Fellow fibromyalgia sufferers, come over here please, i want to moan

[Saltire]

Becasue no else gets it - how bad the pain can really be.
For the first time in months - since I moved actually, I have a bad flare up, so bad that the walking stick is out,a nd the wrist splints.
I think that a percentage of mine is stress related, I moved out of the frying pan into the fire with mad neighbours. But something else has triggered this flare up. Have been on painkillers for 3 days now with no sign of it abating. It's getting me down again.

I ahve enough going on in my life without a flare up. That's it really

Hello you

How are you today? The GP thinks I might have this, waiting for appointments.

Have you got any plans for today?

I'm 80% better started when I was 26 (now 39). The pains have really subsided I had to work through it, marriage broke down and suffered terrible depression and anxiety.

However,for some mad reason, thank god, I'm so much better.

Changed lifestyle, remarried, better life, hardly any alcohol, had 2 children, sleep routine, now on excercise regime to lose all the weight I gained since being unable to move.

Yes, stress seems to bring it on and I can feel the pains shouting all over when I cant cope. Really I cant cope with stress and would say that there has to be a link here? I feel absolutely exhausted in a stressful situation.

But it does subside and beleiving its a flare up and not going to last will help you.

I was unsure at first as I thought it was ME as I was so tired and in pain. I do suffer from IBS, horrendous nasal congestion, and mental problems (only slight).

Please dont bother with an alternative medicines, food bans etc. Its all rubbish, yes, good diet, plenty of fish, eat less, loads of excercise, and easy hobbies. I'd say a happier life makes a difference.

Thanks for replies. I've had mine for years but it wasn't diagnosed tilll 2005/6.
I've had doctors who say it doesn't exsist,a nd ha dothers who have been fab.
When we lived in Hampshire I had it every day for 3 years.
Then we moved, and the stress was removed and, while i still had flare up they were bearable ones.

I woke up this morning with pain still in my feet, but it had gone from my legs,I wonder if I ahve a touch of arthritis too as my knee and ankle joints are sore

Do either of you get swollen digits- toes, fingers during a flare up in that area? My toes look like little sausages today

I haven't noticed swollen digits but I do get a lot of pain in my fingers, wrists and arms.

Dont think swelling is due to the fibro.

i have had ME for 8 years this month.
quite often i am in pain and very stiff and have swollen fingers and toes.i don't take any painkillers as i don't think they work with ME - do you take anything??Had peptic ulcer few yrs ago so can't take anything that wd make that flare up again.

Saltire, I went to a Rheumatologist yesterday with suspected Lupus and was told it was almost certainly Fibro. Toes also resemble sausages sometimes! I'm going back in 3 months after a load of tests just to confirm I don't have Lupus or Rheumatoid Arthritis but the consultant is 99% sure it's Fibro. He touched my pressure points and I was yelping like a mad woman, especially the one in the middle of my spine - I've never liked being touched there - made myself unpopular during a massage course as the girl thought my spine bending away from her was a criticism of her technique :(

I'm currently taking a combination of codeine, anti-inflammatory drugs, paracetamol and vit D (have a deficiency) but I have to review this with my GP today. Been off work now for 3 weeks, sick note ends today. Got the joy of trying to explain to work that it's most likely not Lupus and then trying to explain that it's Fibro instead and what that means. I think DP thinks that because it's not Lupus (which is good news, obviously) it's somehow not as serious as before, as great as it is that my immune system is ok I'm still horribly fatigued and still in a lot of pain and discomfot :(

Spin - sounds similar to me - I dismissed Fibro as the pressure points didn't feel too bad when I did it - when the Rheumatologist did it it was v different!

With me I feel really fatigued, pains in joints and muscles. For diagnosis you need 11 of the 18 pressure points to hurt/be tender and 3 months or more of pain in all four quadrants of the body. My worst areas are the knees and ankles for lower joint pain with pains in the thigh and calf muscles, particularly around the joints and cold feet which tingle and hurt. In the upper body the joints in fingers and hands hurt and my wrists and elbows hurt. The upper arm muscles hurt - 6 months ago I worked in a Butchers carrying trays with multiple kilos of meat, now I can barely carry my shopping :(.

The pain varies, without the meds it is all over and crushing. Sometimes it's focused in one area such as a particular limb or half a limb. When walking I'm stiff and the leg muscles quickly hurt alongside my knees and ankles. It varies between a dull ache, shooting pains and a burning sensation (this is around the knees and my thigh muscles).

I have been diagnosed with FM. Feel gutted.

That sounds awful, spinspinsugar. I sometimes have trouble using a spoon properly.

I can't use tin openers anymore, to be fair I'm dyspraxic so cutlery etc was always tricky but now it's painful as well as confusing to co-ordinate :(

And the diclofenac I'm taking is giving me some horrendous wind! I'm scared to go back to work in case I embarrass myself

Sorry you're feeling bad Saltire.

I have spoken to you before when my mum was diagnosed with Lupus. I know she is definately worse when under stress.

She has just another flare up after being fine for quite a while - has coincided with the threat of her being made redundant (although she was getting to the stage where sometimes work is too difficult, she is really worried about money).

I dont suppose any of you know whether she would be able to claim incapacity benefit.

Sorry you're feeling bad Saltire.

I have spoken to you before when my mum was diagnosed with Lupus. I know she is definately worse when under stress.

She has just another flare up after being fine for quite a while - has coincided with the threat of her being made redundant (although she was getting to the stage where sometimes work is too difficult, she is really worried about money).

I dont suppose any of you know whether she would be able to claim incapacity benefit.

I can't find my thread so adding to this. I am in a lot of pain today and it is different from before. Is this how it is going to be for me from now on?