Welcome to the world of Fibromyalgia. It isn't a
pleasant world, but at times you can cope. There are times that you can
not, and you do your best not to scream at the injustice that has been
dealt you. Let me try to explain what FMS or Fibromyalgia is. First the
technical/medical terms; Fibromyalgia is
a disease of the connective
tissues, generally effecting the tissues at the joints, however it can
and does effect ALL connective tissue. Now my explanation. It
does
effect the connective tissue, It doesn't stay in one place all
the time, it moves & generally goes where it wants to, it feels
like Arthritis but 100% worse. There are days
when you can't walk and other days when you can't use your hands/arms,
but then there are days when neither of these extremities are effected. Almost always you can't sleep. Now I don't mean you
don't sleep what I
mean is that even though you sleep you are not resting, so the sleep is
non productive or as the Doctors term it non restorative. It generally
effects only women however, there are cases of men suffering from it.
It is not an inflammation of the joints, or the connective tissues it attacks...it is just pain!!! And let us not
forget (no pun intended) about the memory loss which can be either long
term or short. I am effected with short term memory loss better
known as "Fibro Fog". There are a list of other symptoms,
syndromes. I will try to help you understand them as my page grows
and as I better understand them. The strangest thing is they seem all
unrelated. There is no concrete cause, no cure or treatment is a
hodge podge of medicines, some work some don't. You just have to
keep experimenting until you find one that will. In fact one medication may not work
today but next week it might. On top of all
this, there is no test for this disease, so when you go to an uninformed
Doctor and tell him your symptoms he will either misdiagnose or
tell you there is nothing wrong with you. Ya know crazy hypochondriac!!
Of course this comes after a barrage of tests that would make the
Marquis de Sade look like Little Bo Peep!! Depression does come, but not
right away. Who wouldn't be depressed if you went through hundreds
of tests over a period of years only to be told there is nothing wrong
with you, but you still can hardly walk or use your hands and arms, and
at times your butt feels like it is going to fall off. But the support of loved ones and friends are your best defense, and a
Doctor who is knowledgeable, and they are hard to find.
I'm just starting my page on this disease, and will be adding to it. For
the time being here are a few links that might help. |
