conditions and disorders, such as TMJ Disorder, Chronic Fatigue, and Irritable Bowel Syndrome, just to name a few (there are many, many more). The symptoms of these other conditions and disorders frequently overlap with fibromyalgia symptoms. Thus, each of your symptoms could actually be a symptoms of some other overlapping disorder.

For example, the hand pain and tingling could be a symptom of fibromyalgia, or it could be symptom of Raynaud's Syndrome, or it could be an overlapping symptom of both disorders.

It is very difficult to determine what symptoms correlate with what disorder! When I started having problems, I prayed that all I had was fibromyalgia, but I found out pretty quickly that it is very unusual, maybe impossible, to have fibromyalgia without some of the other overlapping syndromes as well.

For your sake, I hope that fibromyalgia is all you have to deal with (goodness knows that's enough!). Unfortunately, within a diagnosis of fibromyalgia there are a myriad of symptoms and mini-disorders, so even a diagnosis of "only" fibromyalgia is not so simple as it may sound.

Those of us with fibromyalgia are often so used to having others downplay our condition that any innocent implication (whether that implication was intentional, unintentional, or totally misread) that fibromyalgia is not a terrible condition in its own right is usually met with anger and frustration. I hope that makes sense to you; I suspect you already knew that, anyway.

I would suggest that you keep learning more and more about fibromyalgia. After some period of time, it will probably become apparent which of the overlapping disorders you also suffer from. It is important to remember, however, that *you may never know* what condition is causing an individual symptom.

For example, I wrote above that your hand symptoms may be from fibromyalgia, Raynaud's Syndrome, or both. Most likely, you will never know for sure. Therefore, it is more important for you to concentrate on finding some relief for your hands rather than dwelling on what is causing the pain.

This seems to be opposite of how the world normally treats a medical symptom. We often focus on the cause of a symptom, hoping that discovering that cause will also help us discover the best method of treatment for that symptom. With fibromyalgia, though, we must suspend our need to know the cause in many cases and focus on treatment. There are a few exceptions to this rule, of course, and if you need to know if something qualifies as a symptom that you should absolutely focus on finding a cause for, you can always ask. There's a good chance you'll find that the rest of us have that symptom and have or have not determined that finding a cause for that symptom is important. Sometimes, this can help guide you as to the next step to take regarding an individual symptom.

For example, lupus can be a very difficult disease with specific treatments, so I feel that if you have symptoms of lupus, you should make sure that your doctor has run all of the necessary tests to ensure that you do not have lupus. If he determines that you do not have lupus, I would suggest that you research/ask about rosacea, which can cause unusual facial redness.

As for your hands, which seem to be bothering you the most, I have several ideas, some of which you may have already tried. In your place, I would consider physical therapy, hand stretching exercises, warm paraffin wax baths, warm water exercise, hand massage, and the use of heating pads or packs. These are just a few ideas that could be helpful for you.

Once again, welcome to the board. Please, post any thoughts or questions that you might have. It is often difficult to find others (in the non-cyber world) who understand fibromyalgia, so it is important to take advantage of any opportunities to speak with persons who truly understand.

I hope you are feeling better soon. Good luck!

[This message has been edited by Anonymity (edited 02-06-2003).]