Hi Everyone

[Guest guest]

Hi Everyone, I know I haven't posted in awhile but things have been a

bit hectic around here. Between my son's school and now soccer

practice as well as my goings on it's nuts around here! I know I

probably introduced myself some time back but I'll repeat myself

here....LOL I'm 31, single parent to a 7 yr old firecracker of a

son. I've been having ongoing problems with first my back and then my

knees. I couldn't deal with the knee pain any longer and started

seeing my ortho doctor again the beginning of this year. I have what

they call Patella Alta (high riding kneecap) with both knees, my left

being worse then my right and I started physical therapy around May

or so. Well after the first month of PT my knees were still hurting

and the subject of arthroscopic surgery was brought up more than once

in my visits. Well in June I went back to the doc and he checked my

tender points when checking up on my knee and asked me about my sleep

pattern and such and then diagnosed me with Fibromyalgia. One thing I

should note is that my Ortho doc also has Fibro. Well, I started my

2nd month of PT after this. My therapist basically stated that my

doctor is good at throwing the " F " word around and wasn't quite

convinced of the diagnosis. In July I finished up my 3rd month of PT

and the issues with my knees hadn't improved much. I saw another

physical therapist in NE and he said that my issues with my knees had

to do with a misalignment of my pelvis or something to that effect,

anyhow, he gave me new exercises to do and new techniques for my

therapist to work on with me. Since seeing him the pain in my knees

have gotten a little better and I'm relieved that surgery isn't the

answer. He stated that surgery would make things worse for my knee.

Well, here I am rolling into October and still wondering if yes I do

have Fibromyalgia or no I don't. I live in Central Kansas and so the

family physician's probably aren't as familiar with it but my ortho

doc is because he suffers from it. Well, I've been reading several

books on the subject, the latest one being " Fibromyalgia For Dummies "

and I'm getting an idea of what can trigger it and what the symptoms

are. I have to admit that this has answered some of my

questions......days when I feel like I can't do anything but sleep,

the headaches, my shoulders and neck being so sore and stiff at times

in the morning, not being able to sleep through the night without

taking my Trazodone, etc.

So, now that I have rambled on and on and have written a book here, I

need some advice. Should I seek a 2nd opinion here and that way I

would know for sure, yes I do have Fibromyalgia? I've started doing

some research on Rheumatologists and the closest one is 3 hours from

here. Maybe it would be worth it so that I could set the story

straight.....whenever I mention anything about my Fibro most people

just shrug it off, kind of like I'm making it up or

something......anyhow. Any advice or information you all could offer

would be greatly appreciated and thank you for taking the time to

read through this whole e-mail here. I'm glad to be a member of

this group. I promise to be better at e-mailing more often.

You all take care and look forward to hearing from ya.

Jen in KS