Bear with me, this might be lengthy.....
Early 30's I began having joint pains. My GP diagnosed me as hypermobile with scoliosis (which I knew anyway) and basically gave me painkillers. I've spent probably eight years now struggling along with this. Occasionally I've been back for different things such as severe itching in the night and persistent burning pain in certain joints but HM is always blamed and I've been sent on my way.
I'm now 40. My symptoms are as follows:
Permanent joint pain and burning sensations in most joints, it can be in any combination of joints and between my shoulder blades. Currently my left thumb is incredibly sore and has been for about a week. Joints can hurt to the touch and hurt to move. All joints are stiff and worsen with the cold. If I have been sat for a while I can't get up properly because my ankles feel like concrete if that makes sense.
Extreme tiredness. I can go to bed at 9pm and sleep until 11am and still feel completely drained and nap in an afternoon. Some nights I can't sleep at all, despite feeling totally exhausted.
Stomach issues. I initially blamed the codeine I'm on, but I'm now not so sure. Normal bowels in the day then met with crippling stomach cramps and diarrhoea at night which then returns to normal the following day. I've tried to find a food trigger and can't.
Night itching. I saw the GP with this, he did menopause bloods which all came back clear. I now take a piriton at night but often wake covered in bloody scratches where I've gouged lumps out of myself.
Fog. I can't always remember words, I know what I'm trying to say but sometimes it wont come.
Bruises. I admit I'm clumsy but some of my bruises can be huge and I have no recollection of them. The latest being an enormous apple sized one on my inner arm, it was bright green and purple. I have no idea how I've done it.
For eight years I've plodded on taking nortriptylene, codeine and a small dose of diazepam with little medical intervention, my medication is on repeat and I last saw a GP about 18 months ago. I've just assumed it's my hypermobility causing these symptoms. My lightbulb moment was reading something about FM and thinking 'God thats me'.
I do work, but only for a couple of hours mid day. I'm not sure I could do any more than that as I'm exhausted when I get in and it's hardly challenging.
I need to go back to the GP don't I? We've had a reshuffle and I believe we now have a lovely new female GP who's very good. Do you think she'll laugh at me and tell me it's my hypermobility? Should I write down what I have here and show her?
I feel utterly depressed with it all. Occasionally I can get out of bed, feel great and have a good day but currently those days are few and far between
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General health
I think I've had a lightbulb moment - Fibromyalgia
16 replies
404UsernameNotFound · 11/02/2016 11:09
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