Need help self diagnosing, can't afford doctors.

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Kham1216

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Aug 20, 2020
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Undiagnosed
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WA
Hi everybody. Like the title says, I can't afford doctors and I don't qualify for medical help so I'm really trying to self diagnose just so I can put a name to my pain and feel a little better. I hate the not knowing and I wouldn't want to take any medications anyways so it's not important to me to have an official diagnosis.

I've been having what I think are flare ups every 3-4 months and I started googling my symptoms this week and I keep coming up with fibromyalgia. I'm hoping maybe somebody can tell me if this is what they experience?

It starts with waking up to random patches of very sensitive painful skin on the back of my thigh on my right leg only. Then I'll have pain in that entire leg/foot for a few days before it all goes away. Right now, I am currently dealing with pretty bad pain on the top of my right foot along with 3 stiff painful toes and the sensitive skin on the back on my thigh.

What's also weird is the sensitive skin pain goes up to my groin but only on the right side. I thought I was coming down with an UTI due to burning while urinating but as I was looking up symptoms I saw that bladder issues like I described can also be a symptom of fibro. I feel very disoriented today. I can't put any thoughts together and I'm having a horrible time trying to write this post as I just can't think right now.

I also have major sensitivity to sunlight so being outdoors on a sunny day is excruciating. I have very bad lower back pain during my periods and I occassionally have pain in my butt cheeks but I assumed that was some kind of nerve thing.

I have major anxiety and panic attacks. Most nights as I'm falling asleep it seems like I choke or quit breathing and I wake up freaking out. I think this would be called a "sleep start"? I've had chronic fatigue for years so I've learned to deal with that and never really assumed it was a symptom of anything else.

Also, I'm not sure this is related to anything but it seems like weeks before I have a "flare up" in my leg, my elbows break out with small red bumps that are hard and very itchy and extremely painful if I accidentally bump them on anything.

I clench my jaw badly at night. I wake up in the mornings with a sore jaw from having it clamped so tightly while I'm sleeping.

I have so many of the fibro symptoms, the only thing I'm curious about is does anybody else have fibro but only have one area that is affected by pain? This is my right leg/foot/groin only except during my menstrual cycle when I get the horrible lower back pain. Sometimes I also have a deep ache in my right shoulder. I've never had the pain elsewhere. I have many of the other symptoms that continue daily/year round but the pain only comes on a few times a year and only in my right leg.

Thanks so much for any responses I get, I really need to find the answer.
 
Hi Kham,

Unfortunately no one here can diagnose you and it's pretty tricky to try to diagnose yourself. I would advise against diagnosing yourself, because you could have any number of other things which might be worse than FM or might be more treatable than FM, and it is imperative that you find that out and not come to your own conclusions. Maybe you can look for at least a clinic that operates on a sliding scale? I know they exist, as I have used them for many years.

You are really not going to find the answer without diagnostic tests that rule out the many other things that could be the problem. If you self-diagnose and decide it is FM, you won't seek any treatment because FM is not something medical doctors know how to cure. But you might have something that could be treated, and you'd be missing out on that if you decide it is something that cannot be.

Having said that, my best advice for you is to look up my post about advice for managing FM, especially for new people. Whether or not you have FM, from your symptoms it sounds to me as if you could benefit from putting some or all of those things into practice. Please read this, as it offers many things you can do to help yourself, no matter what your actual diagnosis ends up being. I wrote that post because I got tired of typing it all over again each time someone new joined the forum, :)

We are here for you and here to help. I have been in your shoes and in the state of WA as well, although I no longer live there, and I just didn't give up until I found a way, even if it meant saving up money for weeks or months to see a good doctor and pay for it myself. But I always found a sliding scale clinic first.
 
To:
Kham1216
Hi. There is a clinic called Mayo. You can look up somethings. I would go to the doctors. They might do blood work. My wife live in North Dakota.
There is very little in the medical field here. Also ask the doctor about doing some exercises with a license PT. That might help with pain. This will be the hardest part. I had started in late October of 2019 and in June i really started felling better. As for the eyes and yes FB can affect the eyes in bright sun light. If you have sun glasses try using them and see if this will help out. Keep in touch. Thank you.
 
