judy2learn
New member
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2023
- Messages
- 6
- Reason
- DX FIBRO
- Diagnosis
- 02/2023
- Country
- US
- State
- OR
Hi, everyone. I'm new here and feeling uncertain, to say the least. In a nutshell, I'm in my late 60's and have been experiencing pain in my neck, shoulders, arms, back, and hips for 20 yrs. I saw a chiropractor for many "adjustments" in 15 of those 20 yrs but the pain never really left and always flared again after a short period of time (usually within hours). When he retired in 2020, my PCP referred me to a new chiropractor who is great. A year ago, he said, "You need to see your PCP. I believe you have fibromyalgia." That stopped me in my tracks.
I spent time on the computer that evening, researching fibro, and began thinking back over the pains I have been experiencing. I started to agree with him. I addition to the pains the chiropractor had been treating, within a period of two hours in Sept 2019, I went from walking fine to unable to walk without a walker. First my left knee hurt constantly, then eventually my right knee joined the club. I saw two orthopedic specialists who could not tell me why my knees hurt. They put me on tramadol, which I took every six hours just to be able to function.
I retired the end of 2020. Eventually, the pain in my knees started to ease up so I am now able to walk short distances without using my walker. I keep close track of how often I take tramadol. Some days are bad and I take a pill every 6-7 hrs. Conversely, I sometimes take a pill only every other day. On rare occasions, I don't take a pain pill for 3-4 days. I usually take on average one pill each day, usually at night which is when I seem to hurt the most. My sleep pattern is horrible. Once or twice a week, I'll actually sleep 6-8 hrs in a night. The rest of the time, I average 3-4 hrs per night. As a result, I am always tired, sometimes have difficulty thinking clearly, etc. My husband is VERY supportive, understands my pain because of orthopedic injuries he has dealt with all his life, and I couldn't deal with this without him.
I took the free fibromyalgia test on the website, and it says I have fibro. I have not seen any doctors other than my PCP because I can't afford to. We live on our social security, and after paying our monthly bills, there isn't much left for gas and groceries, let alone doctor copays.
Can my PCP test for everything that I should have tested to eliminate everything else and conclude with fibro? If not, then I'm stuck. I can't afford to see specialists and have a myriad of tests run. So what do I do beyond taking the fibro test on this website and seeing my PCP? While I experience pain, it is not usually constant. My knee pain was constant, but when that eased off, my bodily pain is now more infrequent. I always react to too hot or too cold. I can almost guarantee that extreme temperatures will make me hurt. I wake in the night and if one arm is out from under the covers (it's March in the northwest and cold at night), my upper arm and shoulder will be extremely painful. Sometimes I'll wake in the night and experience pain just moving my arm under the covers, and once the pain starts, it does not want to stop.
Do I have fibromyalgia? The chiropractor who saw me last February has a PhD in the field and has other patients with fibro. I trust him. When I did go to see my PCP, I first completed a very long questionnaire (several pages) about my pain levels, and she agreed with the chiropractor. Do I accept that as my diagnosis and go forward? I'm uncertain what to do.
I know this is a very long post but I'm a detail-oriented kind of person and needed to explain what's been happening that has led to my confusion. And I'm quite sure there are other symptoms that I haven't mentioned because I can't think of them right now, given that it's midnight, I'm very tired, but I can't sleep (again). Any ideas, suggestions, input, etc. that anyone has will be greatly appreciated. Thanks for "listening".
I spent time on the computer that evening, researching fibro, and began thinking back over the pains I have been experiencing. I started to agree with him. I addition to the pains the chiropractor had been treating, within a period of two hours in Sept 2019, I went from walking fine to unable to walk without a walker. First my left knee hurt constantly, then eventually my right knee joined the club. I saw two orthopedic specialists who could not tell me why my knees hurt. They put me on tramadol, which I took every six hours just to be able to function.
I retired the end of 2020. Eventually, the pain in my knees started to ease up so I am now able to walk short distances without using my walker. I keep close track of how often I take tramadol. Some days are bad and I take a pill every 6-7 hrs. Conversely, I sometimes take a pill only every other day. On rare occasions, I don't take a pain pill for 3-4 days. I usually take on average one pill each day, usually at night which is when I seem to hurt the most. My sleep pattern is horrible. Once or twice a week, I'll actually sleep 6-8 hrs in a night. The rest of the time, I average 3-4 hrs per night. As a result, I am always tired, sometimes have difficulty thinking clearly, etc. My husband is VERY supportive, understands my pain because of orthopedic injuries he has dealt with all his life, and I couldn't deal with this without him.
I took the free fibromyalgia test on the website, and it says I have fibro. I have not seen any doctors other than my PCP because I can't afford to. We live on our social security, and after paying our monthly bills, there isn't much left for gas and groceries, let alone doctor copays.
Can my PCP test for everything that I should have tested to eliminate everything else and conclude with fibro? If not, then I'm stuck. I can't afford to see specialists and have a myriad of tests run. So what do I do beyond taking the fibro test on this website and seeing my PCP? While I experience pain, it is not usually constant. My knee pain was constant, but when that eased off, my bodily pain is now more infrequent. I always react to too hot or too cold. I can almost guarantee that extreme temperatures will make me hurt. I wake in the night and if one arm is out from under the covers (it's March in the northwest and cold at night), my upper arm and shoulder will be extremely painful. Sometimes I'll wake in the night and experience pain just moving my arm under the covers, and once the pain starts, it does not want to stop.
Do I have fibromyalgia? The chiropractor who saw me last February has a PhD in the field and has other patients with fibro. I trust him. When I did go to see my PCP, I first completed a very long questionnaire (several pages) about my pain levels, and she agreed with the chiropractor. Do I accept that as my diagnosis and go forward? I'm uncertain what to do.
I know this is a very long post but I'm a detail-oriented kind of person and needed to explain what's been happening that has led to my confusion. And I'm quite sure there are other symptoms that I haven't mentioned because I can't think of them right now, given that it's midnight, I'm very tired, but I can't sleep (again). Any ideas, suggestions, input, etc. that anyone has will be greatly appreciated. Thanks for "listening".
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