I was diagnosed a few weeks ago with Fibromyalgia by my Rheumatologist.
I first saw the Rheumatologist last year when my chronic bladder pain started, to see if there was something autoimmune going on, such as Lupus. My mother was diagnosed with Lupus at 18, so naturally that’s where we started to investigate, so I went in to see her doctor at a Toronto Lupus Clinic. They did a Lupus Panel last year but results were negative so I didn’t go back for a follow up and just continued the wait to see the Urologist and Endometriosis specialist. But it’s been a year since that appointment and lately I’ve been beginning to feel constant pain in my joints and muscles in different areas of my body and I rarely feel rested when I wake up from a “decent” nights sleep.So I went and after some discussion about these symptoms and the doctor doing a tender point examination to determine my pain level by applying pressure to various areas on my body, he said I’m suffering from Fibromyalgia.
My mother was diagnosed with Lupus at 18, so naturally that’s where we started to investigate, so I went in to see her doctor at a Toronto Lupus Clinic. They did a Lupus Panel last year but results were negative so I didn’t go back for a follow up and just continued the wait to see the Urologist and Endometriosis specialist. But it’s been a year since that appointment and lately I’ve been beginning to feel constant pain in my joints and muscles in different areas of my body and I rarely feel rested when I wake up from a “decent” nights sleep.So I went and after some discussion about these symptoms and the doctor doing a tender point examination to determine my pain level by applying pressure to various areas on my body, he said I’m suffering from Fibromyalgia.
So I went and after some discussion about these symptoms and the doctor doing a tender point examination to determine my pain level by applying pressure to various areas on my body, he said I’m suffering from Fibromyalgia.
I was told that being in chronic pain + lack of restorative sleep is the perfect recipe for developing Fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia seems to be caused in large part due to an overly active nervous system that keeps you in fight-or-flight mode. Because of my chronic pelvic pain, my nervous system is constantly on alert and our system isn’t designed to stay on high alert like this for long amounts of time, which leads to a variety of fibromyalgia symptoms.
The 3 main symptoms of Fibromyalgia are:
- Widespread pain
- Brain Fog
- Fatigue
Which sums up exactly what I am going through.
The doctor is currently setting up a Sleep Test to see if I’m getting to the restorative stage of sleep I need and if not, looking into a treatment plan to try to get to that restorative deep sleep state. I wake up 1-4 times a night to pee, so I know I am not getting the rest my body desperately needs.
I also did another Lupus Panel at this appointment but haven’t discussed the results with the doctor yet. I do however, have the results because they give patients access now. For the most part it came back negative 👍🏻, but two results were abnormal. I had low C3 and a Positive ANA -Immunofluorescence with 1:160 homogeneous pattern which, from some quick research, means something is going on in the Autoimmune department but I may not be fully presenting symptoms. I could be absolutely wrong, so I’m not jumping to any conclusions until I hear back from the Rheumatologist. Hopefully, I will this week.
The Fibromyalgia diagnosis isn’t a shock after learning it really just means my nervous system is in overdrive due to the pain I’ve been trying to manage over the last year. And since my Pelvic Floor Dysfunction treatment involves tools to calm down my nervous system, I’m on the right track. I just hope I can lessen some of the symptoms soon or stop it from progressing.
Do you have Fibromyalgia? Did you get a diagnosis before or after you were diagnosed with a chronic pain condition?
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