Is excrutiating leg & arm pain normal for fibro?

[tiredofbnsick]

I am 49 yrs old and have had fibromyalgia for over 30 years. I have had every unexplainable pain there is. Headaches, bone pain, back pain, neck pain, TMJ, Intersticial cystitis, breast pain, etc. 8 yrs ago I seemed to go into a pretty good remission and only experienced short flare ups and they were not to any degree of intense pain. Several months ago I started experiencing more pain than usual in my lower arms and legs. The tender points just below the elbow & knee were extremely painful. This has developed into a fullscale intense and extreme pain. For the last couple of weeks the symptoms are 24/7 extreme pain with a weakness all over. My legs feel heavy, extremly fatigued and nothing seems to make it better. My rheumatologist prescribed Cymbalta, Gabepentin and Soma. Nothing is touching this outragious pain. I can't stand it. Does this kind of intense pain come with fibromyalgia? I have had pain before and it has been bad but this is excrutiating. Bloodwork shows nothing. I need to get beyond this flareup and don't know what to do.

[fivestudent]

Dear Angel,

I know exactly how you feel. I am going through the exact same thing right now. My arms, hips, shoulder and legs are killing me ALL the time. I am scared to be without my medicine at this level of constant pain. I don't think the doctors understand what it's like for me, so constant and severe. I hope you feel better. I hope we all feel better. It's so frustrating having a diagnosis of fibromyalgia. It feels so vague and yet so horrible all over. I also have interstitial cystitis and multiple daily migraines. The doctors think that one pill every six hours should work. They have no idea!!!

[kiddthekatt]

  I was dxed with Fibro and chronic fatigue a little over a year ago, and since the dx I have progressively gotten worse. I'm going into the hospital tomorrow for testing. This last several weeks have been hell. My arms and legs feel as though they are going to explode and this flare continues to get worse everyday. Both of mydoctors agree that they should start testing from the ground up. I agree, I can not handle much more of this. I don't know what I would do had I not had my pain meds..........:(  the thought terrifies me. I'll let everyone know how it goes.

gentle hugs
Angel

[VaBreeze]

I feel for you as I have also had this for over 30 yrs.  I have also had days where my hips hurt so much I have difficulty walking....but I also have a bit of degenerative disc disease that may be influencing this.

To answer your question...yes it can get that bad.  However, if you haven't had an MRI you may want to go that route to rule out anything else that may be causing this.  Also, you could request a Western Blot be done to check for Lyme...but this isn't always accurate.  

You may want to check out some of the treatments offered in our Health Pages that may get to any underlying problems, not detected within your bloodwork.  Maybe something there would be of help.

I'm sorry you are in so much pain and hope that you feel better soon.