How did you discover you had FMS or what caused it to flare?

[Siegrid]

*I started this from a suggestion in the Mono Onset thread in CFS.*

How did you first discover that you had Fibromyalgia? What caused your first flare up? ie, Virus, trauma, disease, stress etc...

[suchin]

hi segrid ,
it didnt come on abruptly with me, i noticed that i started to feel muscular pain in my last year of college. I wasnt sure what it was but i didnt go to the doctor for a while to have it check out. I also started having trouble sleeping and having some fatigue. Then i got sick with what i thought was a normal cold and after that i had it full blown. I improve for periods of time, but notice that if i have alot of stress, my symptoms flare up. i try to relax and not let stress affect me but it is hard sometimes. When i get colds i get flare ups. One thing i found that helps me is magnesium. This kind of seems to lessen my pain. It doesnt totally fix it but, it does help me get through the day

[sunny]

I believe that my fibromyalga came on after i had a hysterectomy. I was having some problems before that, like anxiety. But after that i started to have a flu like, tired feeling all of the time. I went to the doctor and had a bunch of lab tests. They of course came out normal. I started having pain and they fit the pattern of the tender points. I also began having tingling and a numb feelings,legs,hips,lowerback abnd shoulders also hurt, an I can't sleep. So i believe that maybe i had some sort of predisposition to this, but that it was my surgery that really set it off

[Siegrid]

Surgery was the trigger for me too. I was never athletic in high school but i never felt crippled. I used to walk a mile to school every day! I joined the military and i could pass the physical training tests with ease, especially the run. But then my feet started to hurt and the doctor checked me out and said i need to do something about my flat feet, bunions and hammer toes (omg mutant feet!). So i had a surgery. I wrote most of my woes down already elsewhere so the short of it is i couldn't leave my bed for two months after the surgery and was mentally drained (and mentally assaulted by my room mate). Then the works happened, depression, panic attacks, wierd unexplainable pains, all of the classic symptoms. I thank God every day that my boyfriend (now husband) was there. I really wonder if i would had made it without him.

[mpenny]

i had mono in high school and afterwards i never felt quite right. my muscles never came back as strong and i always had a pain in my lower back that would never go away. i went to physical therapy for a year and nothing got any better. for years. throughout this time i was dancing competitivly then, when i was at nationals and during a dance half of my body went numb for a good three minutes. then i went to doctor after doctor after doctor and no results. it was over a year and a half before i was totally diagnosed and i am still trying to figure out all of my medications and how to deal with pain in my daily life while maintaining a normal college existence.

anyone else diagnosed in high school?

[gdubs12345]

i had mono in high school and afterwards i never felt quite right. my muscles never came back as strong and i always had a pain in my lower back that would never go away. i went to physical therapy for a year and nothing got any better. for years. throughout this time i was dancing competitivly then, when i was at nationals and during a dance half of my body went numb for a good three minutes. then i went to doctor after doctor after doctor and no results. it was over a year and a half before i was totally diagnosed and i am still trying to figure out all of my medications and how to deal with pain in my daily life while maintaining a normal college existence.

anyone else diagnosed in high school?

That too bad youve been sick since highschool, i am happy to have gotten a few years of college under my belt first. it took me 3 years to finish the last year and 1/2 of school, but i finally finished. So at least if i ever feel well enough to work, ill have already graduated. Its hard, but you just have to stick it out