New member: old(er) hand at this

[Bob the Goalie]

I am a retired med lab tech ( R.T. in Canada), mid-60's, living in PEI. Was diagnosed in 2008, following three shoulder surgeries in 06-07. Oh, should probably mention I am male, married with three daughters and six grandkids.
After the surgeries, began experiencing chronic idiopathic (stoopid) pain in both shoulders. Ended up in a pain clinic, trying to find the cause. One day I found my legs began to feel the same: the Doc's eyes widened, then he began finding points where the slightest pressure triggered a surprisingly over-the-top response. Turns out this was a method of diagnosis... out of 19 pressure points, I scored 15. This is when I first heard about fm, as any score above 10 was definitive.
Now, pushing twenty years later, both the number and variety of symptoms and the level of discomfort have increased exponentially. Life sucks. Not a single aspect of that life has been left untouched. It affects my physical abilities, my metal acuity, my emotional control, mood, appetite, sex life, ... pretty much everything.
I would like to talk with other fm sufferers, perhaps to learn, perhaps just to commiserate.
OK, 'nuff for now. A huge thank you to the admins/mods who work to create this ..haven.

Ttfn
Bob

 

[SBee]

Hiya Bob
Welcome, nice to have you here, just a bit of a git any of us have to be here really. But at least it's a place where everyone just gets what you feel, can advise,support and as you say commiserate. Totally agree that fibro definitely affects more than physical pain. Every aspect of our lives can be touched. But I have to say almost all of what I have learned about fibromyalgia has been from the members of this forum.

Course not everyone's meds,supplements or methods can help everyone, as you know after 20+ years of living with this condition you've probably tried a lot. But good you found yourself here. Just ask anyone anything is my advice.

Ttfn? You got some English blood in you??!

 

[sunkacola]

Welcome, @Bob the Goalie .

Just so you know............That pressure point test, which in your case did result in a correct diagnosis of fibromyalgia, is no longer used by ny doctor who is at all up to date with fibromyalgia and its diagnosis, as it has been proven to be ineffective and inaccurate too much of the time. I am glad that in your case it resulted in your getting the diagnosis you needed, though.

Yes, fibro affects every aspect of our lives; cannot help but do so.
On this forum we offer support and information to the best of our ability. And you can come here and vent or complain if you want or need to, and sometimes we all need a place just to do that.

If you haven't already done so, I recommend you read the post pinned at the top of the General forum, because it offers a lot of advice on things you can try out to see if they help you to manage your fibro.
And if you nave specific questions, we will try to help.

 

[Bob the Goalie]

Thanks for the reply Sunkacola.
The pressure-point test was diagnostic waaaay back in 2007. The test was performed at a pain clinic by a doctor specializing in all types of pain, including the neuropathic variety. A lot can/does happen in medical research, so I am not surprised there are now more precise procedures to diagnose fibro.

Would you please share any new-ish tests ? Call it professional curiosity !

Bob

 

[Bob the Goalie]

Hiya Bob
Welcome, nice to have you here, just a bit of a git any of us have to be here really. But at least it's a place where everyone just gets what you feel, can advise,support and as you say commiserate. Totally agree that fibro definitely affects more than physical pain. Every aspect of our lives can be touched. But I have to say almost all of what I have learned about fibromyalgia has been from the members of this forum.

Course not everyone's meds,supplements or methods can help everyone, as you know after 20+ years of living with this condition you've probably tried a lot. But good you found yourself here. Just ask anyone anything is my advice.

Ttfn? You got some English blood in you??!

Close... Canadian living on P.E.I.

 

[sunkacola]

Thanks for the reply Sunkacola.
The pressure-point test was diagnostic waaaay back in 2007. The test was performed at a pain clinic by a doctor specializing in all types of pain, including the neuropathic variety. A lot can/does happen in medical research, so I am not surprised there are now more precise procedures to diagnose fibro.

Would you please share any new-ish tests ? Call it professional curiosity !

Bob

There are no definitive tests for fibromyalgia....yet.
Hopefully, with more time and research, there will be such a thing.

Every now and then someone comes out with a study and claims that they now "know" that fibromyalgia is a (fill in the blank) "autoimmune disorder", "neurological disorder", etc. etc.

And then the AI "bots" on the internet start creating nonsensical articles that claim that this has been "discovered", or has been "proven" when nothing of the sort is the truth. And usually, someone comes to this forum to "announce" that this has been discovered, and so on.

Really, as of now, no one knows.
People with fibromyalgia may also have an autoimmune disorder, or something else, or an inclination in that direction, as often there are many different things going on.

Usually, the diagnosis of fibromyalgia is still one of exclusion. If you don't test positive for all of the other things that can cause similar symptoms, and you don't have one or two of the necessary markers or symptoms for X or Y disease, and you have a slew of the symptoms commonly found with fibro, then you will usually get that diagnosis. It's hardly an exact science, but then fibromyalgia is hardly an exact syndrome, as the symptoms are all over the place, and no two people will necessarily have all the same symptoms, nor will they find the same things help them.

 

[SBee]

Hah! Had to Google PEI... @Bob the Goalie - an Island man then

@BlueBells () shared this useful tip with me when I first came on the forum. If you want to ensure a specific person gets notified you are contacting or replying to them, type the weird @ sign them immediately ( no gap ) begin to type the user name of the person. A little box comes up with their full user name. tap on that, continue without replying post. and they will be notified you you replied to them.

it just makes sure a ' conversation ' doesn't get missed by that person.

 

[Bob the Goalie]

Sorry 'bout the PEI thingy... I just assumed ...oh wait. Guess this is why my Southerly (is that even a word ?)... neighbour's think we all know what cities are in which state .. that sort of thing.

Bob

 

[BlueBells]

@Bob the Goalie

Southerly (is that even a word ?)

Yep, sure is Of the south, south of where you are, also southerly winds etcetera