Welcome & Introduce yourself to the Fibromyalgia/CFS Forum!

[dustybrown]

Hello and welcome to the Fibromyalgia/CFS forum on MedHelp. This forum is a place for people to come and share experiences with FMS and CFS. Some of you may have a diagnosis from your doctor, some of you may be seeking an answer for undiagnosed symptoms and some of you may be a relative or friend of one who is suffering. This is a great place to learn more and to gain support from others who suffer as well.

In addition to the community here, MedHelp also offers tools to help you and your doctor in your road to wellness. Fibromyalgia and CFS can be so intricate and can have so many different symptoms. Due to this, it is very helpful that MedHelp offers health trackers for us to utilize. We can track our progress and especially our flare ups. Below are just a few trackers that I find useful.

• CFS/FMS Tracker - http://www.medhelp.org/land/health-trackers
• Pain Tracker - http://www.medhelp.org/land/pain-tracker
• Mood Tracker - http://www.medhelp.org/land/mood-tracker
• Weight Tracker - http://www.medhelp.org/land/track-weight-loss

MedHelp also offers a plethora of “encyclopedia style” information available through the Health Topics tab at the top of the page. If you follow the links below you can learn more about Fibromyalgia and CFS, both topics of which are available on MedHelp.

http://www.medhelp.org/medical-information/show/124/Fibromyalgia

http://www.medhelp.org/medical-information/show/636?section_id=27670#sec_27670

I urge you to introduce yourself below and tell us a little about what brought you to the Fibromyalgia/CFS Forum. Again, welcome to MedHelp and the Fibromyalgia/CFS forum!

Sincerely,

Your Community Leader,
Dustybrown

[SassySharon]

Hi, My name is Sass, Really!!! I am new to this forum but old to Fibro!!!  Just wanted to introduce myself at this time.  I have many issues, ha who doesn't , Right!  Right Now I am having some Thryoid problems and awaiting a Ultrasound and biopsy.  Docs have me on 100mg Savellan twice daily for my Fibro.

[SuperSunny]

Hello Everyone,

I am excited about joining this site because, well, sometimes you just need to vent and share and only other Fibro/CFS sufferes truly understand.  I am new to Medhelp but not new to Fibromyalgia.  My diagnosis was about two years ago, and confirmed with three "second opionions."  I had a major car accident 3.5 years ago which I believe started the fibrmyalgia, migraines, stress, insomnia, etc.  
I look forward to sharing my experiences and hearing about yours!
Thank you kindly,
Super Sunny

[Monarchmom]

Hi everyone, I hope I am posting this correctly. My name is Arlene and I have FM. I'm hoping to connect with people who can understand my struggles. I'm married, have two wonderful sons and am an RN. I work full time but some days it's so hard to get to work. Right now I'm recovering from a flare and just feel like I weigh 500 lbs and am walking under water. I'm at work and thankfully my coworkers have been so supportive of me. I'm glad to find this group!

[John987]

Hello Group, I'm John and have had neck and shoulder pain for a couple of years continuously and intermittently for twenty. My shoulder and neck have knots and tight bands all the time.  Although my GP told me I don't have fibromyalgia, I'm suspicious.  I've had an MRI, and have no disc issues.  Massage makes it feel better temporarily, and cold, lack of sleep, and exercise makes it worse.  When I took an anti-depressant for migraine headache, my back muscles relaxed.   I can't help but to think it's related to, if not FM.   Any thoughts are appreciated.

[moomanoo]

I have just been clinically diagnosed with Fibromyalgia by a Rheumatoid specialist.He interstingly told me that I am double jointed, and because my joints all overextend, it causes the muscles attached to the joints to ache.
It is finally an answer to all my pain and fatigue, but a bit diheartening that there is no cure.
I have had a bone scan of my body and a heap of blood tests done, to rule out some other things, and go back to get the results, and see what steps I am to take now, in 3 weeks time.
I have constant pain in my neck, both shoulders, my upper, mid and lower back, both hips, and both legs and into my butt cheeks, and suffer from regular headaches.. The pain is bad all over, but somewhat worse on my left side. I also have IBS. I get extremely tired, and my body just doesn't want to move, and I always want to sleep. I also have problems with B12 deficiency (get injections), which makes me feel worse.
I try and exercise a few times a week, if I can, it sometimes makes me worse.
I am so over feeling this way, in pain, tired, I just wish I was normal.....
I feel for each and every one of you that lives with the same symptoms.....

[megsRN]

Hello everyone! I am new to Medhelp and look forward to meeting people with Fibromyalgia and learning what other people are doing to feel better. I have chronic pain in my left shoulder, left arm, neck, and upper back. Recently I have started experiencing some of these issues on the right side but the main region of pain is left sided. I am always tired and often I do not even want to get outta bed no matter how many hours I slept. I often have a weakened hot and cold feeling through my painful areas and I can never stay in one position for very long. I have a constant crunching/grinding feeling/sound over the left shoulder and back. I am currently on a 100mcg Duragesic patch and Savella for pain control. I use to take Cymbalta until I found that it caused increased migraines. Cymbalta helped tremendously. I was weened down to a 50mcg Duragesic patch which always lasted the full 3 days and I found myself with much more energy as well. Since I have been off this I have noticed my pain has significantly increased and my patches (which were increased to 100mcg) never seem to last the entire 3 days there suppose to. I am more tired as well. I was started on 50mg Savella twice daily and for the past 6 weeks there has been no improvement.

I have had several MRI's as well as various labs etc. and everything seems to be normal which is very frusterating because I know I am in pain which is NOT NORMAL. I have even had Doctors whom your suppose to trust and confide in treat me like im a drug seeker and liar. This really hurts because if they don't believe who will? I finally found an Internal Medicine doctor who did listen and has tried to help me the best way he knows how. The problem? I am not quite sure he is qualified to help me and in fact didnt assess me for those classic "tender/trigger points" I so often read about. He ordered tests etc and when nothing else could explain the pain and fatigue he diagnosed me with Fibromyalgia. I often worry because I don't believe I have trigger/tender points and in fact have even read that it is a must to exhibit these in order to make a firm Fibromyalgia diagnosis. Recently I have suffered from consistent, severe migraines that can last off and on over an week. My neurologist has referred me to a Fibromyalgia specialist so I guess I will ask him these questions. But if it isn't Fibromyalgia, what could it possibly be? Weird thing is in 2005 when I had back surgery to correct a L5-S1 disc herniationas soon as I healed from the surgery, I had all these problems.

I feel like my life is falling apart. I am a RN and absolutley love my job; however, I have had to take the last 8 weeks off because I hurt so bad. This has caused tention among my co-workers because the unit is understaffed. I feel like not many people really understand me. I am very very VERY lucky to have a wonderful Husband who really tries to understand and take care of me, as well as children who help me. There are still things my Husband doesnt understand but he sure tries. I feel tired all the time which makes doing even the small things hard to do. I am hoping to make friendships in this forum, as well as gain knowledge too. I also want to be a blessing to someone else, and who knows maybe even I may have some answers to questions!!

Megan