Dealing with Fibro Tuesdays-- 10 strange symptoms of fibromyalgia.
For several months after my diagnoses, I kept looking for another answer. I had some symptoms that just didn't seem to fit what I thought fibromyalgia was. You see those wonderful television and magazine ads that claim fibro is widespread pain with no known cause. What I didn't realize is that there is a lot more to it!
While some of these symptoms do show up now on searches of fibro symptoms, some do not. But after talking to other fibro sufferers I now know that most of my symptoms probably are fibro-- unless I end up getting diagnosed with something else.
10. Extreme fatigue- even after you have had a great nights sleep you feel as though you need about 10 more hours. Even more sleep doesn't help though, some days you just have to push past it or give into it.
9. Irritable Bowel Syndrome: here I thought I was suffering from something else completely when I started having bowel issues. And IBS doesn't have to be bouts of extreme constipation and extreme diarrhea. It can be only one or the other. And these extreme bouts can lasts months and years- I know, I have dealt with this.
8. Headaches: they can be tension type ones, fatigue type headaches or even migraines.
7. Klutz factor: Okay I will admit it, I have never been a super graceful person but since the fibro I am a huge klutz! I frequently drop things, trip over things and bump into things. Here is one of my funnier stories.
6. Inability to lose weight: I wrote an entire post on this-- check it out. This is something I thought for sure meant I was suffering from some other illness.
5. Fibro Fog: I think this kind of goes with my klutz. Somedays it just feels as though I am walking through a dense fog. Nothing seems quite real. I think sometimes the mind just needs a rest from everything and decides to take some time off. But it can be a pain when you need to be doing something that day, because it can really rack up your klutz factor- at least for me.
4. Muscle twitches: I can have an eye twitch for hours. I can have a muscle twitch go on in my stomach all day long. I know everyone gets these- I just have never known them to last so long until the fibro hit.
3. Getting stuck: This really bothered me most when I was on medication for the fibro. It progressively got worse. I couldn't bend down to work in the garden or wash my dogs in the tub. If I bent over, I was stuck like that. I felt like I was 1000 years old! Eventually I would work my way back up but wow would it hurt. Since I stopped the medication, it has gotten a little bit better. If I am having a decent day, I am confident I can bend over. If I am having a bad day, I avoid bending over at all costs.
2. Hands, feet, thighs go numb/asleep: This is different from the pins and needles sensation you get when your hands and feet go to sleep. It is a numb feeling yet it hurts- which I realize makes no sense but there is no other way to describe it. With my hands I have to get them down below my waist and then the feeling goes away- even if I am lying down. With my feet and legs, I have to walk around. I cannot stand still and even if I attempt to stand in one place (even with shifting my weight and what not) my thighs will go into the numb state. It is horrible.
1. Sunburn feeling on skin: with no sun exposure! This can be the strangest feeling. One time I could not wear a bra for days. I hadn't been in the sun in days but the only way to describe it is as a really good sunburn. Thankfully I don't experience it often but it does throw you for a loop!
There you have it-- some of the stranger symptoms of fibro. I am sure there are many, many more. I recently read something about the fibro bucket- when doctors just want to throw every new symptom in the fibro bucket- then they don't have to deal with it. I have to say that I love this explanation because I have experienced it often. So maybe all these symptoms aren't related to fibro. But until we have more answers, then doctors will throw these issues into the bucket.
Thanks for visiting me here on the hill. Come back and visit again soon!
For several months after my diagnoses, I kept looking for another answer. I had some symptoms that just didn't seem to fit what I thought fibromyalgia was. You see those wonderful television and magazine ads that claim fibro is widespread pain with no known cause. What I didn't realize is that there is a lot more to it!
While some of these symptoms do show up now on searches of fibro symptoms, some do not. But after talking to other fibro sufferers I now know that most of my symptoms probably are fibro-- unless I end up getting diagnosed with something else.
10. Extreme fatigue- even after you have had a great nights sleep you feel as though you need about 10 more hours. Even more sleep doesn't help though, some days you just have to push past it or give into it.
