Hi all, I am mummy to my DD who is 4 and a half now. I have suffered with lower back problems since my early teens, and had about five rounds of physio throughout my life (I'm 25, so on average once every two to three years since I was 13). My pregnancy was hard on my body as I'm very short. I started suffering with sciatica at around seven months pregnant, had a loooong labour and continue to suffer with sciatica until two years ago when my back finally gave up and I slipped a disc (I should add I'm pretty sure it was over doing it at the gym without a trainer for guidance which was the straw that broke the camels back). After three weeks on a LOT of painkillers and intense physio, I was pretty much fine again, and have been fine since, until three weeks ago...
...I have always gone through periods of extreme tiredness, feeling as though my limbs were like lead weights, and that even the smallest of tasks felt like climbing Everest. Doctors have always fobbed me off for one reason or another (puberty, pregnancy, post natal depression, bog standard depression etc), and I have always eventually come out of these episodes and been okay again for weeks/months at a time. I went back to work a year ago, and have been doing hard, manual work in kitchens. My workplace recently begun lumbering me with 48 hr weeks, which was not only hard on my personal life (not seeing my OH/family/friends difficulty in finding childcare etc), but extremely tough on my body, and I quickly slipped back into one of these episodes again. At first I tried to fight through it, believing it to just be exhaustion, keen to not make a fuss. However I began to experience symptoms I had not encountered before, namely widespread pain throughout my entire body 24/7, and my limbs feeling as though I have just finished an intense 2 hour workout constantly. Eventually I caved and saw my GP, who examined me and concluded one of three possible options: A) I need my spine re aligning as all my discs have been damaged B) I have Fibromyalgia or C) I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. She believes me to be far too young to be coming back to the doctor with the same set of problems worsening each time, so she signed me off for 10 days, prescribed me Tramadol and Diazepam, and referred me for an MRI scan. I am rather shocked and scared at the possible severity of my situation, especially as I have no other serious illnesses or conditions, and was hoping that anyone who has been through anything similar could offer me some friendly words. Sorry to ramble on :) x