Which places on your body tend to hurt most? and what kind of pain is it? For me, it's my legs and back. Lately, my legs have been flaring badly. It's a deep ache and an exhausting fatigue. Ugh. So yeah, feel free to vent about your worst pain areas!
Hi, I've not posted on this section before. I've had fibromyalgia for a long time but always feel guilty if I'm in a flare and also worry about looking lazy if I'm resting. Does anyone else go through this? Currently really struggling. I can usually put in a brave face, like I do at work but just can't seem to shake off these feelings.
I feel like people around me are sick for a day or two but my illnesses hit HARD and then they taper off but stick around for like 2 weeks! It’s like I never recover. I’m currently soo sick with a terrible cold but my husband had a sore throat for a day (called it “allergies”), and my 13 month old has had a runny nose for a little less than a week and is extra clingy, but I’m soo weak with a cough where I can clear the mucus from my chest, and body aches with chills, or I’m incredibly hot. But either way it’s like I can’t fight off anything since getting this diagnosis 11 years ago.
Is this a fibromyalgia thing? My sleep sucks normally but I feel like with the multiple naps I’ve been taking this weekend (thank you husband!) I should be somewhat caught up and “rested” as I can be.
Also, anyone have info about FMLA for fibromyalgia? I’m a RN working part time/2 days a week in the hospital using my PTO for when I’m sick but I’m running out quick, especially since I do not accrue as fast as I would when I was full time. Is it worth it? I know it’s 67% of my pay but it’ll save my 12 hours of PTO when I need a day off so I can use it for actual vacations. Is it easy to qualify with this diagnosis? I’m only 32. I don’t want to be this broken anymore…
what it sounds like. what keeps you going, big or small? having a really bad flare up and i have so much fucking shit to do. it's just rough. the world keeps going, yk? if i miss a class i don't just get a break, i get more work to catch up on later.
anyways, may seem silly but listening to some of the adventure time soundtrack is helping me rn. plus lorazepam and laying in bed while i have the chance.
the list i tend to go back to is:
- friends
- partner
- pets
- family
- music
- fruit and honey + honey and biscuits
- concerts
- when i do have good/low pain days
- nature
- art
- curiousity ab what comes next
- sex
- ice cream
- dancing
- those moments where i feel free
- to watch myself get better (mentally or otherwise)
that's ab all i can think of off the top of my head rn. i have some mood disorders and other diagnosises besides fibro, so it's very very unlikely that they all line up to give me just ONE good day, all day. i just want one good day. but i have to take the happiness while it's here
i'm in my early twenties and already my pain gets worse every year so that's terrifying and discouraging
i want to live. i just don't want to live like this
I had Covid last year and had fullness in my right ear , saw an ent specialist they did a CT scan and it showed abscess in my right molar. Went to see a dentist he did a root canal on my right molar but couldn’t finish it. He sent me to en endodontist, who completed the root canal, told me the pus has traveled to my sinuses and he had to make a small
Hole in my jaw bone to clean it but it will heal up. I started having pain after that procedure behind my right ear below the lobe. Dull aching pain, on and off. They put me on a course of Antibiotics and said I’ll be okay. Ever since then the dull aching pain never went away, kept coming back on and off. I was even going for physical therapy for my neck at the time, I mentioned this pain to them and they said they’ll help me with it. In August/ September the frequency of the pain increased and I would have dull throbbing in my temple too as if a vein was pulsing there. I went to see a neurosurgeon who did an mri of my cervical spine. My C5 and C6 had a slight disc bulge but he said it wasn’t so severe to cause me the pain I was experiencing. He referred me to a neurosurgeon. I told her my story and she said my jaw shifted towards the left a little I should see a jaw specialist. She said she would give me a Botox injection at the time but I got scared and didn’t take it. They offered gabapentin which I didn’t take either because I’ve had a bad experience in the ER with a medicine they gave me for a headache related to this issue , compazine, my muscles became stiff and my vitals went off. After that incident I became very scared of taking new medication. I did have days when I felt better but there were days when the pain is so severe I can’t function. I use a heating pad and it helps when I put it on my shoulders. I went out of country for three weeks and I had no pain while I was on vacation. Saw a neurologist there and he said I had fibromyalgia and I should take deloxitine 20 mg. I don’t understand how can I have fibromyalgia ? I came back to dallas in January 2026 and I was pain free for 1-2 weeks and then the pain came back last week of January , I went to the jaw specialist again and she did trigger point injections for me but they somehow increased the pain for me. On my second visit to her she asked me try a new Physical therapist who specialist in jaw therapy. I have had two sessions with the new PT and everytime after my session I am in intense pain the entire day followed by headache that starts from the right side of my head and goes to the center of the head. I have taking Tylenol ( doesnnt help) and Advil ( some relief).
