Chronic back and joints pain!

I can sympathize with you. My muscles tend to get out of shape thru winter. The cold weather hurts as well. I try to exercise but when your hurting it's not fun.

I start out slow with walking and stretching and exercises from the PSIO developed to keep my core muscles strong designed to get me back into shape. After a few weeks I feel the improvement and in a few months I have better muscle tone to hold up my bones. Muscle is what supports our bodies. It takes time and determination. I take Tylenol on some days to get thru the exercises. After time my muscles are stronger and I have a lot less pain. Knowing that we all have limitations to work with and plan the day and time for rest too!

I wouldn't bother wasting your money on a specialist. Any GP worth his salt would have diagnosed you by no with these symptoms. You have to be aware that some GPs are sceptical about fibro despite evidence. Suggest fibro to your GP and if he doesn't diagnose ask to see another GP. 

I recommend Boots calcium, magnesium and vitamin D tablets. I personally take 3x the RDA and it reduces my pain considerably. It can take two months to build up in your system. I recommend hot baths with Epsom salts (magnesium sulphate). Epsom salts are available cheaply on Ebay.

For sleep I take valerian root tablets which I also buy on Ebay. They work fairly well.

i should say that I have recommended magnesium on here regularly and it doesn't seem to work in some cases. This is usually where it has interacted with other medication. Good luck.

By the way a referral to a rheumatologist needn't be expensive. You can insist on being referred to one on NHS. However as a first step get a GP to diagnose.

Nobody using this forum is in any position to be able to diagnose what is wrong with you - you need a doctor.

If you are unhappy with what your doctor has told you, then it is your right to ask for a second opinion without it costing you any money, so why don't you do that?

Hi Karam

I feel for you.  It could be signs of Fibromyalgia, but we all feel similar pains. Best to get confirmation from your GP even get a second opinion.  Your GP should be able to refer you a rheumatologist. 

Get your GP to follow all your concerns, it can become frustrating to keep going to the GP, but if you don't they will not refer you to specialists. They have to rule out many things before a final diagnosis.

People seem to be assuming you are in the UK, if you are then a Rheumatologist is the way forward, if not I can see why it could be expensive but would be worth it. Drs who know FM will know the pressure points for diagnosing fm, reading through your symptoms isn't a good way to diagnose especially by us, we aren't drs. I do Empathise with you, I had the pains for years, long before anybody gave it a name, it was always put down to my spinal and joint damage, the first Rheumatologist I saw diagnosed FM straight away, I think that was 23/24 years ago.

take care, keep warm

Shelagh

xxx

Karam, firstly I sympathise with you for being in pain, it's very life restricting and exhausting and so sorry you have this issue.  To clear up some misconceptions - fibromyalgia, polymyalgia, etc., are generalised terms for syndromes that are difficult to determine causally.  Fibro from the latin, meaning fibrous tissue and myalgia simply meaning muscle pain.  Thus it's a term given when there doesn't appear to be a clear diagnosis of say injury or other known underlying disease.  These types of syndromes are modern phenomena and the jury is out among the medical profession as to whether they (and conditions similar to them like ME) are independent specific medical conditions or just a combination of symptoms lumped together with a made up name in order to satiate those who want a diagnosis.  Very many people with the range of symptoms associated with fibro (ie not just pain, but fatigue, soreness, digestive issues, etc) have them as a result of stress/anxiety/depression and just treating the symptom is useless until the cause is alleviated.  Some symptoms can be attributed to repetitive strain injuries.  Therapy is complex - a combination of antidepressants, SSRI's, pain meds, physio (exercise is essential!), pain meds, etc.  I was told that fibro and polymyalgia are NOT inflammatory conditions as such thus NSAIDs such as naproxen, voltarol, ibuprofen etc are not much use.  I sympathise with you re your doctor's verdict, my own group surgery isn't keen to just label someone with what is ostensibly a made up name for a whole group of symptoms until they can determine cause rather than just treat effect.  I'm happy with that, I don't care what they call what I have, I would rather they try to remove the cause.