Overwhelmed with multiple symptoms!

[Rachel_25]

Hi everyone,

I am trying to get healthier and recently quit smoking, quit wine (which helped with the pain). I started walking and trying to "exercise" but it's been a month and I am in a terrible flare. I am wondering if all these feelings are from fibro? In the last week, I have stabbing pains in my ribs (I tried to do push ups but not that many!), shooting pains in my groin, my back feels like a bruise, the shower hurts my skin, my neck and shoulders are stiff and giving me headaches, my stomach feels hard and awful, heartburn, hurts to pee, muscle twitching, hurts to brush my hair. It's overwhelming me and I don't know how I am supposed tell when I am actually sick or if it is just fibro?

 

[bbbarnard]

To: Rachel25

Hi, I’m so sorry to hear that you have Fibro.
Yes, all the confusing, life-interrupting, questionable, unreasonable painful symptoms all over your body could all be contributed to Fibro (unless you have a doctor who has run a specific test to tell you otherwise).

It sounds like you need a calming period to rest and get some positive input that life won’t always be this confusing. We all have times when it seems that every pain that is possible, and every part of our body that could possibly show itself, has jumped on us at the same time. It’s easy to become confused about what is happening.

If you have fever, vomiting, etc., then see a doctor. That is illness that doesn’t usually fit with Fibro symptoms.

Hang in there! You will learn what your body is trying to tell you.

I’m not a medical professional.
May I offer a little advice? It seems that you so very quickly tried to fix everything that now you are left suffering, and you’re disappointed that your initial efforts did not work like you planned.

Be patient with yourself. The Fibro path is long and winding, and not everything can be accomplished at once.
***You quit smoking! Good for you! I’m proud of you; that takes courage and determination! ***

—-Exercise:
You may have tried to do too much exercise all at once. For most Fibro people, exercise needs to be in small, measured steps. It is easy to exercise too much, then pay for it with more pain than you expected.
First, give yourself some true rest, eat well, and begin taking supplements.

—-The restful periods will help you cope with everything else. (If you have a hobby that is sustainable with your Fibro, do it. If not, search for something you can quietly enjoy.) Do something to keep your body still, in a comfortable position. Make use of heating pads and cold packs. Once you feel that you have the energy to do something, do it. But limit yourself. Either limit the time you spend or limit the amount of effort you use. Don’t keep doing something if you feel like you should have already stopped.
(I spent years overdoing it ! I would keep pushing past my limits. Then, I felt worse for days. Just one example: I was folding a load of clothes. My mind kept telling me that I should be able to fold a load of clothes, but my body kept telling me, Stop! Finally, I listened to my body, and left 1/2 a load unfolded, and got in bed with a heating pad. Two hours later, I felt better and finished the clothes.)

—-The nutritional efforts will benefit your entire body. Most of the time I don’t have an appetite. Then I think of reasons why I should eat. Right now, at this point in my life, I want to help my grandson with homework, and I want to be healthy enough to hold the new granddaughter who will arrive soon. That’s all ! I eat.

—-Vitamins/Supplements: A thousand people will want to give you advice on vitamins and supplements. Everyone will say something different.
—-First, talk to your doctor. Ask, what are the most important vitamins/supplements should I take? Start there. Then do your own research.
I research carefully and seek reputable sources. If someone is trying to sell me something, I move on. I read what universities, research hospitals, and other trusted sources say. If I find conflicting information, I ask my doctor. He will tell me if I should take the vitamin and how much.
I have more to say on this matter if you care to ask me.

—Family, Friends, and Other People:
Our family had to learn how to hug gently. No poking, no patting.
I met someone who was becoming my new best friend in a new city. I didn’t want my Fibro to affect our friendship, but one morning before church services, she patted my shoulder & back. Pain flared. I sat for an hour trying to listen, but also trying to decide if I should explain things or not. Finally, I decided that our friendship was either strong enough for the truth, or we wouldn’t make it at all. Later, we quietly talked about my symptoms and how to hug me. She was so kind that she made it a priority to learn to hug me gently. Years later, we are the best of friends. —- Frankly, after nine years in the same church, most people don’t know why, but they know to approach me gently. There have been a few times when I saw someone coming towards me, with arms outstretched and eagerness in their smile, and I started backing up——-I’ve learned to say very kindly that I’m too sore to be hugged. They’re still my friends!

—-Feeling like you’re bruised, shower water hurting your skin, clothes aggravating your sensitive skin, tight muscles, stomach aches, headaches, all of it and more, fits Fibro. And I’m sorry. Please give yourself credit for trying to do everything at once! It was a good effort. It is what the rest of the world thinks we should do. (“If you PUSH YOURSELF HARDER, YOU’LL GET THROUGH IT !”)

—-I’ve had Fibro and CFS, and some other things for 44+ years. The journey has not been easy; some days I didn’t think I would survive. I wish I had known more about Fibro from the beginning, but no one knew much about it then.

Keep in touch. You’re not alone, not crazy. You do hurt. Life is not what you thought it would be today. Some days are bad, others are better.
I hope you will learn what works for you and share your success with the rest of us. Of course, you’re also welcome to go to the thread about complaining and unload !

Best wishes, BHB

 

[sunkacola]

@Rachel_25 the thing I am concerned about in your post is that you say it hurts to pee. This is definitely something you need to see a doctor about. It is not a common symptom of fibromyalgia and could be a sign of infection which can become serious if not treated, so please go see a doctor about this ASAP. Go to an urgent care if your regular doctor cannot see you right away.

