Newly diagnosed with FM and kinda confused

On Valentine's Day this year I was diagnosed with FM. When I told my family and friends they said things like "oh I'm so sorry" or "what does that mean" or my personal favorite "did you get any good pain meds?" I answered those questions with a simple "don't feel sorry for me...be happy for me." The way I see it is I've lived with this "unknown source of pain" for years. I've been in and out of ER's, Dr's office, and Urgent Cares being dismissed with a migraine or simply getting that "this chick is NUTS" look. About 6 months ago I decided that I was crazy. I remember telling my husband how exhausted I am. He would say go to sleep...and I would. I felt like my days were dragging on and on because I was so tired. On top of that I had horrible headaches. One dr even told me that I should see a psycholigist because it's all in my head.

So, on Valentine's Day I had a new patient appointment with a brand new dr. I figured why not...maybe someone will actually listen to me. As we talked about my family history and my current "complaints" she looked me square in the eye and asked if anyone has every checked me for FM? My response to her was "I thought that was only for old people?" She giggled and said no it can happen to anyone. She said at my age (32) it's very likely that I do have FM. She pulled out her chart and started checking the 18 trigger points. I had 17 out of the 18. I felt like the weight of the world was lifted off my shoulders. Finally I wasn't crazy and found someone who will actually listen to me. I swear I could have done cartwheels. She called in 3 perscriptions and gave me a very small presctirption for vicodin. I literally raced from her office to the pharmacy.

On the 14th I picked up Meloxicam 15mg, Tizanidine 4 mg, Amitriptyline 10mg, and a few vicodin 5 mg. I don't know what those drugs did but I finally had one night of actual sleep. I woke up the next morning and went for a walk. I haven't gone for a walk in a year without wanting to die from the pain. My kids would beg me to go outside and play, all I could do was sit and watch them.

I guess that's about it about me. I'm a little scared of this disease because I don't know much about it. I've been "surfing" this website for a little education. It also kills me that when you type fibromyalgia into google things come up about how to buy pain killers over the internet. Anyway...thanks for reading. I am kinda looking for other people who understand the pain and understand the disease.

Hello there - I'm newly diagnosed too. Luckily the internet is a great source of information so if you ever have questions you're likely to find an answer, although you will have to surf through a lot of "instant miracle cures" before you find it. Also, everyone has a different experience of it from what I've seen but you'll always find someone else with a similar problem (usually a nifty way of dealing with it too!)

Finding out is such a relief, just knowing you're not losing it! And you've got a good doctor to get you on those straight off - some might go in time due to side effects outweighing benefits but at least you'll know sooner rather than later. I've just got amitriptyline. Been on it since before xmas and they've only just put me on 20mg... can barely afford that as it is!

I can't give you an insight into whether or not things will get substantially better or not. I haven't been diagnosed much longer than you, all I know is some days you'll feel awful like you have been, and sometimes you will wake up and feel almost fine. On those days you will question your own illness. The minute a bad day comes back, you won't anymore!

Some people will have it slightly worse than others, but we all got the short straw with this. The best thing to do is support others, and get support yourself - everyone on here is going through it, there's no point in anyone going through it alone

Hope you have a good day today, and tomorrow to boot x

I'll be 28 years old next month and I've been dealing with fibromyalgia for 4 years. I went through doctor after doctor and trial and error of all kinds of methods for relief and spent a ton of money and finally went to a pain management doctor who diagnosed me with fibromyalgia (I went through the same thing with everyone thinking I was crazy and not understanding and even telling me to go talk to someone). I looked on a ton of forums and found out on a scale rating what types of things were more of a relief than others. Heat therapy got a 90 percent rating (out of 100). I looked into this FDA approved mat that I sleep on every night now that I had remembered back when I went to get a massage (I was paying to get massages twice a week) and the place I went to put the mats under the sheets as another method for relief in massage therapy. I talked to massage therapist and owner about my issues and they said that days that i dont a massage they allow people to pay 15 dollars for an hour or half hour (can't remember) just to lay on the mat for pain relief. As all the dollars continued to add up I decided to get one for myself instead of continuously going to this place. You should ask your doctor who diagnosed you to look into this and try to get some of it payed for through your insurance. The website will tell you more. I got it back in October or November because I was desperate and asking my boss to go on disability for work. After about 2 to 3 weeks of sleeping on the mat at the temperature to sleep on it through the night I noticed the pain start to go away. I became a distributor for the mat because I seriously went through the worst 4 years of my life - almost having to let go of my amazing career, i lost my boyfriend partially because of it, and was unable to do physical activity and became pretty depressed about it. Anyway, the mat is a bit expensive but you can't put a dollar amount on pain relief and happiness. The doctor bills will continue to add up anyway.

Personally, I bought the professional size. Its full body. Its on my bed and all I have to do it press the power button and put the temperature up. (much easier than remembering to take medications and try to fit in exercise, and baths and all that stuff that is recommended.) They have a smaller size that if you sit at a desk all day helps with your upper half of your body.

Something to look into. Its money back guarentee. This has been my life saver.
www.tanochicago.biomat.com (thats my distributor site you would purchase it through)
If you have any questions or just want to talk about fibromyalgia and my experience, go ahead and call me. 708-227-4717
I want to help anyone I can because this is a horrible 'disease'. (for lack of a better word)

Laura