Need advised

[Brenda Barron]

I have just been diagnosed with Firbro which I am really confused about with my doctor . Let me start from the beginning . In july of this year I was hit by a car at traffic lights by are car that hit me doing 85 kms . I was taken to hospital with Whip lash . brain bleed and lower back pain . Before this I was healthy had had a bit of stress before my accident with Bullying and harassment i the work place had had suffered anxiety and stress but won my case .
Apart from this stress which was a lot I was good.
Now after my accident I have suffered extreme pain in legs arms , pins and needles , extreme anxiety from my accident , sleep issues and no drugs seem to be working that I can still
function to try and go to work . My doctor then tells me today that as there is no evidence to show any issues now after my car accident and that that my car accident would not be the cause and cause this much pain three months down the track .
I am confused in pain and this has to be something caused from this accident.
Please anybody else been involved in a car accident but then get diagnosed with Fibromyalgia ?

 

[OldKarz]

Sounds more like pinched nerves in spine than Fibro.

 

[Brenda Barron]

Well that’s what I thought as well . Scans don’t show any issues in my neck and they stated at the hospital that I had bludged disc in my back but my doctor tells me every thing is ok .
My pain travels from neck down my arm and it’s like a dull aching in the bone along with pins and needles and then I get the pain in my hips lower back and feet along with really bad cramping . I have been taking to hospital twice in an ambulance and say that they is nothing wrong after my blood test . I feel like they think the pain is all in my head but I know there is something not right . I am strut mentally and physically due to the pain and just don’t know what to do anymore . My doctor has not requested blood test and the hospital also diagnosed me also with Fibromyalgia as well . I just want to go back to normal , I don’t know how people deal with this pain everyday .
I know the pain is not in my head , I could think of better things then spending my life in doctors and hospitals. Thank you for your reply.

 

[Brenda Barron]

Oh and sorry for my response as I am on strong drugs and I just re read and it doesn’t make much sense .

 

[cookiebaker]

Oh and sorry for my response as I am on strong drugs and I just re read and it doesn’t make much sense .

Hi Brenda, and sorry to hear you are in such pain. It is possible to have a traumatic event set off fibromyalgia - either physical or emotional, or both... But, I have to agree that it sounds like what you are describing is more pinched/compressed nerve related than fibro, and a bulging disc could be a reason for it.. Not saying you dont also have fibro, but i think there is more going on than just fibro.

I do have one question for you... You say you are on strong drugs - do they actually help kill the pain? or is it more of a "takes the edge off" kind of thing?

Unless the drugs are actually giving you real relief from the pain, I would suggest you wean off of them - the sooner, the better - they will do more harm than good long term. No, it wont be easy, but in the long run, you will be better off. Being addicted to pain killers is not something you want.

I dont know where you are or what your financial situation is, but I would seriously consider getting a 2nd opinion somewhere else - preferably with a reputable orthopedist/physical medicine doctor.
Have you had any EMG (nerve conduction) testing done? if not, i would ask about doing so. It is not fun, but can give a clearer idea of what is going on, nerve wise - especially if there is nothing much showing up in MRI scans.
I would also suggest finding a counselor/psychologist that you can talk to.. it does help, a great deal, to be able to talk with someone about what you are going through. We here in this forum will do the best we can to help and support you, but having a professional, with access to other doctors and resources is often very helpful. They can do things we cannot.

Nerve pain is something I deal with daily.. I have osteoarthritis in my neck, and lower back/pelvis, ranging from moderate to very severe and the inflammation/degenerative changes associated with that are impinging on various nerve roots (nerves leaving the spinal cord, going thru small spaces in the spinal column) causing major pain.
I do also have fibromyalgia, which is a different kind of pain - more muscle/tendon/ligament related.. my knees suffer the most from this pain.. not the joint itself, but everything around it, including the IT band that goes up the outside of the thigh. Sometimes the pain makes it difficult to sleep - like tonight..

I hope you are able to get some answers soon, and start to feel better.

 

[OldKarz]

From personal experience, due to pinched nerves C4 through C7, and a bulging disk in that same area, I get the arm and hand pain, tingling, pins and needles as well as weakness. It is a while since I have done traction, however it is bad enough that I have just started again. It has started to help, as it has before. I also found it helped my legs by relieving the pressure on the bulging disk.
The neck traction device is carried by most drug stores and just hangs from a door with a water bag attached to give the adustable weight as required.

 

[sunkacola]

I second the advice to get another opinion from a different doctor, as it does sound like a nerve damage or pinch to me as well.
while fibromyalgia can be set off from an event, as stated above, this doesn't sound like it to me. Whiplash can take many months or even more than a year to recover, and sometimes a neck injury doesn't fully recover.

I was in a car accident 17 years ago and my neck has never been quite the same since. I cannot tilt my head back at all without feeling extreme discomfort. This is not a big problem, just something I notice and it has never gotten better.

But this neck issue is not related to my fibromyalgia. We are not saying you definitely do not have fibro...how could we know....but for now I strongly recommend pursuing the neck injury possibilities rather than spending time worrying about fibro.

You could also try a chiropractor if you can find a really good one.

About the strong drugs. Don't continue to take them. Taper yourself off if you need to, but do what you have to do to deal with this rather than taking pain medications. They are not any solution and will sooner or later lead to far more problems that you have now, especially if they are opiate in nature, which is highly addictive.

Best of luck to you and let us know how things go.

 

[Auriel]

Welcome @Brenda Barron! ️ well when I had the guts (2nd time around ) to try and find out what was going on with all this weird pain and tiredness (1st time and dr was horrible and humiliating) one of them did ask about whiplash so? but anyway I hope more investigations are going to be done for you, ps I'm glad the harassment and bullying is over (work place bullying is horrible especially when your good at and like your job, theres sooooo many toxic people out there spreading like an infection) but well done (welcome again)

 

[JayCS]

Hi!
If bulging disc is the only thing the doc's've found so far, that may not change with a 2nd opinion. But I agree it's important to try, if possible.
Just as good, or praps better I think is to find a good PT, like osteopath, acupressurist etc. to "feel" where the issues might be and do something about them at the time.
As a parallel workaround you can carefully try doing exercises and stretches etc. for things like bulging disc on youtube: Put in your symptom and you might get a better explanation than you've got so far, add one of the many treatment forms and that might help. If scans have excluded major harm it's highly unlikely that you'll do anything wrong with them....