Chronic Pain

Hi there,

I am new to the site and could use some info. Um a little bit about me;
I am 19 and I have lots of things going on. I have been diagnosed with migraines, IBS, depression and anxiety. My chronic migraines are my worst problem. I have had them for 9 years and I see a specialist to treat them. We are just now finding some better meds that should be helping. I was just recently diagnosed with IBS and also take meds to treat that. I have good Drs and i am slowly finding hope in feeling better.

I also have another topic that I am a little afraid to bring up. I guess my body has been giving me "warning" signs for about 2 years now and I just tried to ignore them. I am starting to wonder if I could also have fybromyalgia. I have never seen a doc for my symptoms, I am scared that it may be something else to add to the list. With everything else I have going on, I just really don't want to have to manage another problem.

Clear back to 2 years ago, I remember going through a really rough time. I was 17 and I was really sick (IBS), very weak and tired, and I would just get this pain all over different parts of my body and I wouldn't sleep. It was so strange and hard to describe. I saw my pediatrician for some reason and thought I would mention the pain I was feeling too. It had started to disrupt my life somewhat. She looked at me and said, "Alaura, it almost sounds like you are talking about fibromyalgia, but somethin just doesn't fit right" Thats when I just nodded away, left, and forgot about it. I never mentioned my pain agian to another Dr. I just denied that it was even a possibility, I wasn't adding something else like that to my already growing list.

Over the past 2 years though, my symptoms are getting to the point that they just can't be denied anymore. I have a really bad case of insomnia and never get enough sleep. I am always so tired. I also go through these phases, I guess, that I just have so much pain. Like just this month, my pain has been out of control. I have had 14 days of migraines in the past 16 days. But also I am finding that my muscles just get so tired and achey. I get muscle spasms in my neck and shoulders that often go down my back. I can get these terrible mucsle cramps in my legs. My hips, neck, shoulders, back can get stiff and achey, pretty much just a bunch of random pains that I cant really even control. It isn't constant I go through times that are worse and times that are better. It is just like one random spot after another that gets painful or stiff and achey.

I hate to go to my doc again and even think of bringin this up. They will start to think that I am nuts with all that I have going on. I just have ignored it way too long and I am having a hard time dealing with all the pain. This month has really been bad. I am not really sure that this is fibromyalgia though. It came to my mind since my grandmother and aunt both have it, can it be a hereditary thing? I wish that I could just have some reasonable explanation for this all and make it go away. Do I have hope for that, or does it seem like I could have fibromyalgia? Any advise, tips, suggestions? How do I know what this is, what kind of tests can my Dr. do to help me feel better?

I would appreciate any information and adivse you can offer. Thanks!

Some the symptoms you describe may be due to chronic anxiety. It will sap your stregth. You are tense all the time and your muscles are probably tight. Do you get exercise like walking? Do you take anything for anxiety to ease it? When I am tense everything hurts worse.
Chronic stress can really do a number on you. I am a Vietnam vet. I know what long term unresolved stress can do to a person. Insomnia is a major symptom of stress.

If only anxiety and stress where the answers.....

My depression and anxiety is treated and not causing any problems anymore. Plus I just started therapy. I wish it was that easy!

Hello Alaura

It's nice to meet you and Welcome To The Chronic Pain Connection Forums. We are very pleased you've found us and decided to join in.

I'm very sorry about your multiple pain conditions and wish you were not having to go through it, but by educating yourself and trying to figure our if you've got Fm or any other pain condition is going to really help you while learning to deal with living in pain and learning how to talk with your doctors about it too.

I completely understand your apprehention in not wanting to tell the doctors about your suspicion of FM and just wanting to try to deal with or ignore the symptoms, in hopes they will just go away. I did the very same thing for several years.

We are very blessed here at the CPConnection, One of the moderators here is the Co founder of the National Fybromyalgia Associan http://www.fmaware.org/site/Pa...agename=fibromyalgia And will most likly stop by soon to post a reply. She one of the foremost experts in the US and will have some great info for you. You can use the link above to look over the FM site and it will give you some info in the mean time to get you started too. We also have a tremendous amount of articles here at the CPConnection and here is a link to the articles to get you started here too. http://www.healthcentral.com/c...myalgia.html?ic=4025 Most of the articles Karen Richards has written, but there are also some from different authors as well.

