Fibromyalgia Introduction and Resources

The past 8 or so months have been hard. It started with extreme fatigue. I've always had trouble sleeping so I didn't think too much of it at first. I just chalked it up to not sleeping enough. But when I would wake up and not feel rested, no matter how much sleep I had gotten I knew something was off. I have trouble falling asleep, and when I finally am able to, I have trouble staying asleep. I wake up multiple times a night. I have nightmares as well as waking up drenched in sweat most nights. Then about 2 months ago I started getting really bad pain. It started in my knees, feet, and legs. Then progressed to my shoulders, arms, hip, and sometimes my back too. Since the pain started, I have noticed or developed new symptoms each week it seems (sensitivity to loud noises, hair loss, vertigo, and more). These past 2 days I have experienced what I'm told is called Fibro Fog. I have never in my life felt so unlike myself. It's extremely discouraging. I feel like my brain isn't processing things as fast as it normally does. I will forget what I'm about to say, forget why I walked into a room, almost put things where they don't belong, etc. I have gone to the doctor many times in these past 2 months. She believes it to be Fibromyalgia but says it could also be an auto immune disease. I am scheduled to have x-rays and meet with a rheumatologist next week for more tests. Hopefully I'll know soon what is going on with me. I recently have started doing a lot of research on Fibromyalgia, and understand that for some people it takes years to get a real diagnosis! I'm so sorry to hear that some of you (if not most of you...hopefully not all?) have had to wait so long to get a diagnosis. I feel like in just the past 2 months since the pain has started my progression has been very fast.

What was your guys' progression like? Was it slow or just all at once it seemed? And has anyone found anything that really works/helps for fibro fog besides medication? 

Thank you. I hope you all are having a better day today!

Candis 

Hi, I'm 43 years old.  I have finally got my diagnosis of fibromyalgia which I've been suffering with since I was a child. It's difficult to say what my symptoms actually are as I also have narcolepsy with cataplexy.  So tiredness, brain fog, poor memory and fragmented sleep at night are symptoms of both.  When I was a child, I used to get dull ache in my ankles which would travel up my legs and the same in my wrists, pain travelling up to my elbows.  I started getting migraines when I was 10 years old and since that age have suffered recurring bladder irritation/infection.  By my 20's, the pain had spread to my sacrum and my hips felt like they were giving way and pain would frequently run down the back of my legs to the soles of my feet.  In my 30's I noticed that I had incredibly tender areas on my body which if were poked, would really hurt, this included lumbar region, sacrum, shoulders and neck.  Now in my 40'S, I have widespread painful areas including my scalp.  4 weeks ago my lymph glands came up in my collarbone and groin right side and the pain all down the right side of my body, from head to ankle as well as hot flushes had me convinced I had some bad infection.  My GP could feel my glands were swollen and ordered full bloods, checking everything.  The results came back with no hint of infection or inflammation so I was given diagnosis of fibromyalgia as apparently my flare up was classic symptoms.