Pain

Last week I was finally diagnosed with fibromyalgia after 9 years of suffering. This is both a blessing and a curse. I had been going to my family doctor ever since I was born. She could not find any reason for my pain and all the tests said I was perfectly healthy. She decided she would rather believe it was all in my head instead of digging deeper for the cause of my pain. Earlier this year, I finally got the courage to find a new doctor. After just one visit, she sent me to a rheumatologist because of the pain and because my rheumatoid factor was extremely high. At the end of my visit with the rheumatologist, he told me that it was pretty clear I had fibromyalgia. He was astonished at how long I had been living with this without an answer. He did do some blood work as well as fibro would not explain my high RF. Luckily, my results came back negative. But he does want me to come in every 6 months to a year to check for rheumatoid arthritis. He found no evidence of it, but he just wants to check on it so that if it does pop up, he can catch it early and try to slow it down. For my fibro, we are starting out small. He upped the dosage on my anti-depressant and I need to exercise every day. The exercise is going to be difficult for me. The past two weeks I've been more fatigued than usual. Here is a list of what I have been dealing with the past 9 years:

• Chronic pain
• IBS
• Depression
• Migraines
• Anxiety
• Cysts in my ovaries that occur every month (I might have endometriosis or PCOS)
• Rash that doctors couldn't explain, now receded to my arms and no longer itches
• All over muscle/joint/bone pain
• Excessive sweating
• Extreme fatigue
• Nausea
• Stomach and bowel pain
• Hip pain
• Chest pain
• Redness on my face and chest like rosacea
• Feeling unwell and run down
• Weight gain (I'm almost double the weight I was 4 years ago. Yikes!)
• Dry eyes (thought this was due to my birth control, but have been off it since November and still the same)
• Difficulty falling asleep (restless leg syndrome)
• Increased irritability
• Mood swings
• Sensitivity to cold, light, and some smells
• Sensitive teeth
• Tingling in my arms and legs
• Fibro fog
• Easily bruised, but not anemic
• Swelling in my hands and feet
• Joints not only in pain, but pop when I use them (but no sign of arthritis)
• Unable to concentrate

It is really difficult to do things every day. Even on my good days I was not pain free, the pain was just more manageable. I think the thing that hurts the worst is that others cannot see our pain. We look fine on the outside. I wish you all the best.