Sound like Fibro?

[kellik77]

I have about a year and half history with the symptoms i am experiencing and just wondering if you guys think i may have fibro or CFS....I had a very scary and traumatic medical situation a year and a half ago and was misdiagnosed with a very rare brain tumor and only expected to live at the most for 5 years...turned out that the mass on my brain wasnt a tumor but an abnormal spinal growth, not lifethreatening.  Since then i have experienced VERY VERY strange symptoms intermittantly....tingling and numbing sensations in left arm, hand and foot...tingling sensation in left side of face...right shoulder pain, back  pain, brain fog, neck pain, dry eyes, dry mouth, IBS, severe fatigue, lymph nodes swelling off and on (in groin and behind ears), rib cage pain on both sides,  and the list goes on...i have had MRIs, CAT scans, heart tests, lung xrays, numerous blood screenings...no findings....my symptoms come and go and seem to "come" especially when im stressed or had a stressful situation....can someone give me their opinion on what this might be??

[Curls]

How unfun.  Could the spinal growth be causing the symptoms?  Have you looked into chairi formation?  It's a problem at the base of the back of the neck area (and beyond that I can't technically describe.)  You may not have it but, may have something a-kin to it.  It can produce CFS-like symptoms and is treated with surgery.  It's not that common a cause for CFS but in your case it's well worth looking into.  The best known expert in it is on long island but I don't know his name.  The cfids association of america can help you with getting it.

Some of your symptoms could be CFS/FM, but that's not the first place I'd go.  In CFS/FM the tingling, numbing, pains aren't as site specific as you are describing but tend to move around.  Rib cage pain I haven't heard of.  Lymphs node swelling is an immune response like a sore throat bug so it's in the neck nodes generally.  Does it feel like an immune response to a bug?  

What's the rest of your list of symptoms?  What did the onset look like - how does the misdiagnosis play into this?  

Brain fog, severe fatigue, IBS, stress trigger, are symptoms in CFS/FM.  However, they can exist with other illnesses too.  For CFS some form of post excursional maliase (increased symptoms within 6-72 hours after exercise) is almost always present.  There's also a sense of muscle weakness or heaviness system-wide.  For FM the pain in addition to being at the trigger points (see the definition on the Center for Disease Control's website)...the pain is systemic - system-wide with an intensity to it and a hard to describe sensation.  The dry membranes isn't a part of CFS/FM normally, but is part of a frequently co-existing autoimmune condition called syrogren's (my spelling may be off).