HIDDEN SYMPTONS, WHAT A JOKE.

Well, i suppose like everyone here, it was not easy getting a diagnosis! Looking back now, trying to remember when the first odd symptom began, it is difficult. I recall maybe fourteen years ago noticing that my bowels didnt function quite right, but thought that was just the way I was. It got to the point where I could never go to the bathroom unless I was shopping, don't ask me why. Skip ahead to ten years ago, that is when the migraines started, out of the blue, with an intensity that I can not evven describe.Then a few years after that, the irritable bowel began, along with the pain. My feet were the worst, couldnt stand. Next came the numb hands and pain that I chalked up to RSI, though it never went away when I stopped that job. Then lower back pain. Through all this I kept excusing it all away, and never went to a dr. The real symptoms that made me finally go to dr began over a year ago:memory loss, fatigue,neck pain, shoulder pain, hip pain, migraines, worsened IBS, restless leg syndrome, foot pain, weakness in hands, back pain, the list went on. I should have saved that list, as I was long. I sepnt a week writing everything down, taking time to make sure I remembered everything. When the list was done, it was as long as a sheet of looseleaf, using up every line. I went to my Dr and handed him the list with a shaking hand, and told him he had to help me. I had already been fired from my job as sales manager because of the time loss and memory loss. He took one look at the list and very simply stated "I cant diagnose this." I think seeing it all there on paper made it very real to him. On previous visits I only ever discussed one problem, whatever might be bothering me most at that time, and I always assumed if the different things over the year could be connected, that he would connect them. Now I know he is busy and can not possibly remember every patients entire history. So that day, faced with my long list of symptoms, he wasted no time. He called a rheumatologst right away and got me an appointment. It was that easy, and i didnt know why i waited until i hit rock bottom to really organize my symptoms and ask for help. The rheumy ordered bloodwork, but his initial theory was fm, so he gave me pills to help with sleeping right away. went back after the bloodwork where he made a formal FM diagnosis, and that was it. I was lucky to have a remission this summer, and I fooled myself into thinking he was wrong and I had some thing that I had recovered from. Of course now I am in a flare, and it feels worse than before, so I know he was probably right! ANyway. That is a long story. Sorry. I guess my point to it was, make a list as long as you can and show your dr if you are ever not getting referrals or diagnosis. It does help. okay, nuff said! soory again for the insanely long post. And sorry if there are typos. I used to be a perfect typer, but with my flare my fingers and mind seem to be disconnected, with some words mispelled due to clumsiness and others spelled backwards because my brain farts! ha ha. anyone else having that problem?

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Hi, I have joined this forum on behalf of my husband, who is 45 and who I have watched deteriorating before my eyes.
He's a refuse collector and was hit on the head by a wheelie bin and knocked to the ground after it shot of the back of the lorry just over 3 years ago. He suffered a severe wound to his head.
Since then he's suffered what we thought were several injuries to his hips, back, shoulders & neck, knees, ankles and his arms are giving the most pain recently. Restless legs which drive me insane, lol. Plus a permanent headache and chronic fatigue. His job is killing him and he sleeps most of the time he's home, which he says makes him feel even worse but he just can't stay awake.
It started as him having the odd few bad days to now, when he may very rarely get a goodish day.
It has become really apparent for a while now that he has something wrong with him and these weren't injuries but symtoms of something more permanent and after I searched the internet for advise on things like arthritis etc. I read an article on Fibromyalgia and I couldn't believe what I was reading. It hits the nail right on the head,(that's even worse than a wheelie bin) The words 'I just hurt all over' and 'my arms feel so heavy and weak and just hurt' came jumping out at me.
I read it to my husband who agreed with everything.
He recently went to the Dr. before I had read the article and he had blood tests but they came back normal. So we now need to see the Dr. again and tell him what we've read.
Does anyone have any advise on getting the dr. to believe us, as I don't think he'll be able to work for much longer and has already had a stage 3 sickness meeting after all the time he's had to take off with this illness. Any more time off and he risks dismissal. So he drags himself in every morning at 5.30 am.
It's Sunday evening and as usual I watch him becoming more depressed at the thought of going to work for the next week in so much pain and doing such a physical job.
He used to be so active, always doing jobs around the house etc. but the smallest of jobs has become a huge task mentally aswell as phsically for him now.
I know it's not laziness, I believe him and I think finding out about this disease and knowing I believe him has been a bit of a relief for him but now the hard job of getting a diagnosis begins.
I really feel for you all and hope research finds a cure.
From a very concerned wife x Jue

Well my problems began up Mount Snowdon - my back clicked and went into spasm and I had to crawl the rest of the way back to the car on all fours . I had to lie flat on the back seat as I couldn't bend my hip and my back was in agony. The next day I was home and got an appointment at the doctors who said that the little rickedy train we'd gone up snowden had jarred my spine and gave me an steroid injection which made matters worse. I had blood test after blood test, I felt so ill, and they couldn't find any possible answers; 1st Arthralgia and then 2nd Fibromyalgia it was much later it was diagnosed with RA and Osteo. This was four years ago but my problems were slight before - I worked as a Computer Programmer for 17 yrs and they put the pains in my kneck, hands and shoulders as RSI at the time. Within the last 2 yrs I have started experiencing severe headaches and blackouts. I also suffer from hot/cold heat intollerence, irritable bowel, tingling, loss of sensation in my limbs and tremors. I can't remember the last time I had a good nights sleep, I'm forever roaming around at all hours of the night.

My symptoms were present and felt by me for so very long, nobody believed me, i even started to doubt myself, until me sunburn and "heat rash" from the end of summer never went away, i finally went to the specialists oct or nov (yes i actually thought i had sunburn and heat rash that long LOL) talk about denial. I was first diagonised with Lupus and a year later FM. All the doctors thought i was crazy, until one compassionate doc who spent more than 15 mins with me saved me (or my mind that is)

Are all symptoms in your face or are some hidden like mine???

I would love to hear how the board was diagonised, please share with me my newness allows for me to ask. haha

thanks and be well
Dori