9. Irritable Bowel Syndrome: here I thought I was suffering from something else completely when I started having bowel issues. And IBS doesn't have to be bouts of extreme constipation and extreme diarrhea. It can be only one or the other. And these extreme bouts can lasts months and years- I know, I have dealt with this.
8. Headaches: they can be tension type ones, fatigue type headaches or even migraines.
7. Klutz factor: Okay I will admit it, I have never been a super graceful person but since the fibro I am a huge klutz! I frequently drop things, trip over things and bump into things. Here is one of my funnier stories.
6. Inability to lose weight: I wrote an entire post on this-- check it out. This is something I thought for sure meant I was suffering from some other illness.
5. Fibro Fog: I think this kind of goes with my klutz. Somedays it just feels as though I am walking through a dense fog. Nothing seems quite real. I think sometimes the mind just needs a rest from everything and decides to take some time off. But it can be a pain when you need to be doing something that day, because it can really rack up your klutz factor- at least for me.
4. Muscle twitches: I can have an eye twitch for hours. I can have a muscle twitch go on in my stomach all day long. I know everyone gets these- I just have never known them to last so long until the fibro hit.
3. Getting stuck: This really bothered me most when I was on medication for the fibro. It progressively got worse. I couldn't bend down to work in the garden or wash my dogs in the tub. If I bent over, I was stuck like that. I felt like I was 1000 years old! Eventually I would work my way back up but wow would it hurt. Since I stopped the medication, it has gotten a little bit better. If I am having a decent day, I am confident I can bend over. If I am having a bad day, I avoid bending over at all costs.
2. Hands, feet, thighs go numb/asleep: This is different from the pins and needles sensation you get when your hands and feet go to sleep. It is a numb feeling yet it hurts- which I realize makes no sense but there is no other way to describe it. With my hands I have to get them down below my waist and then the feeling goes away- even if I am lying down. With my feet and legs, I have to walk around. I cannot stand still and even if I attempt to stand in one place (even with shifting my weight and what not) my thighs will go into the numb state. It is horrible.
1. Sunburn feeling on skin: with no sun exposure! This can be the strangest feeling. One time I could not wear a bra for days. I hadn't been in the sun in days but the only way to describe it is as a really good sunburn. Thankfully I don't experience it often but it does throw you for a loop!
There you have it-- some of the stranger symptoms of fibro. I am sure there are many, many more. I recently read something about the fibro bucket- when doctors just want to throw every new symptom in the fibro bucket- then they don't have to deal with it. I have to say that I love this explanation because I have experienced it often. So maybe all these symptoms aren't related to fibro. But until we have more answers, then doctors will throw these issues into the bucket.
Thanks for visiting me here on the hill. Come back and visit again soon!
I feel ya on almost all of these things, except mine happens to be a diagnosis of MS. Lots of similar symptoms, as both are considered autoimmume diseases. And that bucket seems to be a common thing, because every new thing that happens to me ends up in my MS bucket even though half the time I think it's just normal stuff.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by my blog earlier! Visiting ya back! Nice to meet you. Gonna add you to my Google reader.
Thanks for visiting back :-D
ReplyDeleteWhen I read that line about a bucket where all your symptoms are thrown in and blamed on your past diagnoses, I knew that was exactly how I felt. So now I usually just chuckle and figure it will work itself out eventually.
SUNBURN feeling on the skin!!! OMGoodness...mine won't go away! It's been over a month now...I thought I was going crazy. My back burns sometimes like someone whipped me...especially if I get hot. Stings mostly. My good days feel like a 4 day old sunburn. Can't wait for it to go away...I'm staying positive that it will go away!
ReplyDeleteGoodness an entire month?!?! Mine lasted a few days at most. I know my doctor had no suggestions of what could be done to prevent or avoid it. I will say that it only happened when I was on medication for my fibro and I have not had this feeling since I went off the medication. I cannot say that was what caused it though.
DeleteI am hoping that things let up and go away for you very, very soon.
Thanks for stopping in. This post seems to get the most traffic -- and I am glad because when I went through these things, I had no idea it was fibro related. Now maybe I can help some others from freaking out over these odd things.