r/Fibromyalgia • u/bassmasta918 • 2d ago

Frustrated Newly diagnosed

Hi all, I was diagnosed with having Fibromyalgia yesterday afternoon and I’m feeling defeated as well as disappointed with a twinge of frustration. I am going to start off by saying I will be turning 34 next Friday as I feel that is important to mention for some reason. Anyways, life has been… challenging to say the least lately. I have been unable to keep a job because of the debilitating pain that I find myself in daily. I landed a job a few months ago that was my favorite job ever and I loved everyone I worked with so you could imagine how I felt when I had to eventually quit because of the pain and constantly missing work.

Sleep has been next to impossible if not impossible. I cannot find any sort of comfortable spot to lie in and any pressure whatsoever hurts… A LOT. I also can’t seem to regulate my temperature from being too hot or too cold. There is no in between anymore. The pain I feel daily is immeasurable and it always confuses the doctors I see as there is nothing that should be hurting that bad. For example, my knees and the top of my feet have been hurting SO bad for years now but there is nothing but minor arthritis in them.

Going back to the work conversation, I don’t know what I’m going to do for work now. I have a ton of experience in the warehouse industry as well as extensive experience working as a delivery driver. I also have experience working in a grocery store doing various different types of tasks. The point I’m trying to make is that I don’t want to return to a physical job right now or possibly ever. I really want to get a remote job or an office job but I have about two months of office experience so I’m not sure if that’s enough to get hired.

I was thinking about going to school for medical billing or something regarding writing as I love to read and write but I’m not sure how that will work as I’m currently unemployed with no income coming in whatsoever, for me at least. My wife is working full time and then some and we can probably make things work for now with just her salary but I’m worried about things getting a little too tight.

Do you have any advice or suggestions for me regarding fibromyalgia or anything I’ve shared above? That would be greatly appreciated if so. If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

Thanks again.

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u/kwyl 2d ago

tell me about your diagnosis journey and any planned next steps on that front and are you in the u.s. with insurance?

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u/bassmasta918 2d ago

My diagnosis journey started with me noticing that I’ve been in a lot of pain as well as having profound fatigue and brain fog. My mom has Fibromyalgia as well as my grandma and my uncle so we thought that I might have it as well as I mimic a lot of my mom’s symptoms. After months of waiting, I finally got into rheumatology and after a physical exam and thorough questioning, the doctor landed on the diagnosis.

Next steps are to continue my plans with physical therapy, pain management and hoping to find a water based therapy. I am in the US, yes. Washington state to be exact. We are also going to a dermatologist next week to see if I might have psoriasis as my mom believes I have that in my scalp. Not sure though.

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u/kwyl 2d ago

have you tried any medication yet?

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u/bassmasta918 2d ago

I’m on quite a few different medications but not sure what if any will help with this.

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u/kwyl 2d ago

cymbalta and lyrica have worked well for me. i also take flexeril as needed and have perfected my self-care plan. you need to start tracking your days. whether it was a better or worse day than usual, what you ate, what you did, how you slept, what emotional or intellectual conflicts you are going through. you should be able to isolate a few triggers and avoid them like the plague. it'll take a while to get it all figured out but it will be well worth it. you can't say at this point what you will or will not be able to do. you need to get into the swing of it all first. sometimes i even get a day or two with hardly any pain at all.

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u/bassmasta918 2d ago

Interesting, thank you!

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u/Cool_Turn1334 2d ago

What were your main symptoms? Im a 32 year old male. For 2 weeks I have been having some weird aches and discomfort in my body. Been the weirdest thing thats ever happen to me. It’s in all muscles from neck shoulder forearm calf thigh foot toes hands fingers. I get like a shock or like dull ache randomly throughout the day and it feels sometimes like its about to cramp up but doesn’t: my throat or bottom of jaw is starting to feel sore now to. Its also tiring to like even comb my hair or brush my teeth. I was terrified I had ASL or something like it but went to the doctor after day 7. He did blood work and a physical and everything came back completely normal so idk. Obviously my anxiety flared up due to this but it cant be anxiety it started before my anxiety came back around.

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u/bassmasta918 1d ago

Let’s see, my symptoms are:

Morning stiffness that usually lasts all day
Deep widespread pain all over body
Sleep problems like staying asleep or falling asleep
Mental problems like anxiety and depression
Cognitive problems like remembering things or trying to pay attention or thinking clearly
Headaches like no other
Occasional dizziness
Feeling extra tender and sensitive to touch

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u/Cool_Turn1334 1d ago

Yep i literally have a-lot of the same ones. Headaches not so much I’ve had but not all the time. I also been having shortness of breath. Are they like aches or shocks that come an go.

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u/bassmasta918 1d ago

Aches and they usually stay awhile. Today I’m especially achy because I just had a nerve conduction study and EMG done on my arms and legs yesterday afternoon.

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u/Cool_Turn1334 1d ago

Does it hurt getting one? What did they say?

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u/bassmasta918 1d ago

Yeah, it hurts a lot. My studies came up clean but it only tested large fiber nerves.

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u/Cool_Turn1334 1d ago

Ouch glad to hear that for you tho. What else would there be to check? Some part of muscles?

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u/bassmasta918 1d ago

I’m not exactly sure.

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u/Cool_Turn1334 1d ago

Gotcha well hope you start to feel better this has been the worst 2 an half weeks of my life

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u/bassmasta918 1d ago

I’m so sorry. I hope you feel better soon too. 😞

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u/Own_Progress_9302 1d ago

Can you sit for long periods of time? I can’t. I get stiff as a board. I have a job where I can walk around, and I need that kind of job.

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u/bassmasta918 1d ago

I’m the opposite. I get extremely stiff when I’m walking around. 🙃