I had bad “growing pains” in my legs as a child. I quit believing in the growing pains when they continued through my teen years and into adulthood. I stopped having “growing pains” around the age of 37 (2004), but then I started with the Restless Leg Syndrome. I was started on gabapentin for the legs, and they had to keep upping the dose every few months because the medication would stop working.
I think the gabapentin was keeping the fibro in check until September of 2011. All of sudden I started with lower back pain that just wouldn’t go away. Then the pain started jumping around my body. It went from back to kidneys, to ovaries, to pelvic pain, to my shoulders, and my neck.
I started getting migraines every couple of weeks instead of my usual once or twice a year. My GP ran every test known to man trying to pin down a diagnosis. Lucky for me I have been going to him for years and he knows I don’t come in unless something is really wrong with me.
At one point the pain was so bad I could hardly walk. I went to the ER and they sent me home after a few hours because they couldn’t find anything wrong with me either. It didn’t matter to them that I couldn’t walk upright, they pretty much told me it was all in my head. By this time the depression was kicking in, and I was beginning to think I was going crazy.
Finally, my aunt who also suffers from fibro told me to ask my doctor if I could be possibly suffering from fibro also. At first my GP said he didn’t think so, but then he grabbed my knee and I about fell off the table and I burst into tears. At that point he put in a referral to the rheumatologist. The rheumatologist I see happens to specialize in fibro patients, and it didn’t take him long to confirm the diagnoses. While hating the diagnosis, it was nice to know I wasn’t losing my mind.
As I said I’m still working, but I have to take more days off than I would like. I often run out of sick days before the end of the year and end up getting docked the last couple of paychecks during the school year.
Like many fibro sufferers, I suffer from chronic fatigue, myfascial pain, and migraines. I also deal with asthma, seasonal allergies, high blood pressure, and sleep apnea. I just recently found out I have spondylosis of the spine (my vertebrae are degenerating and have bone spurs on the ends of them). As far as impacting my fibro, a lot of times I don’t know if a new symptom is something serious or part of the fibro. I never know if I should go to the doctor, or wait and see what happens.
It’s okay to say no! You can’t please everyone in your life, and they’re going have to realize that there are now limitations to what you can do sometimes.
[Tweet “You can’t please everyone in your life.”]
I stress about silly little things. I’ve had to learn to ask myself if I can change things. If the answer is no, then I simply stop letting it get to me. I was also a people pleaser, and I have learned that you simply can’t please everyone.
[Tweet “If you can’t change something, just let it go. “]
Fibro Fog! Seriously, I forget so many things now that blogging about it helps me remember. I like to go back and read some of my old posts. It amazes me how often I have forgotten something, and being able to read about it brings it back.
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