Fibromyalgia Symptoms HOME

Hawzy - Welcome to the group. Fibromyalgia (FMS) is a syndrome that is very hard to manage even on a good day.

The symptoms you describe are not unfamiliar to most of us. The key to living with FMS is learning to pace yourself so that you don't have as many days where you are "down and out." Chronic fatigue and fibro-fog are probably the two most despised symtpoms of FMS. The more you push yourself to live "normally" the more often you will probably have these crashes. Through trial and error most of us have learned to say "no" without feeling guilty, listen to our bodies and hoard energy for the things that are truly important.

You have every right to be angry. I'm 55 and I am definitely angry that my life is controlled by this syndrome. I feel like I have been robbed. I have a much younger friend who is also incapacitated by illness and it is doubly hard on her becasue of her age. Grief has stages and anger is one of them. It sounds like you are working your way through all of this pretty well. Depression is very common with FMS. If you find that you can not manage, please ask for help. No shame there.

You don't say whether your doctor has you on any medication. The best person to deal with FMS is a rheumotologist. You can find a fibro-friendly rheumy by going to the National Fibromyalgia Association website. If you register, you can see health care professionals in your state. It is very important that you are on medicaton and not just supplements to manage FMS. I use both. A chronic pain cycle is very hard to break once it has gone on for some time. There is a new drug on the market called Savella which is specifically formulated for FMS. I've seen some very positive remarks on it. You also need medication for sleep. Your muscles can not repair themselves if you are not getting REM sleep. FMS interrupts this sleep cycle which in turn causes more muscle pain. Amitriptyline is commonly prescribed for sleep.

Be sure to take some time to read the imformation in the blue boxes on the lefthand side of this page. This is probably the best website for information on FMS. And, there are a lot of good people on here willing to listen and help. Take care.

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Hi Jen,

I'm also 23 with fibromyalgia... I got diagnosed about a month or two ago. Your chest pain is very familiar to me. I believe it is costochondritis. I've had it twice so far. It usually lasts 2 months. It's extremely painful! There's nothing really to treat it. Try heating pads, or cold pads, which ever works and which ever you can tolerate. When I was diagnosed with costochondritis the first time I went the the hospital 3 or 4 times because it was so painful. One dr thought I had anxiety, the other thought pleursy, and one thought I was crazy. Finally a dr mentioned costochondritis. The only thing they gave me was pain killers and said it should leave in a month or two. They also said it would come and go. I'm not sure what else you have been dx with, but you should get checked for any auto-immune diseases if you haven't already. I have Hashimoto's, Endometriosis, PCOS, Fibro, suspected Lupus, and other stuff that I can't remember right now. Basically my endocrine system and immune system suck. If you need anyone to talk to, I'm here. I know how it is, and though I don't have a child yet but am exploring the possibility, I know how hard it is to be 23 and feel like I'm 120+. I recently had the same thoughts as you a couple of weeks ago. The pain was so unbearable that I felt like I didn't want to go through this the rest of my life. But I knew my husband would blame himself for the rest of his life, and I'd rather carry my burden than pass it on to my family. Like I said, I can chat whenever. Good Luck,
Christa

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