Agree it's really unwise to self-diagnose. If you are only looking for a diagnosis so you can put a name to your pain, you are quite likely not to seek help for stuff you *think* is fibro when it might not be. The symptoms of fibro can be so many things; I know you say you don't have money to see a doc (right there with you), but there are some clinics that will see you at a very reduced cost. Aat minimum, it would be useful to make sure what you are experiencing is not something that is going to get more serious.

Anxiety and panic maybe be just...anxiety and panic. If you are clenching your jaw or grinding your teeth, that could also be anxiety (and could lead to permanent damage if not treated). You really need a work-up - can you put money away a little at a time to save up to see the doctor?
 
Kham1216
Hi. I had just read part of your note about your jaws. I had the same problem. I had what is
known as TMJ. This is the mussels runs along both sides of you jaw. This is a very easy fix.
Do not chew on any thing that is hard or very hard like ice or even nuts of any kind. When
you or like you are chewing crunch down slowly and not as hard. This really worked for me.
Your pain would show up on both sides you your jaws. This has nothing to do with FB. Let
us know how this works. Keep in touch. Thank you.
 
Hi Kham -
Long before fibro came along I've always had skin, gut, back, nerve problems, focal seizures, then social phobia. No docs or alternative practitioners could/can help me with all this. Meds wouldn't have helped and I get adverse effects anyway. Only pt for my back was good.
So:
Whether or not it's fibro in your case it sounds like each of the symptoms singly and praps together need looking into, I agree with the others.
"Sensitive skin" could be skin or nerves or a combination (me earlier), but if it were skin it would be all over and longer.
I have bladder issues and fibro but am not satisfied that the docs can't find anything in or around the bladder, and thinking it's fibro doesn't help either. Another (also male) fibro-patient in the rheum.-clinic described completely different bladder problems to mine, both not *while urinating however. Both possibly muscle spasms. But my inner muscles aren't controlable my psychiatrist explained.
What is the problem with sunlight? Eyes? Skin? Heat? (i.e. how are sunny cold days?) Oversensitivity can have to do with fibro, but that's not particularly specific.
Lower back & butt pain could be orthopaedic, could mean exercising or pt or osteopath etc. If nerves, it needs checking.
How are you working on your anxiety and panic attacks?!
Really quitting breathing would be apnea. If that happens all night as sleep apnea, no wonder. You'd need sleep lab to check it and praps a mask or even an operation to solve it. I don't know if there are any self help methods for that.
Freaking out about it is "not necessary", could come from your anxiety and the reasons for that. It can be learned not to. I've delved into coping with nightmares and learning to divert fears at night. When I fall in my sleep I've learnt to turn the falling into flying, altho I have no lucid dreaming and never used to fly in my dreams. (Upon waking, you turn the scare into "a thrill". Practice in half-sleep.)
Small bumps on your elbows sound more like nerves than skin, too - needs checking in combination with the 'sensitive skin'.
What do/will you do about your clenching jaws?
Right side? I got this question from a lot of my docs. If I'd said yes, the suspicion would have been nerves.
Going thru all this: It seems mainly neurological and normally a neurologist would be the first bet. I'd send you to my sleep lab neurologist & psychiatrist, who also give as little medication as possible.
But where you're coming from your starting point for quality in life and praps quite a few symptoms less I'd suggest is to work on your anxiety
and panic with books, self help (live and online) and perhaps free of charge counseling, via churches (but !not "Christian counselling", altho I am a Christian!), charities or similar? Stress aggravates nerves and other pain would be the logic for this as starting point.
 
I notice that the original poster has not been back to this thread since the original post. Nor has this person been back to post on any other thread. I think we probably should stop trying to help, as it appears that once we decided not to help to "self diagnose", they left.
 
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