Symptoms | Arthritis Information

 

My doctor believes i have fibromyalgia.  Can someone tell me their symptoms?  just wondering if mine are similar.

I have had JRA since age 10 and fibro since age 11. The
symptoms of fibro that I have are very tense, stiff muscles,
especially in my back and neck. I am able to fall asleep at night,
but I wake up feeling like I didn't get any rest at all.
Fibromyalgia is often accompanied by sleep disorders. I also
get frequent headaches because my muscles are so tense.
When I was first diagnosed, I was in 6th grade and only
attending school half days because of the fatigue. Fibromyalgia
can also cause muscle and joint pain, so if those are your only
symptoms a doctor would first rule out RA. Fibromyalgia is
diagnosed by having certain "tender points" on your body. If
you look on www.arthritis.org in the disease center section, it
gives you more info. Hope this helps a little bit!

Thanks.  Almost eveything else has been ruled out.  This has been going on for about 6 years now.  Now they think it might be fibromyalgia they are sending me to a rheumatologist. 

I'm not getting my hopes up though, i have too many times before. 

Symptoms include: Pain, swelling, stiffness in hands, wrists, elbows, necks, shoulders, knee, feet and lower back.  Chronic fatigue (i could sleep for 24 hours and still be tired)  Raynauids disease, nausea, blured vision, respitory problems, dizziness that's all i remember.

I get dizzy a lot too. I was standing in the kitchen the other night
and almost fell over! My swelling in the joints is usually
attributed to the RA, but the symptoms overlap a lot. Good luck
at the rheumatologist. Make sure he/she listens carefully to
your symptoms and is open minded. There are still some out
there that don't really believe that fibromyalgia exists. I know 6
years of pain without a diagnosis would be frustrating,
Hopefully that will end soon!

Hi Beanielou,

These things are so confusing & frustrating! I Was dxd w/A.S.(ankylosing spondylitis) 13 yrs ago. Fibro 4 yrs ago & now they think I may have seronegative RA or whatever.

Although, there are people who would argue this point, it is the general concensus of most research that fibro does not cause inflamation, is not progressive nor is it degenerative. Google 'STARLANYL' 

I don't want to sound too bitter but I saw one lame doctor after another & to my dismay it took me 10 yrs. to find out that I had A.S. Mostly because my symptoms didn't fit into their neat little box.

My advice to you is to go on the web & look up all the different arthritic conditions-thourough information. Make sure you've been tested for any that sound familiar as relating to your symptoms. RA,AS,Lupus,Reactive arthritis etc.....

i would be suspicious of a doctor that is trying to dxd you w/fibro if you do have true inflamation. You may have fibro besides something else. It's that something else that you need to make sure you don't have.

Good Luck & God Bless!

Peace, Tam

Thanks. For some reason the doctor seems to think what i call swelling is actually fluid retention.  I don't know what would cause that.  All I know is my hands and fingers swell up like balloons sometimes.
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