bckseat_drver
New member
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2020
- Messages
- 3
- Reason
- Undiagnosed
- Diagnosis
- 09/2020
- Country
- US
Here’s my first post - I’m honestly not quite sure how to start this but I’ll give my best starting with the timeline of my symptoms.
A brief background about me I already know to be true -
I have anxiety and depression issues, and suspected PTSD or potentially bipolar disorder. I see a therapist regularly for CBT. I have always had some issue with managing stress/emotions, sleep disturbances/feeling fatigue often, and some gastric issues mimicking IBS symptoms. I sweat unnecessarily and suspect some hormone issues related to that. In January of 2019 I was diagnosed with severe chronic allergies that I so far have struggled with seeing results in my treatment.
Timeline of symptoms -
I first noticed in November of 2018 when I was 23 I was having a burning pain in my elbows and sometimes the whole upper arm. It sometimes was felt in my legs around my knees, but was mostly in my arms. This lasted for maybe a few weeks, and became bad enough that I had went to my GP. He ran some blood tests, including a metabolic panel and for thyroid and autoimmune diseases. Unfortunately nothing had came up to show an explanation, and so I had waited for it to pass on it’s own, which it did at the time. Since then I have felt symptoms on and off for short periods of time, maybe a few days.
Since September of this year it has increasingly gotten worse. I’ve noticed episodes of “flares” that last for weeks at a time and are intense. It always feels worse with stress related situations but can happen at any time. My symptoms now consist of that burning pain, which is widespread but I’ve noticed targets certain areas such as my feet/ankles, knees, elbows, hands/fingers and sometimes neck and hips. I often have numbness and tingling in my limbs/hands and feet, or limited range of movement. I have noticed I tend to strain or pull muscles often which adds to the already existing pain, and can take longer to recover from. Brain fog happens way more intensely when I’m feeling the widespread pain, and it can be very difficult to concentrate, understand words or overall just not be able to do anything other than wanting to sleep.
I had done my research on what this could all be, and to me it seemed to point to fibromyalgia. My mother was also diagnosed at a young age with CFS and over active nerves, and had the same symptoms I do. So by end of September I had went for another blood test, with still no results indicating anything other than speculation that it is just “mental”. I had brought up fibromyalgia to my GP, and he had said it’s possible but did not seem confident. I was told to exercise, sleep well and to take Cymbalta for a trial period to see if it would help. (I have anxiety with taking medicine, so I have not taken this yet) but I have tried other stress relieving activities.
I decided to come on here for support, many people around me don’t believe it to be real or have just speculated that it’s in my head. Ive been called a hypochondriac, dramatic, crazy, you name it.. It’s caused strains on my relationships and my job, it’s really embarrassing and frustrating. Is this really fibromyalgia?? I’m terrified of going to doctors or taking medicine now because of feeling rejected or not getting full answers. I really just need a push to do what I need to do to help this, and know that it can get better.
Thank you to anyone who will read this or respond
A brief background about me I already know to be true -
I have anxiety and depression issues, and suspected PTSD or potentially bipolar disorder. I see a therapist regularly for CBT. I have always had some issue with managing stress/emotions, sleep disturbances/feeling fatigue often, and some gastric issues mimicking IBS symptoms. I sweat unnecessarily and suspect some hormone issues related to that. In January of 2019 I was diagnosed with severe chronic allergies that I so far have struggled with seeing results in my treatment.
Timeline of symptoms -
I first noticed in November of 2018 when I was 23 I was having a burning pain in my elbows and sometimes the whole upper arm. It sometimes was felt in my legs around my knees, but was mostly in my arms. This lasted for maybe a few weeks, and became bad enough that I had went to my GP. He ran some blood tests, including a metabolic panel and for thyroid and autoimmune diseases. Unfortunately nothing had came up to show an explanation, and so I had waited for it to pass on it’s own, which it did at the time. Since then I have felt symptoms on and off for short periods of time, maybe a few days.
Since September of this year it has increasingly gotten worse. I’ve noticed episodes of “flares” that last for weeks at a time and are intense. It always feels worse with stress related situations but can happen at any time. My symptoms now consist of that burning pain, which is widespread but I’ve noticed targets certain areas such as my feet/ankles, knees, elbows, hands/fingers and sometimes neck and hips. I often have numbness and tingling in my limbs/hands and feet, or limited range of movement. I have noticed I tend to strain or pull muscles often which adds to the already existing pain, and can take longer to recover from. Brain fog happens way more intensely when I’m feeling the widespread pain, and it can be very difficult to concentrate, understand words or overall just not be able to do anything other than wanting to sleep.
I had done my research on what this could all be, and to me it seemed to point to fibromyalgia. My mother was also diagnosed at a young age with CFS and over active nerves, and had the same symptoms I do. So by end of September I had went for another blood test, with still no results indicating anything other than speculation that it is just “mental”. I had brought up fibromyalgia to my GP, and he had said it’s possible but did not seem confident. I was told to exercise, sleep well and to take Cymbalta for a trial period to see if it would help. (I have anxiety with taking medicine, so I have not taken this yet) but I have tried other stress relieving activities.
I decided to come on here for support, many people around me don’t believe it to be real or have just speculated that it’s in my head. Ive been called a hypochondriac, dramatic, crazy, you name it.. It’s caused strains on my relationships and my job, it’s really embarrassing and frustrating. Is this really fibromyalgia?? I’m terrified of going to doctors or taking medicine now because of feeling rejected or not getting full answers. I really just need a push to do what I need to do to help this, and know that it can get better.
Thank you to anyone who will read this or respond