audiej
New member
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2022
- Messages
- 1
Hi everyone! I'm a 21 year old female and I'm so happy I found this forum because I have no idea where else to ask some questions I have and receive input from people who are actually experiencing fibromyalgia.
I've always had a lot of sleep issues, but for the past few months they have been getting worse and worse, including not being able to fall asleep for hours and in some cases not sleeping at night at all, never feeling rested when I wake up in the morning even if i've gotten well over 8 hours of sleep, and feeling intense general fatigue all day (made worse by not being able to sleep at night even with sleeping pills sometimes). I explained all this to my doctor and she thankfully referred me to a sleep clinic. I did the survey they sent me as part of my intake and based on my answers to the questions and my symptoms, I assumed I had chronic fatigue syndrome. I'm aware that I already experience symptoms consistent with restless leg syndrome as well as IBS. However, over the past couple weeks, I have noticed a sharp increase in pain, specifically headaches that don't go away with pain medication that radiate down through my neck, shoulders, and upper arms. I am also now experiencing muscle pain that feels like I have been to the gym (achy, sore, and stiff) when I haven't, and I feel stiff and sore kind of all over when I wake up. I've noticed that things that I could generally do at work (like throwing out the garbage at the end of the night, lifting moderately heavy things) now feel much more difficult as if my muscles and specifically my elbow joints have gotten weaker. The muscles in my legs feel like they're pulsing and almost spasming sometimes, and for the past couple days I have had a spot in my left buttock that hurts when I walk. Heat doesn't help the pain, epsom salts and lavender in baths don't help, and as I am writing this I am in the middle of a pretty intense headache and neck ache that two extra strength Tylenol has not helped at all. As for the mood symptoms, I have them all, including depression that has not responded to SSRIs at all, and is only somewhat responding to 150mg of Wellbutrin. I also frequently have extreme menstrual cramps and heavy bleeding. I'm not overweight at all, and I'm also moderately active. I should add that I was in a very abusive relationship a couple years ago, and I'm still actively dealing with the trauma that has caused me so if it's possible for fibromyalgia to manifest because of trauma like I've been seeing, then I would definitely say that could be a source.
I know that I just listed a huge amount of things (sorry!!) but I would love to have some sort of idea of whether or not I'm headed in the right direction with possible fibromyalgia before I have the appointment. I'm generally very bad at objectively thinking about what I'm feeling, physical pain-wise. I also wanted to know, is it normal for the pain to be one of the last symptoms to present?
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and potentially respond! it means a lot to me.
I've always had a lot of sleep issues, but for the past few months they have been getting worse and worse, including not being able to fall asleep for hours and in some cases not sleeping at night at all, never feeling rested when I wake up in the morning even if i've gotten well over 8 hours of sleep, and feeling intense general fatigue all day (made worse by not being able to sleep at night even with sleeping pills sometimes). I explained all this to my doctor and she thankfully referred me to a sleep clinic. I did the survey they sent me as part of my intake and based on my answers to the questions and my symptoms, I assumed I had chronic fatigue syndrome. I'm aware that I already experience symptoms consistent with restless leg syndrome as well as IBS. However, over the past couple weeks, I have noticed a sharp increase in pain, specifically headaches that don't go away with pain medication that radiate down through my neck, shoulders, and upper arms. I am also now experiencing muscle pain that feels like I have been to the gym (achy, sore, and stiff) when I haven't, and I feel stiff and sore kind of all over when I wake up. I've noticed that things that I could generally do at work (like throwing out the garbage at the end of the night, lifting moderately heavy things) now feel much more difficult as if my muscles and specifically my elbow joints have gotten weaker. The muscles in my legs feel like they're pulsing and almost spasming sometimes, and for the past couple days I have had a spot in my left buttock that hurts when I walk. Heat doesn't help the pain, epsom salts and lavender in baths don't help, and as I am writing this I am in the middle of a pretty intense headache and neck ache that two extra strength Tylenol has not helped at all. As for the mood symptoms, I have them all, including depression that has not responded to SSRIs at all, and is only somewhat responding to 150mg of Wellbutrin. I also frequently have extreme menstrual cramps and heavy bleeding. I'm not overweight at all, and I'm also moderately active. I should add that I was in a very abusive relationship a couple years ago, and I'm still actively dealing with the trauma that has caused me so if it's possible for fibromyalgia to manifest because of trauma like I've been seeing, then I would definitely say that could be a source.
I know that I just listed a huge amount of things (sorry!!) but I would love to have some sort of idea of whether or not I'm headed in the right direction with possible fibromyalgia before I have the appointment. I'm generally very bad at objectively thinking about what I'm feeling, physical pain-wise. I also wanted to know, is it normal for the pain to be one of the last symptoms to present?
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and potentially respond! it means a lot to me.