In 2009 I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. Living with fibromyalgia hasn’t been an easy journey either. I was so scared because I had no idea what was wrong with me. I felt like I got run over by a truck and wearing clothes hurt. Before my diagnosis, I visited the hospital several times, and they still couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me. So, I became my own advocate. I kept researching until I found doctors that believed me and helped me during this hard time.
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I was diagnosed almost 40 years ago. I don't really remember a lot, but there were a lot of appointments. My mom found an article about fibromyalgia, so I took it took it to my doctor. I was lucky to have found a doctor who believed, because at the time fibromyalgia was still being thought of as a hysterical illness. I have had to let my husband do most of the housework, especially vacuuming and dishes. I watch that I don't overdo anything and have…
When I was a baby I was diagnosed with roseola, an infection that causes a fever and rash. During my childhood I had many other illnesses, too, I caught chicken pox multiple times. I was always catching something. At age 24 I had my first child and during my pregnancy I started getting severe pain in my sciatica and hip, but my doctors chalked it up to being pregnant. Two years after my daughter’s birth I was in a minor accident that gave me whiplash…
I worked as a nurse at a nursing home for about 10 years. Unfortunately I rarely had help lifting sometimes very large patients. I suppose this continuous type of work finally weakened my back. One evening I was rolling a rather heavy patient toward me when something in my lower lumbar region popped. I felt it and heard my back crack. I didn’t think I needed to go to the hospital but the head nurse sent me home with ice. However as the evening progressed,…
About 14 years ago when I described my symptoms to my primary physician he suggested I stop complaining. After all, I wasn't getting any younger and he said the discomfort I was describing was attributed to aging – so I should grin and bear it. I did just that for several years, until I found a rheumatologist who ran all sorts of tests and concluded that I had fibromyalgia. I was hoping that my retirement might bring me some relief but instead in some ways…
Thirty years ago, when I was 30 years old I woke up one morning completely numb from head to toe. My husband did not believe me. Two years later in 1987 I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia by a rheumatologist. I now also have cerebellar atrophy, diabetes, high blood pressure, COPD, cirrhosis (not from alcohol – from 20 years of 22 or more medications), arthritis, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, Raynaud's syndrome, heart PVCs (44,000 too many per day), basel cell carcinoma, melanoma, etc., etc.
I was diagnosed in 2008, but I think I have had fibromyalgia all my life, or at least bits and pieces. I began to notice something was wrong around 2000 – 2001, when I just never felt right. During this time, I lost my dad and got divorced after 23 years of marriage. When I would go to the doctor and tell him I wasn't right, each time he would tell me it must be this or that, but never mentioned fibromyalgia. It went on…
I had severe pain between my spine and abdomen, like I had been hit by a truck, with radiation to all surrounding areas. An x-ray, CT scan and bone scan, showed a large mass but the doctors could not decide if it was a tumor or inflammation. It turned out to be severe inflammation of my spine, which spread to the back of my abdomen – within weeks, the symptoms were affecting my whole skeleton, including my ribs. Through process of elimination I was diagnosed…
The first time I experienced fibromyalgia symptoms was in 1995, and I had numbness and tingling in my left leg. The next day it had spread to my right leg, then the day after it was like an explosion – I had terrible pains all throughout my body. I went to the doctor and it took nine months to get the diagnosis of fibromyalgia though they had another name for it then. They put me on Naproxen, which would eventually cause me to have a…
At a very young age, maybe 7 or 8, I remember my mother telling me not to complain so much. My legs would hurt and I would have stomach aches. I remember thinking, if she could just be in my body for a few minutes, she wouldn't think I was complaining! Life went on, I got married, had children and competed in fitness competitions. Years later a doctor prescribed Vioxx for my constant pain and told me I needed to stop working out. I finally…
While I was serving in the military, I fractured my left femur and both of my tibiae. My fractures healed, but the pain that I was experiencing did not subside. I was diagnosed with CRPS/RSD, which is a nerve disorder that was caused by the trauma/injuries. A few years later I developed additional symptoms. I saw a pain management specialist, and after we went over my history and symptoms and did a trigger points examination, he diagnosed me with fibromyalgia.
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