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Arkansan

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Hello all,

About 10 months ago I had some health problems crop up. I was hospitalized for a bout of afib, I was released and put on Atenolol to help prevent reoccurrence. About a month later I found out that my wife was pregnant shortly after that I had a bout of tremoring in my left arm, I did the worst possible thing and googled it. Dr. Google promptly diagnosed me with ALS. Needless to say a whole lot of anxiety ensued. I had already been having muscle twitches all over for a short while so of course I took the ball and ran with it. Over time I began to have a tingling sensation in my forearm and hands from time to time, my hands developed a mild tremor, and I began to have day where I felt fumble fingered and all over shaky.

I posted on the ALS boards and the kind members over there said that they did no think I had it, and a series of simple tests at my GP's office revealed normal strength and balance as well as reflexes. On the advice if the members over there I have begun to work on my obvious anxiety problem and lo and behold things get some better.

However this whole time I have had days where I feel a deep ache in some of my limbs, typically my hands, but I also have them in my arms, waist, and near my knees. On the days I have these pains I stay exhausted and even though I can do things as normal I feel very weak and simple tasks drain me. I feel around these painful areas they feel incredibly tender.
I also have central sleep apnea and IBS.

To bring this wall of text full circle, my mother was diagnosed with fibromyalgia years ago. I took them quite some time to figure it out. She has not put much worry on my neurological symptoms this far as she attributes them to anxiety. However she recently said that the pain I describe sounds similar to hers, she also said fibromyalgia tends to run in families.

Do my symptoms sound like fibromyalgia to you? I have read that it can cause twitching in some people and that it can be brought out by periods of stress. Has anyone here experienced symptoms like nine with their fibromyalgia?
 
Welcome to the forum. While some of what you talk about could be fibro, I am not going to allow you to self-diagnosis yourself here and be worried about having fibro until you know it as a fact. I would say go see a rheumatologist and having testing done and let the doctor decide if you have it or not. This type of doctor is the only one who can diagnosis this condition. That said, I have heard sometimes fibro can run in famlies, but it is not a given factor for every family.

Just anxiety alone can cause many similar symptoms and reading about illnesses our body and mind can begin to believe we have something that we may or may not have. I have told others that I have read that medical students studying to be doctors and having to learn about illnesses and their symptoms often develop these symptoms from reviewing them over and over for tests. They don't have the illness but their mind though anxiety and stress takes on a minic of the symptoms. That can happen with self-diagnosising as well.

Now that your here though, I want you do read through the forum because folks here give great tips on managing stress and anxiety, and ways to relax your body and your mind. If you can do that and get your stress filled muscles to relax then you will be in a better frame of mind to get to a doctor and find out what is going on. Just depression brought on by worry can cause symptoms.

I am not saying that fibro is out of the question, as do you have it or not? I am saying try to stop worrying and use some of the ideas here on site to do it then go forward with the symptoms that remain. We have all been where you are so don't be embarrassed by your thinking. I am just glad you found this site so you can learn how to manage symptoms ahead of a diagnosis.

Look forward to seeing your name and posts around the forum. :)
 
Thank you for taking time to answer. I agree that anxiety is likely the lions share of my problem, I am scheduled to start working with a psychologist soon to try and learn to manage it. I shouldn't try and self diagnose I know, but the desire to be able to put a label on the symptoms is hard to resist.
 
As i said before it can be or it can't be, but it sounds like a fibro for me buddy, unfortunatelly i would recommend you to go again to the hospital to make it clear, i hope you can recover fast ! :D
 
Dr. Google truly needs to be avoided... he should lose his license. :) Seriously though, I have seen so many times that trying to google symptoms often does nothing more than cause anxiety. I think the reason is because of the disclaimers that are necessary. This is an extreme and silly example, but it's to make my point... like if I'd look up "ingrown toenail" I don't think a website (at least a responsible one) can just say "oh, that's an ingrown toenail, don't worry" without adding the customary "of course you'll want to see a doctor to rule out cancer" because they'd be diagnosing illegally. At that moment the terror becomes a factor and it's like "Oh NO! This could be CANCER?!"

Well, I'm giggling now... like I said, that was silly because I don't *think* toenail cancer exists (I don't want to hear it if it does!) but point remains that even the "little" things often have very frightening disclaimers.
 
Google and Wikipedia should never be used for self-diagnosis or self-treatment. Unless you know what you suffer from, it could be very dangerous to assume things and start some kind of treatment on your own. While the internet has opened up a whole new world of information, sometimes I do wonder whether the internet is making us more anxious and paranoid. I would recommend that you consult with your doctor to get to the bottom of your symptoms and start a treatment only after his advice.
 
While the internet has opened up a whole new world of information, sometimes I do wonder whether the internet is making us more anxious and paranoid. I would recommend that you consult with your doctor to get to the bottom of your symptoms and start a treatment only after his advice.

I think the amount of information at our fingertips now has indeed made the world in general more anxious and paranoid... I've seen it so often. I agree that self-diagnosing from a website that may or may not have a clue about medical issues and illnesses is not wise at all.

As a side note, I also fully believe that the anonymity of the Internet has made many people mean spirited. Just look at any news story that allows comments. It's horrifying, the things people say to each other... basically just because they can. :-(
 
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