Hello everyone, for a long time now I've been experiencing a bunch of strange symptoms and gotten no explanation from doctors despite having gone through more tests than I care to recall. I recently started thinking fibromyalgia could be the explanation, but I am not sure. I have read online that the diagnosis involves feeling pain at certain key points on the body when pressed, but I do not think my pain gets significantly worse when pressure is applied. Could it still be fibromyalgia?
My symptoms include pain that comes on almost every day (worse as the day goes on) in many areas, but primarily in my back and abdominal area. It feels like a muscle pain and seems to get worse when I'm sitting in front of the computer for awhile or go for a long walk. On a somewhat less regular basis, I also have pain in my arms by the elbows (I am not sure if this is related to a prior arm injury from nearly three years ago) and in my legs by the knees (more so in one leg than the other). I have also been prone to getting headaches, neck aches, and jaw pain over the last year or so. I can only assume all of these symptoms are related, as I find it doubtful that I could have several different conditions at once. Does this sound like fibromyalgia? Thanks!
welcome to the fibro boards! I just wanted to write you back quickly, but I am not sure if you have fibro, or if you may have more than one medical issue. Have you ever had tmj? That brings on jaw pain, and pain in the neck and shoulders. Also, if you press on the fibro trigger points is it painful to touch, do you hurt when touched or when touched in some of those spots do you want to hit the roof from the pain? I feel like a big bruise some days. That is the biggest symptom and mostly you have to have 11 out of the 18 trigger points to qualify for fibro. Do your muscles and joints ache, and does the weather changes bother you? I noticed you live in NY, and I live in Maine and we have some terrible weather changes and they just beat me up.
A lot of the times we have more illnesses that add to or come with fibro. I have chronic migraines, tmj, myofacsial pain syndrome, and fibro.
I would like to write more but my 2 and 4 year old say it is time to go. Please keep posting and this is a wonderful place to get some help, advice, and make friends.
Thanks for the reply! I can't really say that the trigger points hurt any worse when touched. However, my muscles do all ache and it definitely gets worse with the weather, either when it rains or when the temperature changes greatly (getting 20-30 degrees warmer or cooler within only a few hours, as it did here in New York over the last few days). I also definitely have TMJ, but I do not think that is the cause of my headaches, which seemed to start before I ever noticed any jaw pain. I really feel that these conditions are all related somehow, and fibromyalgia is about the only condition that I can find that would explain a correlation. However, as I said, I don't really have worse pain when touching the pressure points.
Well, Ahirsch, what you describe could very well be Fibro, but I am not a Dr. I can say that your best bet for Fibro is to see a Rhuemetologist (sp). Fibro is usually diagnosed after everything else has been eliminated. You mention that you have had lot's of tests, but not which ones. Many things can have the same symptoms, therefore you need to make sure, by getting tested, that it's not something else. Similar things like Lupus, MS, Lymes disease, among others, have to be addressed as well. The tender point test is just about the most widespread test (there is not currently a fool proof test for fibro) that Doc's use to diagnose it. You are supposed to have pain when at least 11 of the 18 "tender points" is pressed, and pressed hard enough that you can see the color leave under the fingernail of the pressing digit. (I personally don't need to be pressed that hard to feel pain in many of my tender points).
I hope this has helped, and please find a Rhuemy... Best of luck, and wellcome to the board... best place to learn anything you need to know about this disease!!
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