My own personal suggestion as for what you should do next, it to begin a pain diary including your high, low, & moderate pain levels for each day. Your sleep hours, how well or how long it took you to get to sleep, Where the pain is located every day, for how long, if any home remedies or meds help, your fatigue and you can also use a scale from 1-10 to help you record your fatigue level with brief explanations. I'm sure you already know about the 1-10 pain scale, with 10 being intolerable, worst you could ever have and 0 being no pain at all. After you review all the symptoms, as there are many many with FM and include every symptom that applies to you. Not all of us have everyone of the symptoms, but still have fm and they all are not listed on all the different lists I've viewed on other sites. So just look them over carefully, because some of them may be ones that you are not yet aware of. I would keep the diary for about 3 weeks to a month, then take it into the doctor and sit down to discuss it with them. Then they will most likely want to do an exam to check for tender points, which we don't all have the same ones or all of the 18, so just be aware of that too. They may also want to do some blood work or some other tests to exclude some possible illnesses too.

I hope some of this is helpful for you. It hard to tell you whether you have it or not, as most of us are only patients the same as you and even though it does sound like you have several of the symptoms, I would only be giving you my opinion and I know you want one from your doc,so you can get some treatment going.

Good luck and I hope you don't have FM. Its a miserable illness, but I do hope you can get some type of diagnosis so you can start treatments and not have to go on without some help.

Please let us know how your doing, what you find out and I'll be here if you have further questions, need someone to talk, share or vent to. So don't be shy, that's what the forums are for and I hope we can be some sort of help & support for you.
Gentle Hugs
Welcome
Betty

Thank you for the welcome and all of the information! The pain diary is a great idea. I already keep a headache diary, so i know that it helps. I should have thought of that myself.

Do you guys have FM pain everyday? I already said that I have tried to ignore it. That is one way that I rationalized it. My body goes through bad phases and it seems like, hmmm, lets make this area hurt today and move on to this spot tomorrow. I just can't control it but I don't have pain every single day. Its becoming more and more frequent, but its not everyday.

I am going to start the pain diary and I guess it is time to mention this to my doc. Thanks agian for all the info.

I do have one more question for you. I have heard of trigger spots and tender spots, is there a difference? I know that I have several trigger spots in my back, neck, and shoulders. At least that is what my physical therapist called them I have been working to get rid of them in PT with no luck in 3 weeks so far. They are very painful, so how is this different than tender spots? Cause boy is it tender

Ok thanks again.

Hi Alaura,

Welcome to ChroicPainConnection! As you can tell from the responses you've already received, we have a lot of nice people here who want to help and encourage you all they can.

First, I'd like to answer three of your specific questions:

1) Can fibromyalgia be hereditary? FM does seem to have a genetic component. Researchers think that a predisposition to develop FM can be hereditary. I do hear from a lot of FM patients who have other family members that also have FM.

2) Is there a difference between tender points and trigger points? Yes, they are two different things. Here is a link to an article that will explain the difference: The Difference Between Tender Points and Trigger Points Trigger points can be a symptom of Myofascial Pain Syndrome, which has a lot of similarities to FM. It's not unusual for someone with MPS to also have FM and vice versa.

3) Do you have pain every day? Although currently I'd have to say I have some degree of pain every day, it wasn't always that way. I'm 60 years old and have had FM for 20 years, so at this point in my life, it's sometimes hard to tell which are the natural aches and pains of getting older and which are from the FM. Originally, though, I would have some pain-free days and some high-pain days. Eventually I learned some of the things that could contribute to my higher pain levels, such as weather changes, overdoing on the good days, not getting enough rest, etc.

I understand your reluctance to talk to your doctor about your symptoms and the possibility of FM because I felt the same way many years ago. What may help you is knowing that the younger you are and the earlier you are able to get a diagnosis and begin treatment, the better your chances are to get it under control. While there is no cure for FM, it is possible to manage it well and live a quality and productive life.

Betty gave you some very good suggestions about preparing to see your doctor and learning more about fibromyalgia. I would just add that if your doctor doesn't take your pain seriously or is not experienced in diagnosing and treating FM, keep looking until you find a doctor who will work with you to get an accurate diagnosis and a treatment plan that works for you.

Please keep in touch and let us know how you're doing. We'll be happy to try to answer any questions you may have.

My Best,
Karen

Hi Karen,

THank you so much for all of the info! I haven't been back in a while so I am just finding it. This is really helping me find a starting point in finding the right treatment. I have an appointment with my doc coming up. I have been keeping the pain diary and it has actually been suprising to me. But any way, THanks for all of the info! Its helping me understand this a little better. I will let you guys know what I find out.