Has anyone else had such a pain , what has been your diagnosis ? My pain is so severe I’m living with it every single day since last year March. I need some direction some guidance. U don’t know is this is jaw related , neck issue or jaw issue. Please need some advice some
Direction.
Has anyone had a positive experience with duloxetine? I started it about 2-3 weeks ago and the positive effects came in so fast. Life changing. My pain is so much better, I have been able to walk more, be more active, I haven't been in agony coming home from work. I still have the pain, and i have bad days, but it's so much more manageable.
Just seeing all the bad experiences people have had, and how hard it is to come off is really daunting.
Hi all, today I went on a three mile hike with some friends on a very hilly trail. It kicked my butt and I have spent the remainder of the day in bed. I am pretty out of shape and significantly overweight.
I really want to hike more with my friends, I was not keeping up. Eventually I want to do a 10 mile hike and keep up with them. I am in the situation where I can dedicate all my time and energy to meeting this goal. I am not working, I am single, and I don't have kids.
Does anyone have advice?
I've had fibromyalgia for about three years now and I've noticed one trigger for me is the weather. we've had some storms roll through and my usual back pain that comes with it. this time though, I noticed my carpal tunnel is tearing it's nasty head as well. anyone else notice something similar?
I am obsessive about calculating how much energy I have to do tasks and limiting the pain it will cause me. I spend hours every day going over in my head the most efficient ways to do simple daily tasks in a way that will cause the least amount of pain and fatigue. It causes me immense stress when I feel like I haven't done tasks "efficiently enough". When you're chronically ill, obviously it is necessary to plan ahead to a certain extent as to not over-exert ourselves and cause flair ups, but mine has reached a point where it's gone beyond what's necessary. Like I'm literally obsessing over my every movement. Has anyone else dealt with this? I feel so alone and like I'm going crazy. This first started when I got diagnosed in 2022 and it's been going downhill since. I just want to move my body and DO shit without thinking it to death first.
Everyday its something new that hurts and only in a flair will something hurt more then a day at a time. I can wake up one day ill have shortness of breath, the next my neck will be in pain and stiff, and the day after that it can be the tendon in the bottom of my foot making me unable to walk.
Is the swing through of all these normal?
All this on top of my full body aches every day man is this exhausting!
hi everyone. i’m 21F. i’ve never been in a relationship, even before my diagnosis. i want to start dating but i’m hesitant about how to approach it. since my flares are unpredictable, i tend to cancel things and isolate myself a lot. i’ve never been the most outgoing or cheerful person but i feel like fibro made me someone who’s harder to be around (or maybe i just feel that way now, i don’t know). i guess my question is how do you approach dating? or meeting new people in general? i want to be in a relationship but i don’t know if i have the energy to actually be in one and i’m afraid of messing things up. i’ve always expected perfection from myself before being intimate with someone (hence why i haven’t before lol) and now that feels much harder…
As the title suggests, i have a mom with Fibromyalgia, i do not have it (i have my own problems but not this), so i’m not sure if i can post here, but i thought i could just to get advice on maybe how to help, why it causes the problems it does, and if there’s a medical professional out there who can help. Our family has watched her struggle for many many years now, she still tries to stay in good spirits, but on her bad days she is just exhausted, physically and mentally. She doesn’t take any medication (medication doesn’t do well for her, the side effects can be bad so she’s always been wary), I just want to know is there *anything* out there that could possibly help her? Even a little. For more of a history she has sleeping problems, she doesn’t sleep well at night due to sleep apnea so she is pretty tired a lot, she can sometimes go into a shaking fit when she eats something that sets her off (she described it as heavy chills/shaking, feeling cold, constant bathroom trips, ect), she can be extremely drained by it, i don’t know if this is caused by Fibro per se, but i thought it’d be important to disclose. I guess we all just want to see her get better, she says there’s really nothing you can do about it, and that doctors just cant help her.. but i just wanted to ask for advice, recommendations, and even just more knowledge on this that i can pass onto my mom that she might not know, since this is a group specifically for this!
My left side is always much more painful than my right especially my joints on that side. My whole body hurts but the left takes the pain to another level.
