I suspect I have fibro and would like to see what you all think please?

[anthony]

Hi,

I am a 28 year old graduate student and I think i might have fibro.

I've been experiencing problems for the past 3 years. I went on a 3 week trip and was really sick throughtout the trip and when I got back. I think I had bronchitis (due to some viral infection) because I was coughing up green mucus. I got better but it took a month to get rid of the infection.

I was very fit before the trip and after my illness, I wanted to get back into the gym right away. I noticed after doing intense high circuit training, I was completely wasted. I could barely function for a week. And it's not due to soreness. I feel like I caught a cold (and experienced a fever that last a few days). I tried working out again shortly after and again I ran into the same problems. I was unable to continue with my physical workouts but was able to do some easier physical activity (volleyball).

However, I've been very busy and have neglected working out for the past yr and noticed my symptoms are a lot worse. Just working out on an ellipitcal for 1/2hr, I feel extreme sorness. The pain is quite odd. I feel tenderness in joints. The other thing I noticed is extremely stiff joints when I wake up (especially in the shoulder region). This doesn't happen all the time but it is quite frequent.

I've noticed other oddities. If I don't eat very well (consume a lot of sugar and/or caffeine), I feel a lot of overall pain. I also noticed that I have tingling sensations on my left hand fingers. I find sleep is also really important and I noticed that I feel tenderness in joints if I do not get enough sleep.

Let me know what you think and I should really go see the doctor,

Anthony

 

[1sweed]

Hello there. Well yes the first thing you need to do is check with your general doctor to see if the affects could be lingering from your viral infection and that nothing else has cropped up. Then you should see a Rheumatologist, to see if you have any other forms of arthritis like osteoarthritis or lymes disease, RA or fibro.

Often times fibro with mimic other more serious conditions, but fibro does not attack the joints, it attacks the muscles around the joints. But inflamation can build up in those areas and give you double pain and anxiety, and loads of stress that will make it harder to cope.

Glad your here and please post where ever you like.

 

[mariposa]

Hi Anthony... and welcome to the forum! To answer your last question first, yes, I do think that seeing your doctor would be the thing to do. There are things that can seem very much like fibro but turn out to be an other medical issue completely. But whether it is or not, you'll want to know the way to best treat whatever it is.

If you do that, be sure to tell the doc that you were fit before the bronchitis or whatever kind of illness you came back from that trip with. I suppose the first thing they'd do is try to pinpoint whether or not that illness had lingering effects no matter how long ago it was.

 

[Trellum]

Hi Anthony! I don't think we can really tell whether you have fibro or not, to be honest most of your symptoms don't sound a lot like fibro! If I were you I'd go see your GP and ask his opinion. If he think you should see a rheumatologist, then do it. A doctor is the only one who can tell for sure whether you have fibro or not, a good rheumatologist will surely try the trigger point test on you. He will order other tests as well to make sure you are not suffering from something else.

 

[anthony]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the input! I am planning to see the doctor on wednesday and hopefully start investigating what is wrong. It's hard to schedule an appointment with Canadian doctors. I do have all the classical trigger points for fibro. And it seems to hurt more when I drink coffee. I'm not sure why and wonder if anyone has experienced this?

 

[Trellum]

Well, caffeine isn't that good for your body anyway. I've noticed certain foods make me feel way worse, some make my muscle pain worse as well as my IBS. Mostly gluten rich foods! So I'd not be surprised to hear caffeine makes your pain worse.

 

[anthony]

Hi everyone,

I've been referred to a food allergist and will also get a sleep study done. I will also get a blood test and ultrasound. I think I made a lot of ground testing what I'm sensitive to by myself. I was in so much pain (tender spots) on monday after eating a scone and drinking ice milk coffee. I thought all along it is caffeine but maybe you are right Trellum, maybe it's gluten rich foods. So I've been avoiding gluten food as best as possible and my inflammation has died down quite a bit. It is quite difficult to follow a gluten free diet. I wonder if any of you guys/gals tried going gluten free and see if it helps with fibro?

Right now i'm a little concerned if I have celiac disease. Will need to get tested and see.

 

[mariposa]

inflammation has died down quite a bit. It is quite difficult to follow a gluten free diet. I wonder if any of you guys/gals tried going gluten free and see if it helps with fibro?

You're right when you said it's difficult to follow. I'm trying to start to check into it for my daughter and so far the gluten free foods we've found taste good. I wasn't expecting that... but completely gluten-free? It's hidden in so many foods that keeping it totally out of a diet sounds nearly impossible to me.

I hope you soon find all of your answers, Anthony.

 

[DDavies]

Keep us posted on what the doctors say.

Another thing you may want to look at is aspartame. It's in so many foods and drinks now. I know a few people, myself included, who are sensitive to it. The sensitivity developed over time. You may want to look into that as well.