First and foremost, Hello, how are you all? Now, onto business. For about two years I have been experiencing some mysterious pains and discomforts. But, just yesterday I found out that these pains and discomforts are the result of fibromyalgia. Great news, right? Kind of, because I finally have a diagnosis to what is wrong with me, But, the thing is that this diagnosis doesn't sit completely well with me. Don't get me wrong, I have been doing medical tests upon the request of my primary doctor, and all these labs came out fine. So, this doctor, the one that disgnosed me was going by that. But, the thing is they only met me once, which was yesterday. They looked at my labs, ask me what I was experiencing, ask me to do some joint movement, and that's it... I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. I wasn't instructed to have a follow up appointment, either. But, they did tell me to make an appintment with my primary doctor, just in case they want to run any more tests. But, isn't that what this doctor is for? They did give me medication, so that is good, I guess. I just feel so unfinished with this part of my life, and the diagnosis feels so anticlimactic. It feels like it's downright a misdiagnosis, like I have something else wrong. Not particularly something worse, but just something else. It doesn't help that prior to my diagnosis I was told that fibromyalgia is basically a diagnosis that doctors give just to give a diagnosis, because they don't know what else to do. Who does that? Really? Another thing, this doctor told me that fibromyalgia often occurs to middle aged women. I'm a woman, sure. But, I'm not middle aged. So, should that say something? And she said that it basically occurs due to depression. Really? Don't get me wrong, I suffer from depression due to my life experiences. But, never has my depression affected me physically. But, all of a sudden for the past two years it has? Hard to believe. My questions are... should I be one of those patients and ask for futher testing? Not with the doctor that diagnosed me, but with my primary doctor. I don't even know what test to ask for, though. I don't even know if I should tell my primary doctor that I disagree with that doctor's diagnosis. Should I admit this to them? Basically, what should I do, accept this illness or keep looking for answers? It's been almost two years. I'm exhausted, so I'm glad I finally have a diagnosis. Finally I can put an end to this part of my life. But, the diagnosis doesn't sit right with me. I never experienced this before, normally I listen and accept whatever a doctor is telling me. Please, help me.
i say try the meds 4 a while & see if they help. if u don't feel better in say 6 weeks then talk 2 ur primary care doc or the doc who prescribed the meds & take it from there.
I agree with lolli, try the meds, then go from there. Your diagnosis is not a trivial one, you obviously feel it that. Go online, talk to others, you will feel better, understanding your diagnosis is a good idea, but! You must take your meds!
I agree, I do feel it's trivial. Being told that fibromyalgia is basically a disorder that is given because doctors don't know what else to do is not comforting to know. It almost sounds like they were telling me that fibromyalgia is fake. They did use air quotes when they were referring to fibromyalgia. Now, I do believe that people who suffer from fibromyalgia actually are experiencing what they're experiencing. So, it's not the fault of the patient that has fibromyalgia or people who are experiencing similar symtoms. It's the fault of the doctors that keep diagnosing people with fibromyalgia, if it really is fake... that is. Which I don't know if it is or isn't. I don't know anything about fibromyalgia. I'm as ignorant as ignorant can be. I think if this person didn't tell me this prior to my diagnosis, I would have been fine. But, it's upsetting to know what I was told, and not know for sure if it's true or not. Because I don't want no fake diagnosis because you don't know what to do with me. I didn't even realize that doctors can do this. I still don't believe it, but at the same time I don't know. Lol, this is just too much.
Labs won't diagnose Fibromyalgia, they will point out that it's not other things that produce similar symptoms. The only true FM test is a pressure point test... some 18 or so points on your body that everybody with FM will react to that would not bother people that don't have FM... My primary care Dr only tried about 9 and decided to stop "torturing" me. Other doctors in the past, going back years, had hinted at FM but nobody wanted to actually state that as a real diagnosis, but all the labs said it wasn't anything else. So, Yeah... I have FM. The approved drugs for FM, except for one, are antidepressants. I don't agree that they should be prescribed for anything, especially FM. There is one called Lyrica that is a GABA drug that's not an antidepressant. I was on it for awhile, it's okay but didn't create a night and day difference. Right now I'm on Gabapentin which is similar... cheaper (sort of). Nothing actually make it go away, which is another clue as to whether you have FM or not is nothing really make it better, just manageable. Two very important things when you have FM... Get good sleep, difficult to do, but necessary. Second is to keep moving, no matter how much it hurts, keep moving.
Thanks, Tyson. I think I just need to find more people with fibromyalgia. Instead of people who basically tell me it's fake or one of those 'last resort' type of illnesses. On another note, that's also what I heard, that there is no real cure for it. It's just a matter of managing fibromyalgia. Finding that out pissed me off. I have other medical conditions, that basically are diagnosis, treatment, and you're good. Maybe you might suffer from secondary illness because of it or some chronic illness because of it, but the intital illness is under control. But, now, there is this... fibromyalgia. I just have to wrap my head around it. You know the five stages of death, but you're not dying... you just have a nifty medical condition that you found out about. Pooie. It's just poo.
The whole "fake illness" concept pisses me off... and for years it would be doctors saying that but many of them are starting to come around. Ironic that they start coming around when there's approved drugs for it now.... It's far from fake when you are going through it. The other one that always got to me... for years it was "fake" AND it was only "fat females in their 40's" that had it, the "3 F's"... I'm not any of those. The idea was they were just lazy and making it up.... and it was doctors that were saying that too. Note, two of the three "approved" drugs are antidepressants, so they are still approaching it as "all in the head". It's still considered a syndrome because they don't know what causes it. If they ever find a cause it will become known as a disease. If it's a disease they will try to find a "cure".... Modern medical "cures" are generally maintenance drugs if it's not something surgery can fix. In the mean time it's basically an afterthought for most doctors/pharma. You will want to look into exercise, sleep and diet to help manage it on your own.
Thanks again. That's what this doctor that diagnosed me said, that mostly middle aged women who are depressed get fibromyalgia. Yea, I'm a female. And I always suffered from depression. But, I'm not middle aged. So, it was odd to me that she said that. Another thing that was odd about this doctor is that I think she was more interested in my other medical conditions, one being hydrocephalus. I was there for my mysterious pain and discomfort, but she kept asking me about my other medical conditions. I even think she asked me if my mother did drugs while pregnant with me and as a result I got hydrocephalus. But, I'm not 100% sure if she asked that because she asked me in such a casual tone and in doctor talk. I'm pretty sure she asked me that, though. It's kind of hard to miss such an accusation, lol. I just felt so... cheated with her. I don't know if I'm making any sense.
I'm going to take the medication first and if there is no changes I'll go to my primary doctor, because I feel more comfortable with her.
i don't see where it would hurt anything to tell the primary doc that you're not sure about the diagnosis. i would research the hell out of fibromyalgia first though.
Any doctor I've ever been to would never give me time to push the issue. I would recommend making sure your diet is good and you get plenty of exercise. Pretty much my entire life I've gotten weird aches and pains if I eat too much junk food or my lifestyle becomes too sedentary. If you're doing everything you can preventatively speaking for good health and you don't improve then you'll know you have a legit illness.
I've had Fibromyalgia since I was 19 years old. If you go on Pinterest and search for Fibromyalgia, you will find more good info than your doctor will ever take the time to give you. Docs are only allowed 10 minutes per patient, usually. If you are going to see another doctor a Rheumatologist is the one to see for Fibromyalgia. That's who diagnosed mine when I was in my 30's. Then a couple of years ago, that's also who the Pain Doctor told me that I needed to go see.
