Finally Diagnosed after 6 years

[sportsdan]

Hello,
My name is Dan and I was just diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. The FM specialists said I have to perform a Sleep Study and Growth Hormone Testing as well as a Pain Pyscologist. I'm happy after 6 years of doctors and specialists to finally get a diagnosis. All this time they thought it was back issues, until I found some info on FM and was amazed by the similarity in symptoms to mine. Shortly after getting the news I was very emotional and about in tears with the reality that it would never go away. All these years I held on to the hope that is was something simple and fixable. I am looking forward to getting some relief. Are there any words of wisdom out there in finding a Primary Physician that deals with FM? Also, any thoughts on what to expect or things to research? It's nice to meet you all.

 

[1sweed]

Hello SportsDan,
welcome to the forum. I think you will find lots of good ideas and hints here on managing pain and how to relax, and other types of ajustments in dealing with fibro. There are several other men on site to make you feel more comfortable in sharing and getting a male's point of view. We are a bunch of caring and kindhearted folks, that are willing to offer hope and encouragement to everyone, as well as, help in finding doctor's that deal in fibro.
I would say do a websearch for support groups in your area. General these groups will post links to the National Fibro Associations website, where they often list doctors in certain areas of the country. You need is a Rheumatologist. Then ask and call around family doctor offices, until you find one who believes that fibro exists. Then you will have the begining of a good team of doctors to help manage your illness.

I look forward to seeing and reading your posts around the forum.

 

[sportsdan]

Thanks you. I appreciate the warm welcome. I have a lot of researching to do. Any books or articles would be welcomed. I love this website so far. It looks like a lot of information, which I can't get enough of at the moment.

 

[1sweed]

The best book I found on the subject is called: a Patient-Expert Walks You Though Everything You Need To Learn and Do, The First Year Fibromyalgia, by Claudia Craig Marek.

Go through the pain management questions on the forum as well. Plenty of good answers there.

 

[sportsdan]

Thank you. I'll check it out.

 

[mariposa]

Hi Dan... I'm glad to hear that you finally got a diagnosis, but I realize that it must have felt like a catch-22... being glad you finally know what it is but realizing what the diagnosis means. I think that once we define the "monster" we're dealing with, it becomes easier to research, find things that work for us, and finally know what it is we're fighting.

I don't really have much advice on actually finding a doctor, but I will say that being sure the one you *do* choose knows enough about Fibro to be compassionate and have the necessary knowledge to help you. That may sound like an odd statement but a larger percentage of physicians than we realize are still pretty much in the dark about this. (I can say that with confidence because my dearest friend in the world is a doctor and he's told me as much... not for the lack of caring, but for the lack of having the knowledge necessary to help.)

Good luck in taking the bull by the horns and finding things that may give you some relief.

 

[TheMagician007]

Glad to hear you finally got a diagnosis. It's a shame it took so long. Hopefully things will improve significantly from here, on out. Best wishes.