Fibro or burnout

[Sylph]

My gp has been my doc for over 20 years and she has diagnosed me with fibro. She is a GOOD doctor, and also just a good person. Still, I'm so sorry to say this here but I feel like she did the tests, didn't find anything clinically significantly so here I am... Then I started reading and, well, what do you think?
I'm going to be brutally honest about myself. I have a HIGH stress, fast paced job. My longest break between decisions that can affect human life most days is 15 minutes. I eat mostly take out because after 14-17 hr days 5 days/week there's nothing left. I'm obese, perimenipausal, sedentary, and a workaholic. I also have complex PTSD, inflammatory bowel disease (in remission), and ADD.
So history...
Prior to Feb, I was sedentary but still did my own shopping, took walks with friends and enjoyed low impact sports and swimming. Feb, I went on vacation, and by day 3 couldn't walk, had to borrow a wheelchair. Recovered, doc says mosquito virus, but I started noticing odd things. Random incontinence, but it was more that my body didn't seem to know when my bladder was full, I also got constant UTIs. My sense of smell isn't gone, but it's different. Things smell chemically and sharp, even my favorite perfume just smells terrible and some things I don't smell at all (not covid I checked). I was tired, and sleep was good, but short 2-3 hrs at a time. Then the pain in my body would wake me up. I had random moments of my brain just, I don't know...misfiring?? I'm smart, but not some days. It was noticeable to my team.
Then about a month ago I realized I was so tired I didn't care if my teeth were brushed, then I didn't care if I'd had a shower, all so I could still go to work, and keep up volunteer activities. I slowed down, but still managed a vacation at the lake although 4 days took a week of literally JUST sitting to recover from. The last 2 weeks, everything hurts, I mean I haven't had a pain free day since I was 25 due to inflammatory bowel disease, but this is so wide spread. My legs feel like I've had leg day at the gym after 2 or 3 minutes of standing. They cramp for days afterward. I dropped a bowl of soup because I wasn't strong enough to hold it. Some days holding my phone is like holding a 10 pin bowling ball. I am redefining what tired is, and I keep getting this sensation that I'm disconnected, like I'm watching from outside myself. It's fleeting, but disconcerting. My ears ring all the time, and I have this low grade constant headache, like my skull is too small.
My question is. Am I just a yuppie workaholic who is burnt out, and now has to get back into shape, or is it more? How would I know?
I miss me.

 

[BlueBells]

Hi @Sylph Welcome to the forums

I can identify with quite a bit of what you say. I was diagnosed late 2019 and I am learning a lot, and I believe I've had fibro since childhood.

A lot of people say trauma can trigger fibro, and maybe, for you, the build up of stress may have triggered it. I don't know, just going by things others have come up with. There's a lot of unknown with fibro, but yes, it definitely does exist.

You mention volunteering, would you be able to tell them that you must take a break, for health reasons, so you can rest? Overall, rest seems to be the main thing with fibro. Learning how far one can push before a short (hours, days) rest will give recouperation is a pattern that is individual. Push too far, and it's way more than a few hours!

Please drop in on any of the threads, we help and support each other, and that is a pretty good thing to have

 

[sunkacola]

My question is. Am I just a yuppie workaholic who is burnt out, and now has to get back into shape, or is it more? How would I know?

First, did your doctor test you for all of the other possibilities for the things that could be causing these symptoms in you? By which I mean Lyme disease, Lupus, MS, ME, hypothyroidism, rheumatoid disorders, metabolic deficiencies, blood sugar disorders, and so on?
There are a lot of them.
Without being tested for all of them, unless you fail to show a symptom that is necessary to have in order for one of them to be diagnosed, you cannot really know what is going on. So that is really the first thing that needs to happen if it has not already.

Another thing to do is see a good rheumatologist who is familiar with fibromyalgia and with all of these other things with similar symptoms.

Not all GPs, even good ones, are really familiar enough with fibromyalgia to do a sufficient diagnosis.
Some GP doctors who don't know much about fibro and are not up to date will give what is referred to as a "pressure point test", and diagnose someone that way. But that test has been thoroughly debunked as having any usefulness whatever in diagnosing fibromyalgia.

Once you have really been through all of the testing and if nothing is found that indicates any of those things, then it may be reasonable to suggest you have fibromyalgia.
But this is not instead of being someone who is burned out and out of shape. It is in addition to those things.

The good news is that, while there's no known cure for fibro yet, there are definitely readily available cures for burnout and being out of shape. Of course, those things are up to you and that's really hard. But the thing to remember is that you didn't get into this condition all at once and getting out of it will take time. Every little thing that you do in a good direction will make a difference. You can start small and slow, doing what you can.

