Thinking It Might Be Fibromyalgia.

[ralst4]

I have been trying to chase down a diagnosis since I had a sudden onset of symptoms a month after a car wreck 3 years ago. I am a 50 year old male and I have already been diagnosed with congenital spinal stenosis, degenerative disc disease, spinal/foraminal arthritis, and arthritis in both knees. I have been to my family doctor, two Rheumatologists, and a pain management doctor.

I have been checked for rheumatoid arthritis, lupas, polymyalgia rheumatica, ankylosing spondylitis, and undifferentiated spondyloarthropathy. But none of these have panned out to explain my sudden onset symptoms. The symptoms include:

• Pain in both hands (all joints)
• Recurrent tendonitis like pain in both elbows, and both shoulders
• Pain in both wrists
• Planters fasciitis.
• Dry mouth and eyes.
• Fatigue.
• Sleep problems.
• Pain in big toes.
• Hands are stiff.
• Neck pain.
• Heat sensitivity with profuse sweating, especially my head.
• Numb right heal
• Little fingers tingle at times.
• Two rounds of iritis.
• Tachycardia.

I also have been diagnosed with Raynaud's Syndrome and have a stiff sore neck.

My research seems to point toward fibromyalgia and I am going to be exploring this with my doctor next week. What do you think?

 

[dymon26]

First I must say that I am not a doctor but, I do have Fibromyalgia and have been diagnosis since 2011. My Fibromyalgia started in 2009 after a seventy-five pound steel casing on a gas pump fall on me. That is the very short version of my Fibromyalgia history. Now as for your question, there is a chance you do have Fibromyalgia. Your other medical conditions may make it harder for a doctor to diagnosis it. Because some doctor either don't believe Fibromyalgia is real, or don't have enough knowledge about it, they are not quick to confirm Fibromyalgia as being a diagnosis. Before it was confirmed, I was referred and seen ten doctors, three physical therapist and had five MRI, ten X-rays and, three CAT Scans. It took all of that to confirm Fibromyalgia. You may or may not have to go though all of that to find out if it is Fibromyalgia. Most doctors want to make sure that there is no other condition causing your problems before they will diagnosis you with Fibromyalgia. Here are some of the thing doctors look for when diagnosing Fibromyalgia; eleven out of the eighteen tender point. Based on the symptoms you listed, you have twelve of the eighteen. Tender points alone are often not enough to confirm for most doctors. Some doctors check for Sleep Apnea or some form of sleeping issue. Those are two of the three major symptoms doctors look for. The third major symptom is depression which I hate to talk about because, I don't feel it is an accurate way to diagnosis. Doctor believe that depression triggers Fibromyalgia. What they fail to understand is people with Fibromyalgia only become depressed when their pain is not being taken seriously, when they are sent to every specialist and pay hundreds of dollars just to be told the test are negative for one illness or another.

 

[ralst4]

Thanks dymon26. I really appreciate you sharing your experience.

 

[Trellum]

Hi there! There is a big chance you might have fibro, the symptoms vary from person to person tho, as well as the intensity of the pain. So there is no set of specific symptoms that can point to fibro per se, but your rheumatologist should be able to diagnose you after performing the trigger point test. It's really that easy most of the time. Sadly you might have such a hard time, because there many dumb doctors out there who still think that fibro isn't even real. If you stumble upon one of those doctors, then don't hesitate to go get a second opinion.

Whatever happens please keep us posted Best of luck with everything!

 

[FeelingsFlight]

Fibromyalgia is usually a lifelong syndrome. The onset can vary, and it can be triggered by stress, but it would have probably shown up by now. However, you may want to look up POTS, Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome. You even listed tachycardia, so it sounds likely. POTS can start after a very stressful situation or injury like a car accident. Actually, POTS and fibromyalgia are quite similar, and a lot of the treatments are the same as well.

Also there's a lot of pressure, from doctors or society or otherwise, to try to find a single diagnosis, but it could be a couple different things. Age and trauma lend themselves to the onset of disabilities. So if you have trouble narrowing it down, keep that in mind. Good luck, hope you figure it out!