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CathyB

New member
Joined
Jan 9, 2014
Messages
8
Diagnosis
01/2014
Country
US
State
NC
Hi my name is Cathy and I am so very sorry to HAVE TO meet you all . I know you all know I don't mean that in a bad way as I am sure you all feel the same. I was diagnosed day before yesterday.How awful.That Dr. started pushing on me and I said " your gonna tell me I have fibromyalga aren't you", she said yes I am. I just dropped my head. I wanted to cry. What do you do. I have had this pain on and off since 2005 when I had a hormonally active adrenal tumor removed. That almost killed me and it took 7 years to find a Dr. to remove it. It would make my potassium go real low to the point that I was taking 320 potassium pills per month. And bad cramps with that. Since having my adrenal gland removed, l have had this other kind of pain. You know the kind, stabing, shooting, twitching with bad pain all over my body. I have had sooooo many tests. Anyway that's me. Hope to help you all in any way I can to make your life better and hope you can do the same for me.
 
CathyB,
Well we are sorry to meet you too, meaning we are sorry that you too have fibro. But that is where the sadness should end because now you have all of us to help support you by just being here. We all understand that feeling that comes with hearing the diagnosis, and yet there is relief in finally knowing what is wrong. It is time now to start learning coping skills that can help reduce the pain and keep depression at bay.

First off I would say try to relax more and pamper yourself. Stress makes fibro worse. Try watching funny movies as laughter can chase away the blues. Maybe start a new hobby or pick up an old one. Read books or magazines, do jigsaw puzzles or take tub baths in warm water and epson salts to relax tight aching muscles. Read around the forum and be sure to read older posts as well.

Glad you found us and I hope being here helps you to be able to deal with the symptoms and cheer up so you do not become depressed. See you around the forum. :)
 
Thank you very much for being here. I am just so upset. I really thought my problem was comming from allergies cause I am allergic to corn and you can't get away from corn, its in everything. Now to find out its fibromyalgia.... I have had to deal with severe pain in my body for 17 years now and have had very bad headaches from being allergic to corn since I was 2 or 3 years old. I am now 47 and according to fibromyalga I'm gonna hurt the rest of my life? And the Med. I am allergic to so much, I doubt if I can take it. I had a nerve conduction study test done a couple of months ago, wouldn't that have shown fibromyalgia? Most of the test hurt too bad to complete it but the rest was normal. Has science not found out what causes fibro yet? I have read some studies that say it is small nerve damage. If that's true why wouldn't it show up on ncs test? I am confused.
 
The best way I can describe it is that fibro is a muscle disease. It causes our muscles to not have the ability to fully relax. Tight muscles become imflamed, but not nearly as much as the term inflamation. As when joints (bones) are inflamed there is a blood test that can measure the amount of inflamation in the body. With fibro the test is usually negative or has a low value. And thou fibro affects the way our muscles behave it does not do damage to the muscles that would show up on any test. That is why it is hard to diagnosis except by poking certain areas of your body to envoke a response.

That said, like I said stress from pain or fatigue, or mental brain fog or countless little symptoms that can crop up makes us filled with anxiety, wondering what is going on. We can't sleep well or do the things we love doing, we have muscle weakness and fatigue can drag us down, and this can bring on depression. The goal is to avoid the depression as much as possible.

Above I gave you some suggestions to try. If you have trouble sleeping I would suggest you look for a cotton fiber bed pad. This is not a regular mattress pad, but is from 3-4 inches thick and lays on top of your regular mattress. They come in all bed sizes and are made of cotton fiber or stuffed with goose feathers, or made of foam. What they do is help relax your muscles as it feels like your sleeping on a cloud.
Another thing to try is keeping warm in your bed by throwing an extra blanket over your feet and lower legs. This will stop most of the bad cramping. If your legs feel tired wear knee socks, as they promote healthy circulation in your legs and boost the strength in the legs. Always wear shoes that are comfortable but supportive, and this will ward off painful feet issues.

That is just a few suggestions to get you started. Read more of the post topics and you will start to feel better in knowing you can improve your health a lot without medication, but if needed stick to only a few basic ones to avoid allergic reactions. I use gabapentin and Excedrin migraine, as I am allegic to most of the other meds used to control fibro. Ask your doctor to start you out on a low dose to see if you can tolerate the meds before trying to up the dosages.

Don't worry you will get the hang of it and hopefully feel better soon. :)
 
Thanks for the advice. I will try those things. The Dr did give me gabapentin, I haven't started it yet but will tonight.I do feel some better today. Thanks for the info on nerve conduction study, I assumed fibro would show up. Thanks for being here. I am greatful.
 
Hi Cathy hope you are doing o.k. and sorry you had to meet us as well. Anyway lots of good people on here who will help when able. I also was upset to hear my diagnosis but in the end it did not change what I already knew, still sucked to hear my dr. say it. Good luck.
 
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