Start by cutting back as much as you can on the stress and on what is expected of you. You have to go to your job. but you do not have to do volunteer work on top of that, so cut that back or out completely if you possibly can. Get more rest. Change your diet to one that is healthy for you. If you cut out the volunteer work you will have time to shop for and prepare healthy food to eat. Make yourself healthy snacks and food to take to work. If you need help with that, try googling "easy healthy lunches to take to work" and "easy healthy snacks". Or, if you can afford it, buy pre-made healthy lunches and snacks from natural foods stores.

And get a little bit of exercise every day. Doesn't have to be a lot. Just something.

Finally, know that you are welcome here. We will support you and help if we can, and you can come here just to vent if that will help.

 

[Sylph]

Thank you so much for the replies. I've months of leave accumulated, so as I have no control over the stress of my job, I've chosen to remove myself from the job for a while. During that time I will take the advice found here, in your replies, and the pinned advice. None of it will hurt me, and much will help.
To answer questions, I've had a lot of tests, however my doctor has not discussed what she has ruled out from those tests. I do know that RA was one because I specifically asked for that one. My C-reactive proteins are slightly elevated but only in the sensitive test. My liver enzymes are elevated, but that's not new and they're actually better than this time last year. Everything else is normal except a cyst on one ovary they've checked 3 times via ultrasound and say is nothing to worry about, and an enlarged spleen, which no one seems to care about at all, the results say it's about 2.5x larger than it should be. Thyroid is normal, and I'm unsure how MS is checked for.
I did however get a pressure point test, and a form to color in where it hurts... prescribed elavil 10mg which knocks me right out for 4 hrs straight which is glorious. Dr told me to exercise as intensely as I can manage and still sleep at night. Right now that's walking about 20 ft. More and the fire in my muscles turns into numbness and then buzzing. If it get to that point they are also very, very weak, and take several days to progress backwards through those steps. This is all my muscles. Although it's most noticeable in large muscle groups, I even feel it in my cheeks and eye lids. Prior to a month ago, and the week on vacation, 2 km was uncomfortable but just sore, and the sore went away in 10 min.
A rheumatologist will not be allowed until I have exhausted all treatment programs the gp can offer. At that point it's a 2-3 yr wait for the first consultation. Also, I'm gunshy of specialists as the last one I waited over 2 years to see was a gastro who looked me up and down, checked my nails, and said I was too fat to need his help, and left...I had active crohns at the time and almost lost my liver from an inflamed bile duct. Anyway, guess I'm not really willing to wait and suffer again in hopes this specialist will be better than the last. Being fat means nothing else can be wrong for far too many doctors. I'm not saying I won't go, just that I'm not willing to pin my hopes of management or recovery on the few doctors willing to work in my area.
It was unfair to ask forum participants to weigh in either way on what's up with me. I guess I was hoping people would see symptoms and recognize them. The more I learn though, the more I see it's unique to each person.
Change has to happen and only I can change me. So once more into the breach go I.

 

[sunkacola]

@Sylph , it's not unfair to ask us.......we can always offer opinions or suggestions, and we don't mind questions. We are here to help.

It sounds as if you have been through the wringer so to speak, as have many people who are ultimately diagnosed with fibromyalgia. this business of being "fat" and having things blamed on that is something that just irks me to no end. A person can carry extra weight, even a lot of it, and still be healthy and active. And, if a person is not healthy it's not necessarily anything that has to do with being heavy. I just really hate those prejudices. I am very thin....tend to be underweight and cannot gain any........and I have never been what anyone would call "fat". But people think they can make comments to me about my body size as well, and they do it all the time, which I think is entirely inappropriate. It's far worse for people who carry weight, because of the stupid societal stigmas about it.

OK....that was my soap box speech for the day!

I'm sorry you are in the position you are in with regard to a specialist. And I fully understand your not wanting to go through all of that! I wouldn't either.
Ultimately, yes, it does come down to us. And the medical profession is of little help. I think that's why a forum like this is important. We can sometimes help each other better than the doctors can.

I hope that the forum can be a source of information for you, or at least of support.

 

[Sylph]

@sunkacola. Welp I'm crying now, in a good way. Thank you for your care and validation.

 

[BlueBells]

@Sylph

Please, when you take that well deserved break, make sure you keep in touch here.

I'm sure the support, and the lightheartedness (we all need that !) on these forums help us to take a different slant on the gremlins, and they become a little more tolerable. They still dragonise us, though, but we support each other.

 

[Sylph]

Thank you @SBee ! It was gueling getting everything set up before I left, but today is day one! I'm looking forward to sharing positive gains!!
Right now I'm wondering if I was sleep drinking, or how long the dizziness will stay