Kaye,
Hello and Welcome!
I am sorry that you have been through so much... stress can play a major factor in developing fibromyalgia, tmj, headaches, ibs and acid reflux... and you have certainly experienced a major amount of stress.
But let me see if I can help you with some of your questions first-
Has anyone here experienced a pain at the bottom of neck/top of spine that really hurts when you lean your head back to look up and alot of numbness in the face and head?
I have not personally had this exact pain, but I do believe that it could be caused by tight muscles, possibly in addition to a Trigger Point (which are different from the Tender spots that are seen in Fibro). Here is a link that talks more about Trigger Points-
[url]http://www.healthboards.com/boards/showthread.php?t=134207[/url]
They are nasty little things that can cause pain not only in the place where they are, but when you press on a trigger point it can cause referred pain (and numbness/tingling). It is possible that when you are tilting your head back, you are compressing on a trigger point and that is causing the pain and numbness. You can sometimes find trigger points yourself. Spend some time pushing on your neck (gently) to see if you can reproduce the pain and numbness... People who have Fibro are very suseptable to getting Trigger points too.
Does anyone have severe deep ear pain that also hurts on the cheek and around the eye sometimes?
The simple answer is yes, I do. The slightly more involved answer is that I have a lot of ear and eye pain because of my Fibro, TMJ and facial trigger points... it feels like there is a LOT of pressure in my face, ears and eyes too- like I have an elephant sitting on my face and head.
Does anyone have really bad sore throats because of acid reflux? or chest/back pains due to acid?
I don't have any acid problems personally, but I have heard of throat problems and chest pain being due to reflux. Have you tried any other acid blocking meds? Sometimes one acid blocker won't help a lot, but a different one will... as with any medication it is just a matter of finding the one that works the best for you.
Does anyone have headaches likes this?
yes... I also don't get them very often, but when I do they affect my whole body. I get sick to my stomach, shaky, dizzy, and when my head hurts all of my other pain is amplified....stress makes them a lot worse, and the more stressed I am, the more often I get these headaches.
When I first got IBS I was rather thin and I could lay down in my tub or bed and feel/see a lump about 2-3 inches along my stomach between my hip and belly button. I gained some weight and this stopped happening. Now I have lost weight again and it is happening again. My Doc says it is gas in the colon. (have had ultrasound and barium enima which showed nothing. Will have a colonoscopy in March. Have any of you ever seen this along your colon?
I get constipated due to my pain meds. The pain meds slow down my bowels and I have to take laxitives sometimes to get everything moving properly again. I can tell if I am constipated by gently pushing on my stomach between my hip and belly button... I can feel that I'm "full". I am 5'7" and 110 pounds and sometimes I can see bowel fullness by just looking at my stomach.
My husband was diagnosed with testicular cancer in September... we first noticed the lump in July. He had surgery in September and now we are waiting for some more test results to see if he will need chemo... if he does need chemo it will start on January 12th.
My pain levels and other symptoms have increased 100 times since my husband got diagnosed. All of my problems are also made a lot worse by stress. I also suffer from a severe anxiety disorder and so I don't handle any type of stress well at all...
Before my husband had any health problems I was doing OK on a very small amount of pain meds that I took only when needed... in October my doctor put me on OxyContin because my pain levels increased so much due to my stress. My Fibro is worse, my TMJ is worse, I am developing Trigger Points on almost every body part and they hurt a LOT! But I don't trust anyone but my doctor to give me the trigger point injections to make them disappear (or at least less painfull) and my doctor is on a leave of absence because she had a baby.... (she won't be back until the end of February).
So everyday I get a little bit worse... and I will keep getting worse until my husbands test results come back as cancer free and I can get to my doctor and get a bunch of trigger point injections... I try not to think about my pain or his cancer too much, which is why I spend so much time online researching things and talking to people on message boards. It takes my mind off of all my stress and worries.
It is very hard for my husband and I to be both patients and care givers to each other. There are days when neither of us can handle anything at all and we are both ready to fall to pieces... but we manage to make it through each day together... and somehow we will absolutely make it through everything and our lives can go back to normal.
(((((hugs)))))) you are not alone, and neither am I.... we both have the horrible mix of stress and pain and husbands with cancer.
I am heading off to bed now because I am absolutely exausted... but I will be back tomorrow so that we can chat some more.
more ((((((((hugs))))))))
~Liz
P.S.- Most of my links to Cancer sites are particular to Testicular cancer, but there 2 are for all types of cancer... I hope that they help.
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