When is it NOT Fibro???

In the last 15 years I've struggled with all kinds of pains and symptoms; running from doctor to doctor and in the process driving myself crazy with uncertainty...

I bounced from psychiatrists to gynecologists, to dermatologists and internal medicine doctors, doing all sorts of expensive & unnecessary labs, going to sleep therapy, doing special diets, and also alternative homeopathic medicine, hoping to find solutions for the wide variety of health issues that ailed me including many “secondary” symptoms such as the following:

Hair loss, ridges & brittle nails, dry itchy skin & scalp, dry eyes & mouth, painful vulva, painful sexual intercourse, recurring yeast infections, urinary frequency & urgency, heart palpitations, jaw joint pain & clicking, severe allergies, irritable bowel syndrome, arch or heel pain, difficulty making normal calculations, memory problems, sleep disturbances, anxiety and panic attacks, mood swings, light headedness, extra sensitive to bright lights & loud sounds, change in taste & smell, ringing in the ears, muscle spasms, sudden shooting pains, tingling sensation in fingers or toes, weight gain and more…

After endless tears and hundreds of dollars in lab tests, NO ONE could really pinpoint the source of my problems and the solution to everything was “take these pills”….

But after being diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and learning to live with it, my question now becomes this:

How do we know when something is NOT fibro-related?

When is it time to go to the doctor to have something checked out and when is it ok to tell ourselves it’s just a “bad” fibro day…?! When should we be concerned about a new symptom and when should we just ride it out?

I want to share the story of two fibromite friends of mine, each with a different attitude & outcome to the same illness.

FRIEND #1

A good friend of mine who suffers from fibromyalgia had recently developed a deep pain in the left shoulder. As with most things, she wrote it off as fibro and just took her pain meds, used heating pads and electric massagers to help relieve some of the pain. Almost a year later, the shoulder was in such poor condition she could no longer lift or swing the arm in any direction, so she went to see an orthopedic surgeon. It turned out she had Bursitis. In addition to that, the joint would be needing surgery soon AND on top of everything else, the spine in the upper back & neck area was severely misaligned and needed immediate chiropractic service!!!

FRIEND #2

Another friend of mine who had recently been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, was still in the “denial” stages of the illness and could not accept that all the different aches and pains were caused by fibro. He insisted that something wasn't right and he was determined to find the real cause of his sickness... He came back with many different answers, but none that would completely address all the symptoms he was experiencing. One of the doctor's told him he may have Big Cell disease (I've never heard of it!); then he was told he had some kind of Auto Immune problem but they weren't sure if it was AI Hepatitis; Another doctor told him it was a Virus, like a dormant herpes complex, and another doctor told him it was a low testosterone problem and would need hormonal therapy. Yet another doctor told him that all the manifestations of the physical symptoms were purely Psychological!

In the first example, Friend #1 was sure that everything was related to Fibromyalgia! She just coped with it as best as she knew how until the shoulder joint deteriorated and needed surgery! But how could she have known it was a separate issue?

In the second example, Friend #2 had a whole different approach to everything that was happening to him. In his mind, each distinct ailment was a separate medical issue in need of a different doctor. In his case, it took 8 doctors and 4 specialists to give him all these treatments & medications but none of them ever considered the possibility of fibromyalgia.

It's interesting that my 2^nd friend went back to his rheumatologist to show him the long list of drugs & therapies the other doctors had prescribed for him. The rheumatologist went over each and every one of those diagnoses, explaining why they were mistakenly given and why they would not work!

We all know that doctors can only offer their professional opinion but they too, have limitations in their knowledge of fibromyalgia but also have limitations to how much patience & understanding they can give. If we constantly complain about all the little stuff, will they really listen when we have something huge to address???

In the last decade I've formed my own little philosophy about fibro and this helps me from expecting too much from others:

Fibromyalgia is like Art ---Everyone Sees it With a Different Eye!

And for this reason, I'd like to share a few of my personal guidelines to telling the difference between what Is Fibro and When It's Not Fibro!

Take a look at this chart and print it out if necessary. You should acquaint yourself with all the “related” symptoms that can accompany Fibromyalgia. If you experience a new symptom that does not fall in any of these categories or persists for longer than three weeks, please see your doctor as soon as possible!

*note: No part of this post is to be used as medical advice. This is not a professional treatment nor a diagnostic tool. All written portions of this blog are based solely on my personal opinion & experience of this chronic illness.

Chronic Fatigue & Fibromyalgia Revealed!

Symptoms & Syndromes Linked to Fibromyalgia

NEUROLOGICAL

Paresthesia: numbness or tingling (non-dermatomal).
Headaches: tension & migraine.
Neurogenic inflammation: inflammatory sensation (rashes, itching, inflammation) initiated by nerves. A discrete, localized inflammatory response which doesn’t activate the immune system or show up on tests.
Cognitive: difficulty with concentration & short-term memory.

SENSORY

Auditory: low frequency, sensorineural hearing loss; decreased painful sound threshold.
Vestibular: exaggerated nystagmus (involuntary rapid movement of the eyeball), dizziness, vertigo.
Ocular: impaired function of smooth muscles used for focus as well as skeletal muscles used for tracking.

CARDIAC PULMONARY

Mitral valve prolapse—a benign cardiac condition; 75% incidence in FM patients. Disorder may be due to neurological hyperactivity rather than a defect in the heart valve.
Heart palpitations.
Non-cardiac chest pain which may simulate cardiac disorder.
Abnormal smooth muscle tone in the muscles surrounding the bronchi of the lungs.

GASTROINTESTINAL

Heartburn.
Irritable bowel syndrome.
Esophageal dysmotility: objective abnormalities in smooth muscle functioning & tone in the esophagus; 40-70% incidence in FM patients.

GENITOURINARY

Painful menstruation.
Increased urinary frequency & urgency.
Increased incidence of interstitial cystitis.
Vulvar vestibulitis or vulvodynia: painful vulvar region & painful sexual intercourse.

MISCELLANEOUS

Joint hypermobility.
Temporomandibular joint disorder: problems with abnormal tone in muscles around the joint—not because of abnormalities in the joint itself.
Plantar arch or heel pain.

*Summarized from the book, “Taking Charge of Fibromyalgia,” p. 9.

Fibromyalgia Natural Cure!