I started at 1mg, after two weeks I moved up to 2mg, and a week from tomorrow I will increase to 3mg. When I first started it I definitely had side effects like nausea, lack of appetite, and a bit more vivid dreams, but those have all tapered off by now. As far as pain management goes, it is doing absolutely nothing, I might as well be shooting apple juice down my throat instead of LDN. Was anyone's experience similar? I feel like I always read people saying they at least felt something by this point. Regardless, I plan to continue taking it until my doctor and I decide otherwise as I'm running out of medication options.
Hello! 37F I have fibromyalgia, degenerative disc disease, an old hip injury and possibly arthritis. I take gabapentin and maximum strength Tylenol as needed but can't take other meds for fibromyalgia due to medical conditions. I'm fortunate that since last fall I have much less fatigue than I used to, and I'm newly in a more active lifestyle out of necessity (back in the city, no car.) some friends and I were planning a walk through downtown for my first time since returning to the city and I was afraid of the pain, especially because my old hip injury has been flaring up since winter. I was gifted a pretty copper cane yesterday, it's an offset aluminum Lumex cane.
The cane helped a lot! I only needed it when standing still and getting up from sitting (Tylenol helped with walking.) I walked over a mile and a half! My brother is an md and has told me that if people want to keep their bodies from physically deteriorating to the point of needinga wheelchair etc it is important to push to be as active as I am able. I have been very sedentary for many years, only partly due to pain, and I think long-term it may have made things worse. I am hoping to be able to increase physical activity gradually. I'm very grateful to have been gifted this, especially because it is such a pretty cane and matches my look.
tl;dr: I finally acquired a pretty cane and it helped tremendously with waking over a mile and a half yesterday. if anyone has been considering trying a cane, I highly suggest it! I would have not been able to get through this trip yesterday without it. if you're self conscious, get a pretty cane and don't worry what people think.
Reclusive middle aged person 'hikikomori' with autism and fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome.
I got diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and Dysautonomia back in December of 2023. I am currently 23 (F) and have a couple mental health issues that were all diagnosed around the beginning of 2024.
I feel like I got slapped in the face with everything all at once. Growing up I was an active kid in martial arts, volleyball, and just over all happy until highschool (that was due to mental health though). I knew something was wrong with my body when I was 16 because I couldn’t spar anymore at Martial Arts. If I got hit to hard I would drop with a burning pain where I got hit, mainly shins or forearms. I felt like my life went on hold when I got told about everything because my fingers started to give up and I couldn’t play cello or violin anymore, I couldn’t spar or do much with martial arts, I had to give up volleyball scholarships because of the pain, and ended up having to leave college due to the mental stress of everything.
I want to get back on track, but I feel like every time I get things put together with my doctors, something falls apart again. I just want to go back to my life. Not the one with Tai Chi, and church volleyball, but the one with Martial Arts Competitions and College Level Volleyball, where I can go on a run without collapsing.
I have in the past wondered if I’m bipolar but have had bad results with psychiatrists. I’m ready to explore it again as it is present in 20% of people with fibro (according to an article I read). Does anyone have fibro and bipolar and what are you using to manage the symptoms (meds, therapy)?
I'm not great at reddit so excuse any format issues..
I was just diagnosed with fibro after 10 years of chronic pain and we're also investigating autoimmune components as well.
I have other family members with fibro as well, so the diagnosis didn't come as much of a shock given my symptoms, but something about having tangible proof of my ailments just feels.. heavy.
In the past I used to gaslight myself into believing I was exaggerating, that I was fine and I could keep up with my daily activities, but I can't ignore the daily aches and pains anymore.
My husband is understanding and encourages me to rest when needed, but it's so frustrating that even household chores cause a significant amount of discomfort anymore.
I have young kids who deserves a present and involved parent. I guess I'm afraid of adjusting to my body's limitations and what that means for the future.
I have type-2 diabetes, seems like I have High cholesterol despite a healthy diet, the doctor said it is primarily caused by genetics.
Endocrinology recommended GLP-1 to help me with my diabetes and high cholesterol. But he also mentioned that there is a 0.4 - 1% chance I might get pancreatitis. I have mild to severe side effects with allopathy medicine, I even have metformin intolerance, so the doctor prescribed me imeglimin.
I understand the risk of high cholesterol and such. He also said I can take it for 3 to 6 months, then I can just try to maintain. But also he mentioned I have to inject GLP-1 throughout my life, if I don't want reversal, since high cholesterol could be genetic.
My concern is GLP-1 causing pancreatitis. With fibromyalgia I'm worried about handling it in the future. If not do I have to live on GLP-1 forever?