what to do next

When I went to see a rhumatologist he diagnosed me with fibromylagia right away.  I forget how many pressure points there are but when he pushed on various parts of my body it hurt and I think that is the classic way they determine whether it is fibromylagia or not.  The only treatment that worked for me and that is only for sleeping is taking Trazadone at night.  Now I just take advil and that kind of scares me because if you take too many you can get liver damage.  I've tried other stronger pain meds but they always give me a headache, constipation, or dizziness.  I have good days and then other ones that are not good.  I'm so glad I'm retired.  Unfortunately because I don't look different people don't understand what I'm going through.  Hang in there as best you can.

Hi Janet.

My GP sent me to a consultant who deals with Arthiritis,i complained of pain in my wrists an fingers,he took loads of blood tests an a ultrasound scan on my hands an a Emg Test also on my hands this was in Dec 13,on my 1st consultation he asked me if i was getting any pain in my hips or legs an shoulders i said no even though i used to but not enough to complain about,when i went in March he said my results come back clear only showing slight Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in both wrists.i told him i ache all over now to the point where i actually feel like my lehs are dead weights an constant headaches.he proded all my pressure points an i screamed in pain each time,his words were i have classic signs of Fibro an he said he knew in Dec13 but had to wait till all my results came back,i also suffer from Depression another sympton an imsomnia !So ask your GP to refer you to a consultant it might take a few months but you will get answers !Take care an let me know how you grt on !

oh janet i feel your pain..emotionally and physically ! i have had all the MTI's ,i have had EMG which showed a little disturbance in my right lower calf...my Evoke Potentials for MS was repeated and found to be negative....i will not stop bugging my drs. until i have an answer other than fibro....i need to see a rheumatologist as well, i had one when i was diagnosed with Sarcoidosis 7 years ago but they say that has resolved since 2012 so i haven't seen him recently.

Hi, so sorry you are unwell I can empathise though. With Fibromyalgia because they still know so little about it and why it happens let alone how it affects people in different ways, the only way initially to diagnose this illness is to rule out all other possible causes. For me that started as follows:

blood tests - more tests than I've ever had before! This is to rule out things like Lyme disease, Liver disease, Heart and Kidney function, white blood cell count etc.etc.

when everything comes back normal except for one test (don't remember it's name sorry) which indicates that your body is in pain. So when you have eliminated everything else it leave things like Fibromyalgia the obvious suspect.

Next is the Rhumatologist who again reviews your tests, just in case the GP has missed any, then will review how you feel and your symptoms followed by checking those sensitive points on the body as mentioned by others here on this site.

There is no specific test as yet to identify Fibro thus they refer to it as a "syndrome".

Just on another point Janet, some GP's still don't understand or are very unsympathetic to this condition, again because there is no specific one test to prove it is real. Remember you have a right to be referred to a rheumatologist and if your GP won't you may have to find another that will, many GP's like mine are now accepting this as a real illness. It's hard to keep going when you feel in pain all the time and not knowing what the cause is can be really upsetting. 

Hang in there and remember it's your body and you deserve the best. Take care, Paul .