Guest guest Posted June 13, 2005 Report Share Posted June 13, 2005 Jane, I wonder from reading your post if you have chronic fatigue syndrome instead. Did they do the tender point check on you? If you have fibro, you are supposed to have 11 out of 18 tender points. CFS is very similar and includes achiness, stiffness but the #1 complaint is usually the fatigue, with pain second. FMS #1 complaint is usually pain, with fatigue 2nd. Everyone's pain level is dif. so if you have fibro you can't compare it with anyone else's pain. 4 people with fibro will probably have 4 dif. "stories" of their life-varied pain levels, varied pain locations, varying fatigue levels, lifestyle changes, medication needs, therapies that work/don't work etc. Hope being in this group helps you sort this out and gives you support. The people here are just great and have been invaluable to me. ~Charity Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 13, 2005 Report Share Posted June 13, 2005 Jane, I wonder from reading your post if you have chronic fatigue syndrome instead. Did they do the tender point check on you? If you have fibro, you are supposed to have 11 out of 18 tender points. CFS is very similar and includes achiness, stiffness but the #1 complaint is usually the fatigue, with pain second. FMS #1 complaint is usually pain, with fatigue 2nd. Everyone's pain level is dif. so if you have fibro you can't compare it with anyone else's pain. 4 people with fibro will probably have 4 dif. "stories" of their life-varied pain levels, varied pain locations, varying fatigue levels, lifestyle changes, medication needs, therapies that work/don't work etc. Hope being in this group helps you sort this out and gives you support. The people here are just great and have been invaluable to me. ~Charity Thank you for the information .... I will certainly look into this. The fatigue is definitely my worse symptom, it really depresses me that I am not the active person I once was. I was always a 'morning' person, could get up at 6am to take the dog out. Now I barely even wake up before noon .... then I am still tired. This just isn't me. I really think the hospital said fibromyalgia because it was the first thing that came into their head, and they wanted to shunt me back to my own doctor. If tests prove negative, I think hospitals just don't want to know, well that is the case here in the UK, don't know about the US and other countries. They didn't do the tender points thing you mentioned, they just tested my general strength ... by asking me to push against their arm etc. At that time I was getting aches in my shoulders, neck, upper back and arms, more stiffness than actual pain, although I know I do have a high pain threshold. The pain I am now getting in my ankle is there all the time but a lot worse if I walk far on it. That's my next doctor's trip!! What do I do now though? The doctor is well meaning but only sees me as anxious / depressed and I think she sees the fatigue merely as a symptom of depression, and I cannot get through to her that I actually get depressed BECAUSE of the fatigue!!! She seems at a loss, sympathetic but only offers antidepressants or counselling, both of which I have tried, and found very unhelpful. Any ideas what I can ask my doctor to do? Cheers everyone. Jane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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