Any time that we with fibro have a new problem in our bodies, we tend to attribute it to the fibro because there are so many symptoms of fibro and they morph and change all the time. But each new symptom really needs to be checked out with a doctor because it may not be fibro, and if it is not, then it may be treatable. It could even be indicative of something that will get worse if not given attention.

Walking is excellent exercise for people with fibro. Other forms of exercise can be also good, but the important thing is to ease into things slowly, giving yourself plenty of time to rest and recuperate in between exercise sessions. And try different things to see what works best for you. As @bbbarnard says, one of the most important thing you can do for yourself is learn to listen to your body. It was very hard for me to learn to stop when my body said stop, because in the past I could just go go go all day long. But I learned the hard way that even if I am in the middle of something, it is best to stop if my body tells me to.

Also, keep in mind that correlation is not causation. Something that you did one day or did not do, something you ate or did not eat and so on may or may not be responsible for how you are feeling for the next day or few days. It takes dedicated experimentation and keeping track of your activities and symptoms to determine how various things are affecting you. And the hardest part is that those effects can always change. At first I was terribly frustrated by that; now I just sigh and tell myself that this keeps me on my toes!

Congratulations on stopping smoking and drinking wine!!

In answer to your question about whether you are sick or not, my suggestion is that any time you feel as though you are actually sick you should seek medical attention. Over the years, I have learned how to tell when I am getting sick with a virus or bacterial infection and when it is a fibro flare, but it took experience to learn that.

 

[Rachel_25]

Thank you so much for the thoughtful reply. These are all helpful tips! It's hard to accept that you can't fold a load of laundry in one sitting. I think it might take time to learn the new normal. I took the course on fibro from More Good Days and have it as a tool, but I haven't applied it much. I haven't found any doctors helpful with any suggestions, but I might try a functional doctor if I think it is worth it! I worked on pacing today and timing myself on activities- hopefully this helps. I read about the spoon theory- I just don't know how many spoons I have per day yet! Thanks again for all your suggestions. It's amazing. If you want to share on supplements- feel free. Right now, I take magnesium and Resveracell when I have brain fog. I am experimenting with some supplements from the Wahl Protocal. I usually try something for a month and see if it helps. It is hit or miss because I am so sensitive. I can only take the prescribed stuff as needed because it hurts my stomach.

 

[sunkacola]

@Rachel_25 ....I personally dislike the "spoons theory" thing. Of course, this is just me, and whatever works for any individual is what they should use. I don't like it because first it's not a "theory"! And second, more importantly, it is to my mind sort of silly and inaccurate, and is not as useful for describing this to another person as using a battery as a metaphor.

If you have a good battery, you can recharge it and it will be full of charge and it will last however long that battery lasts before the charge runs out. At which point you can recharge it and get the same amount of time or use in it again, and again. But if your battery is faulty in some way it will either not take a full charge in the first place, or the charge will run out a whole lot faster than it should. People with fibromyalgia and CFS have faulty batteries. To me, this makes a lot more sense than talking about spoons, and it is more accurate as well.

The thing about fibro is that your battery may take more charge on one day than another and you don't really get an indicator to tell you how much you have. That's why it's so important to pace yourself and most of all to listen to your body.

As for supplements, what works for one person may or may not help another. I don't take any these days, except for D-Mannose which has nothing to do with fibro and I only take because it is supposed to prevent UTIs. I don't know yet if it works because I haven't taken it long enough yet.

 

[hope23]

In contrast with Sunkacola, i love the spoon theory and it was a game changer when it came to my family understanding what i live with, when it comes to knowing how many spoons you have each day, metaphorically speaking and from my own experience its more about recognising each day how you are feeling how much extra or lesser energy did a certain activity take you, i have subscribed to the spoon theory for over 5 years now and its more been a way of accepting my limitations and that for example yesterday showering wasnt too overly taxing but today i had to sit down for half an hour after before i could get dressed, it provides a more tangible frame of reference and slowly you learn to judge as you go through each day, dont stress over knowing or not knowing how many spoons you have in terms of an actual number each day.

As Sunkacola said find whats fits for you and your way of thinking, in contrast for me that is the spoon theory, i find the battery one just never clicked for me and felt a bit ridiculous and didn't help me throughout the day and didn't help my family understand things better either, we are all different and what clicks for some doesnt for others, find what works for you whatever that may be.

 

[SBee]

I agree @hope23 I find the spoons explanation helpful when trying to show the impact of chronic illness to someone else.

But I dont actually use it in practice for myself, I like the basic simplicity of it as an easy to see explanation. It is as we all know, an individual thing, to find the technique (s) that help us on a day to day basis.

I think I know pretty well how my body\mind should work on a 'normal ' day but as we know too well, that So called normal has a way of shifting its boundaries on a day to day or hour to hour basis. And then of course thats when the symptoms can go haywire even more.

 

[hope23]

In practice for me its more a shorthand way of my partner checking in on how im doing and irs usually im low on spoons, or im out of spoons if that makes sense

 

[SBee]

Makes sense to me @hope23 . The crippling fatigue or pain that affects us can be hard to describe in 'real words'.

What some of us mean by saying we are exhausted can mean we may not even be able to lift an arm up for example.
Thats a difficult thing for someone who does not have,or cannot perceive such symptoms to understand.

Using the figurative thought of using your spoons up can easy way for you, or someone else to judge your levels.

 

[hope23]

That is it in a nutshell