I decided that I would make a page on how I am dealing with Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS) I will add links at the bottom of the page that I found to be interesting and Informative. I enjoy reading personal stories to see how others deal with it.
I think the most important part of dealing with any illness is learning about your body, and take control of medical decisions. Work with your Dr. do not let him make all the decisions.
I have always had pain in different areas of my body; I had learned to deal with it thinking it was normal.
When I was 16 I had a Dr. tell me I had arthritis in my knees, they have always bothered me some times worse then others, when the weather changes, when I get real heavy, when I exercise to much.
As I got older the back and neck problems started. Sometimes all I would do is turn my head and my neck would catch, and then I could not move it. I would wait and if it didn’t get better I would go to Dr or chiropractors, the last time I went to one of those I left feeling worse then when I went in, a good thing to remember is
FMS is muscle and tissue related not bone!
I had a massage from a therapist once and while she was doing it, I felt wonderful
As soon as I got dressed the pain came back 10 fold, she said it was because massage stimulates blood flow, Whatever I just knew I hurt really badly.
Last year I had a bad flare up, I had traveled 5 hours to visit my parents, I spent the night and when I woke up the next morning, I could hardly move. My mom had to help me out of bed, I thought I had just slept wrong; the pain was mostly in my shoulders and neck area. When it did not go away in a few days, I blamed it on stress, nights where the worse I would lay in bed and my shoulders just throbbed sleep of course was Impossible,
so it just kept getting worse. A wonderful cycle any one with FMS can tell you.

After 3 weeks I went to my family Dr. he gave me every arthritis medicine available,
Plus muscle relaxes, none of it helped, after 6 weeks I called and said I think I have a pinched nerve I need a neurologist. Therefore, he sent me to one. He did the entire Neurology test then sent me in for a MRI. It came back that I have a bit of arthritis in my neck a couple of buldging disk in my throsic (middle back)
He said that just didn’t account for the pain I was having, he said he was sure I have FMS. Off to more DR, I could not afford.
I read everything I could on it. With FMS, you can have other things that go a long with it, chronic fatigue syndrome, and irritable bowel syndrome to name a few. I think the hardest part is I look normal and act normal, I work full time, and I smile and make jokes with our costumers. The thing is no one sees my private life, I get home fix dinner for the kids and most nights go in and take a bath, one of the few things that make me feel better, My 6 year old daughter washes my back because it hurts to much for me to do it. Sometimes I lie in bed and cry because of the pain, but in the morning I get up and get dressed get my kids off to school then I head to work. I am divorced so I have no choice my kids need to eat. Lol Sometimes I think it is better for me, because if I had a choice I would stay in bed or the tub all day. Lol this makes me deal with it. I refuse narcotics because they scare me, what if they put me to sleep, a fire started, and I could not get my kids out. Or because I am an alcoholic, I become addicted to them, which would just make the problem worse. I tried trazodone, a very low dose, it was used as an antidepressant but one of the side effects was it made people sleep more. Dr’s tend to use it more now as a sleep aid then anything else, I was on low dose, but it made me hung over in the mornings. I have heard of people that use it that it helps, we are all different. I have chosen to use herbs and vitamins for my treatment, I take one good multivitamin and a MSM tablet in the mornings, at night I take 1 kava kave 2 valerian root, 3 magnesium and if needed 2 senokot’s. They have helped make the FMS tolerable. I also think just knowing what is causing the pain helps. Reading about what helps others, it gives me ideas, to try. The hardest part, well that is other people’s attitudes. I work in the health field, I am a pharmacy tech, and most health care people think that FMS is a farce. It is just a catchall diagnosis. I do think some Drs. will say that because they do not know what going on with your body, they get frustrated, unless they know about it, the symptoms the 18-pain point’s ECT. That is why I say play a part in your medical care, if you think you have it, go to a specialist if you need a pre authorization for your INS to pay for, make your DR give you one. I’m very lucky with my family Dr., he doesn’t pretend to know everything, we work as a partnership, he told me what RX drugs seem to help other’s but when I told him I preferred to keep with the herb’s and vitamins he was OK with it, but he did give me other options. I deal with life one day at a time, I put a smile on my face and tell jokes, I try not to let the pain get to me, some days are tougher then others, but I always know “Tomorrow is another day”