New to this Forum

Hi All ! I have some questions. I have always had a bad back, juist always dealt with the soreness and pain. A few weeks ago, the pain got to the point that I needed to see someone about it. I went to my general Dr. He had bloodwork done and prescribed an anti inflammatory med. The bloodwork cam back with a extremely high RA factor, 98. THey sent me to a Rheumatologist. He did more bloodwork, plus several xrays of feet, hands, back, and knees. I got a letter saying the bloodwork is normal and I have a follow up appt on Aug 25th to see what the diagnosis is. He told me in my first appt, that he believes I have Fibromyalgia, as well as Osteoarthritis. Anyone else have this diagnosis, Can you tell me what the plan of action will be?

Little Bic, welcome to the site and for asking questions.


Anyone else have this diagnosis,
yes most of us all have those too. many things come with fibromyalgia.

read my post "what is fibromyalgia. this will answer your questions and help you understand whats happening to your body and why.
then read my post "starting a daily log book and why it helps" this will help you with your meds and the doctors.
logging will help you feel better too.


Can you tell me what the plan of action will be?

Well to start, your doctor will have to rule out some other things like lupus,ms,rands and others.

then he should start you on a nerve blocker med like lyrica or cymbalta or gabapentin etc.

these will reduce the number of messages sent to your brain to send pain. not a pain killer.

these will also help reduce the number of times the pain signals travel through the nerves that are causing you pain.

then you will need to first check into natural things like magnesium, vitamin d etc.

then i want you to read my post i have a family member with fibromyalgia what should i do?
do the things in there to reduce fatigue. that will help reduce a lot of your pain.

remember that stress=pain,less sleep = fatigue. fatigue=pain
you must keep moving to work the muscles to stop sending the pain message to the brain.

try venting here and asking us more questions.

you can do this. you just need support.

you didnt say how old you are. that does help us.

befriend me and forgetmenot. we will also answer private msg questions.

to send a private msg. go to the top of page and click user cp
allow private msgs. then on the left it says send private msg.

thanks for joining!

Thanks so much for your reply. I am axiously awaiting my 7:30 AM appt tomorrow to see what the diagnosis is. I am a 53 year old female. The Rhematologist has already ruled out Lupus, and the other things you mentioned with bloodwork, that all came back in normal range. I am nervous about being put on Lyrica, have read some horror stories about that drug. I do live a very stressful life, my husband has Asperger's. I also do not sleep well, even though I am taking Ambien. I go to bed early because of fatigue, and wake up when al;arm goes off, just as tired as I was when I went to bed. I know these are all symptoms of Fibro, so am pretty sure that is what the diagnosis will be tomorrow. So thankful I found this forum!

Welcome to the group.
First off there are a few meds u can take ,u don't have to have lyrica.i deal with mine on tramadol and a nerve blocker called amitripolyne.spelt that wrong lol.
I to have never tired lyrica ,and I don't intend to unless I really have to. Not that it's not good .theres as many good story's as bad about that drug.
In fact u can frighten yourself to death with the humble paracetamol .
So if your Dr want u on lyrica first maybe give it a go .remember nothing ventured nothing gained.

welcome hope you find help

like cmetryme he said most everything

if you have lower back i have back and other problems i use a chiro i get a week or two of relief

but watch for scams come every week this many weeks etc or go home sit and ice

real chiro you go when yo need to and they encourage that they also encourage walking afterwards

it sets the disks 40 or more chiros i know when there full of it so thats what you look for on that end

we each have to find the pain relief we like and explore what we can do life is changed not over just

new thing to find you can do

Thanks all, I am so happy to be a part of this group. I will never go to a Chiropractor, went to one many years ago after a car accident hurt my back. They couldn't get my back to feel better so they suggested that I might have MS. Of course , ran to an MD, who said there is no way I have MS.You are right that I need to go into this appt tomorrow open minded, I am not a Rhematologist so I need to realize they know what is the best things for me. Thanks again, jkeep the relies coming

Just got into work after my Rheumatologist appt. He said bloodwork all came back normal and I don't have Rheumatoid Arthritis. He said I have alot of osteoarthritis in hands, feet, knees, and back and alot of bone spurs as well. He wants me to double my anxiety meds and he prescribed Tramadol twice a day. He never confirmed that I had Fibromyalgia but he said he was treating me for it. Is this common for them to not make a hard diagnosis?

you asked?
Is this common for them to not make a hard diagnosis?

yes it is. you have the spurs and they hurt like fibro.
watch out for the fatigue...

he's treating you for it to see if the blocked messages can help reduce some of your pains.
it wont but he is trying.