Hi all, just starting this research journey...I am fairly certain I have Fibromyalgia - online tests indicate yes. I have skin pain all the time; continual dull pain throughout my body, muscle stiffness and days when I can only describe myself as "dead-tired". I saw my PCP last week and he ordered many blood tests (I guess to rule out other). The good news is that all my blood tests were great and W/I range. His response "All your blood work came out great which makes autoimmune condition much less likely". I am not sure where to go from here. Any suggestions?
Greetings and welcome to the forum.
It's important when fibromyalgia is suspected that you get tested for all of the many and varied things that have symptoms similar to fibromyalgia. This is because you may have one of those other conditions instead of, or even in addition to, fibromyalgia, and you need to know in order to know what treatments they might require. An internet search will locate for you all of the other conditions that have the same or similar symptoms. Get tested for all of them, unless you clearly do
not have a symptom present that is required to have present in order for it to be a certain thing.
Fibromyalgia is not known, at this point, to be an autoimmune condition. Some doctors and researchers have categorized it as such, but this has not by any means been proven. So what your doctor may have been saying is that you don't seem to have any of the conditions that are definitely known to be autoimmune. If, however, he was saying that you do not have fibromyalgia because your blood work doesn't show an autoimmune condition, then I suggest that you need a new doctor who knows more about fibromyalgia.
Unfortunately most people with fibro do not find a great deal of help from medical doctors. Really, there's just not yet enough known about fibro for them to be of much help. They can, of course, prescribe pain medication. If you decide to take pain medication, be aware that there is no one thing that is effective for everyone, and you may try several with no effect other than unpleasant side effects. OR, you may find something that works great for you. You never know. Be very careful if you decide to take opiates, since they are highly addictive (as I am sure you know).
Be very careful with telling a doctor that you suspect you have fibromyalgia. Some doctors will listen to you and consider this; others will think you are trying to diagnose yourself and will not be friendly about it. If you want to talk to a doctor about fibro, just try to choose one that you have a good feeling about, one who has listened well to you in the past, or one who lists fibromyalgia as being a condition that they treat. Unfortunately, many still don't believe it is real and may only make you feel like an imposter if you attempt to bring it up. Often it is better to allow the doctor to come to that conclusion themselves, but it depends on the doctor. Just a word to the wise.
Other than that, I recommend you read my post for newcomers, here:
I am not a doctor or anything, just a person who has lived with fibromyalgia for several years now and has done a lot of research and trial and error experimentation. What follows is just basics. There are a lot of variations. You will find your own versions of everything I say, as this is not a...
www.fibromyalgiaforums.org
