depressed and in pain whenever I walk - Fibromyalgia Message Board

Belle0616 · 11-15-2008, 12:05 PM

This is my first time talking about this to anyone. But 5 months ago I was leading a happy normal life. But then on July 16th I took my children to the beach and I went in the water and a wave knocked me down. Sounds silly but my feet were stuck in the sand and the wave was really strong and down I went and when I got up my knee hurt!!!!!

I went to doctor and was told I had strained my retinculum tendon and my kneecap had dislocated but went back in place. no surgery necessary.

I wore a knee brace since i was experiencing tightness in the back of my knee and couldn't twist it. After 4 weeks went to PT.

Now they say my knee is healed but it is worse than before. The really bad part is that the pain went into my back. I had an xray and it showed severe arthritis in my lower back. But the left side hurts too.

My dr. yelled at me and said my knee is healed and it would not cause back pain. It must be the opposite. My back never bothered me before. Now my right knee the muscles have compensated and it is tight on the inside too and turning my foot in a little so that my gait is off on both sidesnow.

I think that is what started my whole back pain. But now it spread up to my shoulders and my neck. My head feels real heavy a lot of the time. Also the tightness is spreading down to my left arm.

I cannot even walk much because of the pain .. Knees now ache. back kills me when I walk like muscles are pulling it and now my hips ache too.

I never even knew I had hips before. Doctors don't know what to do with me. Before this I never even went to drs. I feel so hopeless.

The reason I am posting on this board is that one of the knee drs is now sending me to a rhumatologist ..... She thinks I may have fibromyalgia.

My quality of life went from 100 down to 0. I can hardly walk through the food store. Most of my friends just say I hope you feel better. The truth is that every day I feel a little worse. I can't sleep at nights. My primary care dr. gave me ambien. I took it. Slept 3 hrs then i wake up. I am so tired yet can't sleep. I still have fairly young children. 15 and 12. They never want to be around me anymore. There is not much i can do. It is hard to exercise as that aggravates everything.

I am so afraid that i will end up in a wheel chair. There is no name for what I have so maybe it is turning into this.

Can anyone offer me any suggestions. I've tried anti-inflammatories but they don't help. Alleve doesn't help. Have been prescribed muscle relaxers. No help. I don't want to be doped up all day. Have Xanax but only take as a last resort. I hate taking pills. My older children keep telling me I need anti-depressants but I don't know if they will help as long as I am in pain and can't walk right.

Sorry this is so long but I am at my wit's end and I've only been like this for 2 months. How do you all deal with pain for years on end? I always thought I was strong but now I think I am weak. Hardly leave the house unless I have to. I used to love to get out of the house and my husband and I used to travel a lot. Now I can't walk. It's like my legs aren't even my own any more . The muscles are constantly changing.... Drs just look at me weird.

Has anyone ever experienced this. It started with cramping and then tightening.

charlenef · 11-15-2008, 04:18 PM

sounds like a lot of our stories of how fibro starts .a jar to the back then turns into pain everywhere. mine started 2 days after a sex injury (lol )try and tell that to the judge for ssd. when i was going to the dr at first i wouldnt even tell them what happened. i would just say i woke up like this one morning and at some point i told the truth. you might also look into chronic myofascial pain they go together a lot of the time. i have both good luck charlene

SD83 · 11-15-2008, 07:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Belle0616

I am so tired yet can't sleep.

Out of all of my symptoms, this is one of my absolute worst. The fact that you are even experiencing this, all from a seemingly "minor" injury, does lead one to believe you have hit a trigger point for fibromyalgia. It is hard to explain to a doctor that you're always tired, yet you can't sleep, and it all started with an unrelated injury, but that's how it is with fibro. No matter what you find out down the road, you have my best wishes. I would love to be able to help you further, all I can tell you right now is do not let doctors lead you down the wrong path. Believe in yourself, know yourself, and treat yourself.

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DeBeachSiren · 11-16-2008, 12:11 AM

Hi,

We were rear ended and that was the start of mine many many years ago. I'm so sorry that this happenned to you. I remember how fightening it was.

When your knees hurt it throws your gait off and works its way up.

I tried all sorts of things over the years and this has worked the best for me for years now.

At night.

Elavil 75mg, for depression and helps with sleep a bit. I think most people with chronic pain are depressed.
Ambien (not CR it doesn't work) 10 mg and when I wake up I can have another half a pill, so it's 15 mg.
Soma 350 mg. I take 1 at bedtime. It's a pain reliever and muscle relaxer. I can take this 3 times a day when I need to. It doesn't make me feel doped up, but I can only speak for me.

Also with the fibro I have the myfascial problem and get deep spasms also. I have Flexeril if I need it as a muscle relaxer. I have both Vicodine and Morphine that I rarely use cause even with anti-nausea meds it makes me sick if I'm up for more that 10 minutes......I'm fine lying down though and don't feel doped up. Even though these pain meds don't make me feel doped up, I do not ever drive.

See if there's a Dr. in your area that specializes in pain management. Mine is wonderful. He gives heavy pain medicine, but you have to sign a contract with him. It covers the abusing of it. He knows that when I go there that I'm really in pain that's out of control. He does alternative things also. I have a lower back deterioration and arthritis and a few months ago he gave me ablations on both sides of my tailbone and above it and it took away the pain pretty much. I'll probably have to have it redone every year or two, but that's a long time to go with less pain and I'm all for that. Sure you're a little sore for a couple of days. There are nerve blocks, trigger point injections, etc.. I have 2 electrodes in my head and wires running down to a battery pack in my lower back. It was the most painful thing I ever went through in my life, but those 5 days of awful have gotten rid of 80% of daily headaches. My headaches were from constant nerve entrapment in my shoulders and neck. When he turned that thing on in the recovery room it instantly took my headache away and we all cried, doctors, nurses, the rep. from the stimulator company, etc.. That was my last resort. By having that I've helped a lot of people to be able to get them as blessed relief from headaches. So there are things out there so you don't have to take a bunch of medicine.

Read about these things, write them down and take them to your doctor appt.'s. I've found that the more you know the more they'll pay attention to you. Don't let them intimidate you......you hired them. If you can't find anyone, keep looking until you do. I have not had good luck with rheumy's or neuro's, but others have had great luck with them. Look for a book about fibro and myofascial pain that was written by a doctor with both of these diseases. Her name is Devin Starlanyl MD. It answers so many questions, even really out there things that only you think that are going on with just you.

Hope this helps you out a bit. We're all on here to help one another.

DeBeachSiren