Country Living on a Hill: Healthy Tuesdays- Dealing with Fibro

Last year I posted a list of 10 strange fibro symptoms and I thought I would revisit this post again. This post gets quite a few google search hits (not nearly as many as my Pinesol for flies post does though!).

The main reason I did this post last year was because after I was diagnosed, I couldn't fit many of my symptoms into those listed for fibro. Some like the fibro fog were brushed upon but many like the how my hands and legs go numb, I just couldn't find anywhere. I was sure I had some other terrible illness that the doctors just couldn't find. I want to make sure that this info is out there for others who might be suffering from similar symptoms and think that they too have something else!

10 Strange Fibro Symptoms

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 for three years now. I have undergone test after test after test with no results.

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. This is still a huge issue for me. Even when I was able to walk 6 miles a few times a week and was eating mainly from our garden, my weight refused to budge. Right now I try just to eat as healthy as I can and get as much exercise as I can....and call it good.

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. ** This actually has gotten a lot better. I rarely get stuck anymore!**

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 because it is very difficult to get the feeling to go away. I go in streaks where I seem to have this issue for weeks on end and then it will go away for a few months.

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. My top 10 strange fibro symptoms. I am sure there are many others out there. I tried reaching out to others in a fibro group that I was asked to join but no one responded. If anyone else has other symptoms to add, I would love to hear them and I will definitely add them to this list so that others don't have to go through the same panic that I did!