Fibromyalgia?!

Status
Not open for further replies.

Penny4146

New member
Joined
Dec 29, 2019
Messages
4
Reason
DX FIBRO
Diagnosis
12/2019
Country
US
State
GA
Hi, I'm newly diagnosed. January 2019 I had extreme pain throughout my entire body. My doctor ran blood work and everything came back ok except a lot of inflammation. He gave me Mobic which helped after a couple of weeks. I've taken it off and on since. The long term side effects worry me so I only took it when I was in pain. Then Christmas day I noticed my right hip was numb. By Thursday the numbness has spread to my groin, right butt cheek, entire right thigh and down past my knee. I was concerned so I went back to my doctor. After waiting for 3 hours in the waiting room my back and hips were hurting as well. He examined me and pressed on two spots on my lower back and I cried out they hurt so bad. It was awful! He said he thinks I have fibromyalgia that my pain receptors are out of wack bc I shouldn't hurt like I did. He's started me on Lyrica. It's only been 3 days, but I'm not convinced it's working. The numbness has spread a little further down my leg and my big toe is numb as well. I'm 38 years old and the breadwinner of my home. I'm concerned and scared. Can anyone offer any guidance or advice on what I need to do??
 
Hi Penny,

So sorry you are feeling scared, and it is understandable that you would. the first thing I want to say is that, while no one can predict how things will go for one person and this is a very capricious disease, most people with fibro experience different things at different times. So the numbness you are feeling may not last or get worse. The best thing you can do is try the best you can to be optimistic. Not in an unrealistic way, but just in terms of realizing that since this is an unpredictable thing it could get better rather than worse. It changes over time.

See the best doctors that your situation allows you to see, and do a lot of research on your own. don't believe everything the doctor's say - get other opinions. don't believe everything you read online. Try out different things for yourself to see what helps. And reach out for support. There are a lot of us and places like this forum give us the chance to comfort and educate one another a bit.
 
Hi Penny,

So sorry you are feeling scared, and it is understandable that you would. the first thing I want to say is that, while no one can predict how things will go for one person and this is a very capricious disease, most people with fibro experience different things at different times. So the numbness you are feeling may not last or get worse. The best thing you can do is try the best you can to be optimistic. Not in an unrealistic way, but just in terms of realizing that since this is an unpredictable thing it could get better rather than worse. It changes over time.

See the best doctors that your situation allows you to see, and do a lot of research on your own. don't believe everything the doctor's say - get other opinions. don't believe everything you read online. Try out different things for yourself to see what helps. And reach out for support. There are a lot of us and places like this forum give us the chance to comfort and educate one another a bit.
Thank you so much for responding. I'm trying to be optimistic. My biggest concern is that its MS instead of fibromyalgia. The numbness has spread to another toe this morning. I just started Lyrica Friday so maybe it's not in my system enough to block the nerve issues idk. But the spreading is scary. I'm very independent and I'm concerned it'll continue to spread and will interfere with walking, driving and just my life in general. I don't want my employer to know in fear of losing my job. I'm the only agent in the office and my workload is very heavy, which has always been a comfort in job security. However, today it's proving to be a struggle. Thank you again for responding. You have lifted me up a bit and I hope the day gets better.
 
Penny, just hang in there. Right now, you don't know what it is or what it will do. If I were in your position I would be scared, too. But one thing we know is that stress always makes physical problems worse, no matter what a person has. So the best thing you can do for yourself is not to allow yourself to sink into horrible worrying. It's guaranteed it won't help, and is extremely likely to make it worse.

I think if I were in your position I would try to distract myself as best I could. My favorite way to do that is a really great book, the longer the better. Or better yet, if I am feeling up to it, I go for a walk or hike in nature. Another thing is go to an animal shelter and cuddle animals. Or rent movies. I have animal companions, and they are my angels when things are hard for me. Just holding them and petting them helps me. Whatever you can do to make yourself feel better for a little while, and to distract you from your worries, do it.

If you can.....take minibreaks at work.....I used to do that. I would find a beautiful peaceful video like ocean waves or a river or a fireplace on YouTube, and/or a nice peaceful bit of music, and listen/watch that on my computer screen for 5 minutes, while I did deep very slow breathing. Sometimes it would make me feel as refreshed as if I had had a half hour break, and I would do that maybe 4 times a day. It is also important to stretch and move around periodically if you have a desk job. It's hard to break off what you are doing in order to do this, at first. But if you get into the habit you may find it really helps.

I sure do wish you the best of luck and hope I can help.

PS.......I use medical cannabis and have found it very very helpful both for pain and stress-relief. I don't know if you can get it, and of course it won't work the same for everyone, but I am kind of a promoter of it these days because it has helped me a lot.
 
Thank you for your kind words of encouragement. I'll try meditation and more breaks. The cannabis would be a good relaxing method but it's not legal in Georgia so I'll try other methods until it is ;) Thanks again hope you have a great night :)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top