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Avatar universal

what do ur FM flare-ups feel like?

I have FM and have always thought I must just have a mild case cuz my pain levels are no where near what most FM sufferers are. I also have neck issues. So when my shoulders, arms, and hands act up real painful like and kinda tingly, I'm never quite sure if its FM pain and flare-up, or just things with my neck issues. What do FM flare-ups feel like to u, and do u get them in concentrated areas or wide-spread? Thank u much in advance:-)
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Avatar universal
Like everything in your body is getting beat up constantly and it want stop stiffness pain everywhere blurry vision headache constantly sensitivity to light noise nausea cold than hot sweating shaking to get the pain. To stop can't walk or bend your extremities without screaming back feeling like its broke and noone wants to fix it neck and shoulders frozen. In place leg and feet going numb after you try to sit up to ease the pain just horrible and this will last anywhere from 1day to 3 months or so.
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Avatar universal
Thank you all for taking the time to reply:) its much appreciated!!
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Acker, I hope what she does for you improves the quality of your life!!!! *gentle hugs*
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773755 tn?1328119777
yes! i think i know how it feels to be 90+ ! because my neighbor is 99, and she simply gets more done in a day that i do, and we have the same walk! i'm 42 w fatigue and mild fibro, and today it's a heaviness and a burning muscular pain neck to knees.
i didn't have any test by rhe dr, she just said I'm showing symptoms. i think she has just been treating the symptoms without telling me i have fibro cause she didn't want me to worry... and i wouldve been no better or worse off with the label. but i heard her on the phone w a specialist and she said  fibromyalgic pains', and the supplements she prescribes me says 'for the relief of fibromyalgia'!
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Avatar universal
I had never even heard of FM back then and thought it to be an "old age ailment" for some reason when I was told "I had it". I thought this chiro was trying to just randomly diagnose me with stuff so I would have to cont seeing him so I brought my sister down for a consultation and asked him to do this test on her expecting her to have similar results. She didn't. She scored 1/18 on the test lol.
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Avatar universal
What are some current new tests to diagnose FM today? Back in 2007, I had a 18 pt tender test done of which I scored 16/18 pts which is what diagnosed me with FM by a chiropractor I was consulting with at the time.
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Avatar universal
Wow!! I'm sorry for what u all go through!! I rarely have much fatigue and my FM pain is more like just tenderness if someone pokes me but otherwise, I don't feel any FM related pain, at least that I know of. I do have the occastional bouts of arm muscle pain that really hurts but I've been really lucky to have more of the annoying secondary symptoms such as dry mouth, eyes, skin and peeing a lot. I always have a water bottle, lotion, chapstick and eye drops with me where ever I go. I had fusion surgery with instrumentation on my lower back earlier this year and I have some issues with my neck that causes pain. Still trying to figure out if all my shoulder, neck, arms, hands, and shoulder blade pain is fm or other things. Thank you for all your responses!!
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773755 tn?1328119777
uh, squirtatious, not being able to type without pain is NOT a 'MILD' case!
btw!

and i have to agree with all of the above, again! absolutely 'heavy fatigue'! feels like you're made out of lead! in fact i woke up once and couldnt tell if i was lying on my back or on my stomach!
and absolutely yes it just feels like you've had the flu for x-years. only maybe you WISH you had the flu instead!
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681148 tn?1437661591
What vintagechicken said.  I also have a lot more pain in the trigger points when I'm flaring than when I'm not.  There is always a measure of sensitivity in the trigger points for me, but I really feel the trigger points when I'm flaring, like lately.  Bad enough that I'll be a little surprised at how so little it takes for something that shouldn't cause such pain until I'm reminded.  I'll also experience the feeling as if some of my muscles are actually burning.  I also experience parasthesia and/or peripheral neuropathy.  My doctor said there isn't a lot of difference between the two names.  A lot depends on where the pain is and if it moves around or stays in one place for a while, like the sensitivity on my scalp that a lot of feel as well.

What squitatious said, too.  The tops of my thighs will burn like mad at times, too.

I'll have such terrible stiffness that I can barely walk.  I have problems with my hips, knees and ankles as it is, plus sciatica issues down both legs, one side more than the other.  It causes the instep on the bottom of my feet to cramp and draw up.  I find it necessary to use the electric shopping carts at the grocery stores.

The pain causes such a heavy fatigue you wouldn't believe.  No amount of sleep is ever enough.
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1339244 tn?1279721938
I have the all over 'flu' like pain when I have flare ups... but when that's gone I have some new area of intense pain for several months.  For me, I can have pain in my feet for a few months, then it moves to my hips, lower back, or shoulders - there's no rhyme or reason - it just hurts!
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Avatar universal
My trapezius muscle up into my neck, down into my left shoulder has been bothering me. My biceps, forearms, hands, fingers all hurt. It hurts to type this and I can't stand anything to touch my arms. I already have nerve damage pain in my legs that I'm on gabapentin for so its hard to distinguish anything but nerve pain there. I no longer have any insurance so I can't get things checked to see if its due to my neck, or a FM flare-up. Thank u so much for all your responses!! *hugs*
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1436598 tn?1332896533
My pain is widespread as well, but it does seem to concentrate especially on my upper spine, shoulders, lats, and the insertion points in my elbows.  It varies from tingling, burning, feelings like a muscle is torn or strained, and what I call 'crush', when it feels like a large tank is parked on your spine and/or your ribs, crushing the bone.  Just for entertainment, my feet hurt in the morning, my glutes hurt some, my knees and ankles kick in at random, and my hands get stiff & painful at times.
I've pretty much come to expect just about anything at any time!
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Avatar universal
I agree with acker - EVERYTHING hurts!  After I was diagnosed, I bought myself a book called "Fibromyalgia for dummies" - not only to educate myself, but also to help educate my family and friends about what I was dealing with and possible ways they could help me to live with the pain/fatigue.

Anyway - one thing that I read in that book that definitely describes my feeling to a T was that it said "think about how you feel when you have the WORST case of the flu that you have ever had, and multiply that feeling times 10 - and that can explain how some fibro sufferers feel EVERY day".  Like I said, that pretty much describes my fibro to a T - the unrelenting achiness, muscle weakness, fatigue.  Of course, some days are better than others - always that way with fibro - however, when I get a flare, it's definitely worse.  I may have a couple of areas that hurt worse than the others, but my entire body is affected.
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773755 tn?1328119777
everything hurts all over! my upper legs used to hurt the most. also my hands. these would simply be the muscles i use the most.
similar to squirtatious, my discomfort and pain is kinda mild most of the time, when i am stationary.
i have a friend w fibro/ cfs and he has mentioned the neck and shoulder thing a lot. he has mostly recovered after 10 years, but today was talking about the neck/ shoulder paaain.
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