I am brand new to this group. I am also 40, a full time teacher and mom to a special needs child who is almost 5. I was told in 1999 that I had CFS. I was exhausted all the time and my body ached. I ended up going on short term disability and quitting my job. I gradually got better and my symptoms went into some kind of remission. About 2 years ago, I started noticing things again that I remembered previously like loss of mental focus and tiredness. I ignored it for a long time, but when the pain started again and I started having some tingling, I went to my regular doctor. He sent me to a rheumatologist who did bloodwork and x-rays to rule out Lupus and Rheumatoid Arthiritis. It turned out that I did have osteoarthiritis beginning in my neck, back and knees, but no lupus or RA. She said I probably had fibromyalgia based on my symptoms, although she didn't do a tender points exam on me. I went back later becaue my hands started throbbing all the time. She did nerve conduction tests to see if it was carpal tunnel or something similar. The test really hurt me, but showed nothing. She still said I probably had it. I don't think so. I guess its fibro. My neck and sholdders hurt all the time. My legs ache. My hands throb and sometimes it feels like a wasp is stinging me on my back and my big toe. I have terrible brain fog at times and now my right upper arm starts burning and tingling and it moves up to my neck and jaw area. Sometimes my scalp tingles and tightens like if I ahd my ahir in a ponytail, but I don't. Then it goes away. Sometimes my muscles in my legs start tightening into a charlie horse for no reason while I am sitting or even just walking around. I saw my rheumatologist again ans she kept me on the feldene she has me on and also put me on a low does of tramadol. She also mentioned that I shold see a neuro for the brain fog, but otherwise, she seems really clueless about fibro and only seems to relate it to basic muscle pain and fatigue. I mentioned that my muscles ahd started doing weird things(the buring, stinging) and she didn't even ask for elaboration. I did ask her about acupuncture and chiropractors for the pain , and she sait that owuldn't be a bad idea. Itfeels like I am doing most of the suggesting and all she is doing is pushing pain killers. I am so frustrated with people who don;t understand and don't want to understand what this feels like. My husband is not very supportive. He just thinks its no big deal and people at work jsut note that I seem to feel bad all the time. It makes me feel like a hypochondriac. Than, when you start listing the symptoms you have, it seems even more so. Sorry to ramble on so, but I am frustrated and I don't really have anyone to talk about this with right now. How do all of you handle all this?
Thanks for listening.