Flu-like achy-ness as a constant feature of life - fibromyalgia?

[lagaanisace]

I've been MNetting for a couple of months now, and it's only just occured to me that there might be others on MN who experience this.

For as long as I can remember I've always been achy fairly randomly. It doesn't really affect my life beyond annoyance and some trouble sleeping. I went to the doctor about it once or twice in my early twenties (I'm 32 now) and at one point he used the word 'fibromyalgia'.

It has been worse recently and accompanied with slight 'pins and needles' in my hands and feet.

I really don't see the point of going to the doctor about it, but I did just wonder if there were others out there who experienced the same thing?

[SOLOisMeredithGrey]

Yes and go to the docs. I'm off to bed now, but will come back to this thread soon.

[lagaanisace]

Please do.

[ConvalescingCow]

Oh I've had this all my life too. It is getting worse as I get older though (I'm 44). I had flu recently and I spent the first day of developing symotoms not really realising I was getting ill as that tired achey feeling is something I get quite often - sometimes for days. It quickly became obvious I was ill when I almost fainted but the tired achey stage was fairly normal for me - just maybe a tad worse than normal.

Some days my muscles really hurt like I've been exercising when I haven't really done anything.

I suppose for years I just thought this was normal and didn't really realise that others didn't have this.

[Saltire]

I have it. I suffered years of random pain and then in 1998 when pregnanat with DS1 things started to get worse. I was fobbed off with "it a virus/flu/growing pains" by various doctors.
Ask for a referral to a rheumatologist, they will be able to diagnose if it if Fibro. However, the symptoms are similar to lot os fother things as well, so it's best to get them ruled out too. The rheumatologist might not see you until you have had lots of bloodytests to rule out other things - mine wouldn't.

I also get pins and needles in my hands a feet - (in fact I have had them in the last 2 fingers of my right hand for more than a week now) and they usually start up during a flare up of pain. I also get migraines/headaches, eye problems including blurryness and double vision, IBS, and really bad fatigue.

[shoshe]

(Comes in and waves to Saltire)

Another one with it here, I also have Lupus which kick started the Fibro.

I am in the middle of a flare at the moment, and both hands are bad (It started in my hands)

I go from sleeping all the time to chronic Insommnia, only sleeping 4/5 hours a night, although I find that I actually sleep better when I sleep shorter!

[lagaanisace]

Hi all! This is exciting! Sorry, that's not a very nice way to talk of your suffering, is it? I'm sorry about that. But what I mean is, I've spent a lifetime not really talking about this because I didn't really think it was worth talking about, and wondering if somehow I was imagining it.

convalsecingcow! You describe it just the way it is! I can definitely relate to not knowing whether it's a symptom or just the usual state of being when I get some bug or other.

MN is ace.

[TotalChaos]

does fibro get exacerbated by humid weather?

[atlantis]

Yes, I have fibro and CFS, but they will want to rule out other illnesses such as MS and Lupus, I also have hypermobility (very bendy!) and pop joints out at times with a nice dose of psoriasis (spelling?) to boot, my autoimmune system doesn't like me much.

You should go to your Dr's and an occupational therapist can be quite helpful as well, physio didn't really work for me (made things worse).

I sleep for about 4 hrs a night, if I get 6 i'm bordering on groggy.

[lagaanisace]

I can't personally really say it does, but it's worse if I'm really tired, and it often flags up that I'm just about to succumb to some virus or something.

At the moment it seems fairly constant, as are the pins and needles.

[lagaanisace]

I've been assuming that it's worse at the moment because DD who's just turned 1 is still sleeping appalingly badly, and DS2's statementing process is being a real pain and he's been having bad obseessive 'loops' just recently.

Or maybe it's coincidental.

[Saltire]

It does feel sometimes as though every muscle in teh body hurts. I never used to get the fatigue, but in teh past 6 months or so (in fact, since January when I ahd a chest infection) it has got significantly worse. I sleep when i get home from work and go to bed early. I am in the middle of a flare up just now - pins and needles and pain which is alternating between my feet and elgs (I ahve a walking stick for these days) and my hands and arms. Sometimes it gets so bad that I lose feeling completely in my fingers and have been known to drop things.
I also have what I call my background pain which is there all the time 24/7, and then the really bad flare up pain which I reckon I get now about 80% of the time

[Saltire]

lagaanisace It could well be that your lack of sleep is making it worse. 2 different rheumatologists have told me that lack of really deep sleep can have a detrimental effect on it. I take Amitryptiline 20mg every night to help with sleeping - although I am so tired all the time I could sleep at the drop of a hat, but I do find that if I don't take it -I ran out and had to wait 4 days for a prescription- and did sleep worse those nights

[lagaanisace]

That makes sense, Saltire. I think you get it much worse than me. It seems it's probably worth going to the doctor, though, from what you say.

[lagaanisace]

Hello, LeonieSoSleepy.

[lagaanisace]

Another factor is that, I tend not to talk about it to people because I imagine, rightly or wrongly, that they'll probably be sceptical and think I'm a whinger. So, I just don't tell people, the doctor included.

[SOLOisMeredithGrey]

Hi again. I have ME or some people call it CFS. I also get the severe muscle pain, pins and needles in my hands, forearms and feet, sore throat, headaches, sleep problems, confusion, memory problems and skin sensations, plus loads more that somehow, I forget because I have got so used to them that they sort of become 'normal'. My latest symptom is a numb forehead which comes and goes .

See your GP, but don't let them fob you off. Some doctors still don't believe in these illnesses, but they are very real and can be completely debilitating.

Know that you are not alone, there are literally thousands of us...the last I heard it was around 250,000 known sufferers.

[lagaanisace]

Thank you all! It's ace to be able to talk about it!

SOLO - you and Saltire have it really bad!

Yeah, I'll see the doctor.

LeonieSoSleepy Snap! DS2 hasn't actually been diagnosed but the SENCO and Ed Psych have both dicussed his autistic traits, and the SENCO has said it would be halpful if I could get a diagnosis for him now.

Great to meet you all!

[SOLOisMeredithGrey]

Let us know how you get on lagaanisace, I really hope it's something simple though.

[lagaanisace]

Totalchaos Does your question mean that you suffer fro this, too?

[TotalChaos]

lagaan - no, I don't have fibro (well I don't think!), but I have a lot of aches in my legs that I'm getting concerned about. I doubt it it is fibro tbh, as a big trigger for me is humidity, and that doesn't seem consistent with what the other ladies on this thread are experiencing.

[lagaanisace]

Oh, going by what relatives have said, that sounds rhuematoid-ish. Not pleasant for you!