I have not been diagnosed with Fibro or CFS. My doctor did do the 11 point test and ruled it out. I have taken a couple Fibro questionnaires on the web, and scored high on them. I honestly have no clue as to what is going on with me. Before I even get into that, I do have to say, I have had a very low tolerance to pain, since I was a little girl.
Throughout my life, I have been being treated for depression and anxiety. Also throughout the years, you don't know how many times I have been to a doctor with something wrong, just to hear them say, " Oh, you have depression and anxiety " as if the illness, or what ever is all in my mind! So that was the answer to my headaches, along with being treated for IBS, and for the reason for my low tolerance to pain.
Approximately 3 years ago I went to the doctor for severe leg pain, and was diagnosed with sciatica. An MRI showed 3 compressed discs with the nerve being pinched in one.
After that things seemed to go down hill fast. I am just going to list what is happening.
1. Sever headache & facial pain, especially when I first wake up. I have to take my lyrica, and either 2 aspirin or if it is so bad, 1 vicodine. Sit there and massage my neck, jaw, cheeks, temples, and meditate for at least 15 minutes before I can even get out of the bed
2. I can't clean my house, just walking to the kitchen from my room, causes pain in my legs, and back. If I am doing dishes, I can wash a few, then have to go sit down for a few minutes, then go back to them. It takes me forever to do anything, and I will end up needing to take vicodine to be able to clean, then again later, because I will be in so much pain because of cleaning.
3. Fatique, I have no energy. My sleep patterns are all messed up. Sometimes I can't sleep and will be up all night, other times, I am ready to fall asleep early in the evening. But even if I go to sleep at a good time, and get a full 8 hours of sleep, ( a new symptom I have been having for the past 2 months ) I find myself nodding off. Usually this happens when I am doing something quiet. I have nodded off sitting up in bed watching tv, sitting at the comp doing whatever, even playing games that keep my interest, in the bathtub and folding my laundry. Some days I nod off 4 or 5 times, lasting any where from a few seconds, to an hour. I have to go to a sleep center in 2 weeks to see if they can help find out what is going on, Doctor thinks, sleep apnea and Narcolepsy.
4. I get leg and foot cramps. Plus I feel like someone is inserting an IV needle in the top of my foot or hand. ( IV's are painful to me ) I also get hot spots, usually in my leg. Where all of a sudden it feels like I had a real hot heating pad put on me. I will also get a sudden pain in my leg, feels as if a bone snapped in half, but that pain is gone as quick as it came on. These do not happen all at once.
5. For the last few months I have had problems with my right leg, and both feet swelling. Right now my right leg is twice the size of the other one, and has been that way for over a week. I asked my doctor what could be causing this, and he said he had no idea. Maybe too much salt. This comes and goes, but this is the longest it has lasted.
6. For a while my left eye kept twitching, that lasted for about a month, then stopped. But occasionally my eyes feel like someone shoves a toothpick in them. Again, a sudden pain, that ends just as fast.
7. Sometimes I get pains shooting down my leg, from my knee to my foot. Sometimes from my elbow to my fingers. Along with the pain in my arm, I sometimes feel like it is numb.
8. I have gained about 100 lbs in the last 3 years. I figured it was due to lack of being able to move around pain free ( so of course, I was not as active as I used to be ) and then I thought some of these symptoms were caused by the weight gain.
9. Now I am drooling. I am constantly wiping the corners of my mouth where the drool is coming out. I also have been choking on food a lot lately. Sometimes I will be chewing, and a little crumb seems to be sucked down my windpipe before I even start to swallow it.
I am sure there are things I am forgetting. All I know, is I am so tired of feeling this way, and not knowing what is wrong with me. I am tired of having to take this test or that test, and still not getting answers. I am tired of doctors thinking this is all in my head. I honestly don't know where to turn any more.