Can it be. fibromyalgia?

[Upsy1981]

I have been backwards and forwards to the GP over the years with various symptoms:

Tiredness (had blood tests 18months ago and again in October for this reason but nothing identified)

Shoulder, neck and back pain, constantly stiff, tight, achy, sometimes almost a burning sensation (been to doctor, because its not affecting my ability to rotate my arms around I have been sent away with ibuprofen)

IBS diagnosed several years ago after cameras in every orifice and nothing found

Restless legs

Sleep issues, can fall asleep easily as permanently shattered but wake up throughout the night and frequently wake at 4ish and can't get back to sleep.

Memory loss - have to write everything down. My mind can just go completely blank as to what I was supposed to be doing.

Feeling generally like an 86 year old instead of 36 year old.

I finally went to see a different GP a couple of weeks ago and he has suggested fibromyalgia. He has given me information about it and lots of it seems to fit but I only really have pain in my shoulders, back and neck. I do have stiffness in a few other places, base of thumbs, occasionally hips but not throughout whole body so can it be fibromyalgia? I thought it had to be everywhere. I have also read about these 'tender spots', he hasn't checked that so I'm not sure how he can think its fibromyalgia. The guidance seems to suggest that's a key diagnostic indicator. I just want to know what's wrong with me and if there's anything I can do to help myself feel a bit more 'normal'.

I don't know why there's a random . in my title.

I have all those symptoms and have a connective tissue disorder. How were you before the last 18 months? Any history of tendinitis, sprains, aches and pains in childhood and/or adolescence? Do you bruise easily, are you very bendy? Did you have any digestive trouble also throughout childhood/adolescence? I was misdiagnosed with fibromyalgia before finally getting a diagnosis of Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (hypermobility type).

Have you looked at Lyme disease?

It could be any number of things, given those symptoms, although I certainly had most of them before my underactive thyroid was diagnosed and treated. At one point I could not sit unsupported and I certainly couldn't raise my arms to hang out washing. I also had the 4am waking, which is often a sign that adrenals are stressed by something else out of balance, be it B12 or vitamin D deficiency or a thyroid imbalance.

Your best bet is to get a print out of your last blood test results and post them on here in the Autoimmune section. Someone will be happy to look at them and see what your GP has missed.

Please bear in mind that Fibromyalgia is a symptom, not a diagnosis and if the root cause of your pain can be found, there is a distinct possibility of a complete recovery. Accept a Fibromyalgia diagnosis and you run the risk that everything that happens you in the future will be put down to that.

Good luck!

Thank you. I have my blood test results but I don't really understand them so I will head over to the board you mentioned (didn't even know it existed!)

I'm certainly not hypermobile! Possibly the opposite in fact!

Lyme disease...hmm...I haven't looked at that but unaware of being bitten by anything tick-like.

Yes this has been going on for years. Its just that in the last 18months I finally got so fed up I started looking in to things. I've done a degree part time while working, we were renovating a house etc etc so when I felt awful there was always a 'reason'. Now all those things are over and I still felt crap, I thought it was time to start looking into possible causes, hence where I am now.

Meant to also include anxiety and odd bouts of depression over the years for which I have been on and off citalopram. But I forgot...bloody memory.

DH suspects this all came on after DD was born 11years ago but the symptoms were lost in the new babyness/toddlerness etc.