Possible fibro? (Early stages)

surfnode

Regular Member

Joined : Apr 2005

Posts : 30

Posted 4/17/2021 5:44 PM (GMT -6)

Hello there, hope you’re all having a good weekend 😊 and stying safe.

Back at the end of January I was suffering with extreme fatigue, mild body aches and not feeling refreshed from sleep no matter how long I slept for. I had full blood tests and doctor told me I had dangerously low levels of folate and was prescribed medicated folic acid for a month - this did help however once my prescription had ended I was instructed to take over the counter folic acid tablets which were at a lower dosage.

Unfortunately these lower dose tablets didn’t help and over the past month I have noticed a decline in my health and much worse this time than in January.

I had another appointment with my doctor last week and having gone through my symptoms with him, he feels I could be suffering with Fibromyalgia. So he ordered another full blood test which I had on Friday and I’m due to get the results and talk next steps / referral on Wednesday.

So what symptoms do I have?

- extreme fatigue which seems to be worst in afternoon, evening snd night time.
- tiredness, not feeling refreshed in morning even if in bed 8-10 hours (I feel like it’s been an issue for years!!)
- body aches, sometimes unbearable particularly at night time and when lying down - specifically in my mid to lower legs, burning throbbing cramping pains. Similar pain in arms, bruising achy pain in elbows and tingling/aches in fingers.
- Constant need to want to pee, this is worst when lying down, possibly a UTI - I have this as I’m writing this post (trying to get my mind off it!)
- headaches
- ibs flare ups - already had IBS, am gluten free and follow low fodmap diet
- struggling to concentrate on work tasks on computer even when working from home
- forgetting I’ve done something and do it again
- being unaware that I’ve done something
- been feeling quite cold and having to wrap up, up to recently I’ve been wearing shorts and tee shirt around the house before feeling Ill (U.K.).
- generally feeling anxious

That’s it really - thoughts? 🤔

Thanks for reading.
Chris

Sherrine

Forum Moderator

Joined : Apr 2005

Posts : 18356

Posted 4/18/2021 8:23 AM (GMT -6)

HI, Chris, and welcome! We have all been on this journey. You feel lousy. You are tired all the time. You can’t remember your own name and then add the chronic pain issues and a whole bunch of other weird things. Surely your doctor will know what is going on so you set up an appointment. You are sent for a myriad of tests and guess what the tests say? You are the picture of health! We go from doctor to doctor trying to get help. We even had some female members sent to psychiatrists! I honestly don’t think that would happen with male patients. (Hormones get a lot of blame for things with middle age women.). Nope, it is not all in your head like some members have been told!

Fibromyalgia affects the muscles, tendons, and ligaments. We also have fatigue...some with extreme fatigue and others with tiredness. We definitely are not all the same. Cognitive memory problems are another hallmark of fibro. So from what you described, yes, I think you could have fibro. But I’m not a doctor. Let’s see what your doctor says

Hopefully the blood work your doctor just took is to rule out other illnesses that have many of the same symptoms as fibro...illnesses like Lyme disease and lupus. There is not blood test for fibro so the other things need to be ruled out before a diagnosis of fibro is given.

It seems a board certified Rheumatologist is a good doctor to go to since they deal with muscles, tendons, and ligaments and pain is one of the biggest issues with fibro. No matter what type of doctor you use, be sure they are board certified. You can check doctors out at vitals.com. There are excellent doctors out there and then there are some not so excellent. I tell members that 50% of the doctors graduated in the lower half of their class and their’s could be one of the . So choose your doctors wisely.

All the cramping could be caused by low vitamin D3 or low potassium or low calcium or low CoQ10. I take all of these supplements and don’t have the cramping I used to. If you take a statin drug, this can deplete your body of CoQ10 and that causes leg cramping. I try a more natural way of treating fibro. I use ibuprofen with food, Tylenol, vitamin D3, magnesium malate, and a muscle relaxer that has made a significant difference in my pain. It’s called Robaxin (methocarbamol). I also keep moving and focus on other things and not how I feel. And I keep a positive attitude as much as possible. It sure beats being miserable.

Be sure to read Fibro 101...the first thread on the forum. There are links to good info about fibro and you will learn a lot there. There is a good link about how to maintain a positive attitude when you have chronic pain. This really does help a lot.

I’m looking forward to getting to know you better. Don’t hesitate to ask questions because we are here to help you. Hope to hear more from you soon.

Sherrine

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