# Can this be fibro?



## knothappy (Jul 31, 1999)

Each week on at least 2-3 days i have aching sore muscles all over my body..a lot of the fibro points and more along with terrible fatigue and IBS diarreha all day..I feel like I have the flu..how many times a week can you have the flu???come on this is ridiculous. also have a lotof nausea and anxiety. somehow I think I have been misdiagosed!!!! Help


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

It is highly unlikely you get influenza several times a week all year long.Fibromyalgia is much more likely to cause chronic muscle pain with fatigue than somehow you get infected with a new virus every other day even during the parts of the year when there is no flu.It is also seriously unlikely you get a GI infection every single week of your life.Flu-like I think is a common description things like Fibromyalgia. The muscle pain with the trigger points pretty much makes the diagnosis of Fibromyalgia pretty darn certain. Fibromyalgia is chronic and makes people quite miserable. Why do you think it cannot possibly be the explanation for your symptoms? Is it just health anxiety?When any illness is causing symptoms that will make the FM and the IBS worse than on days when other things are not causing symptoms so it isn't that shocking they would tend to track together.


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## M&M (Jan 20, 2002)

Have you been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia? I couldn't decipher if that's the diagnosis you're working with, or if you've been diagnosed with something else.Health anxiety can cause a lot of those symptoms too.


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## knothappy (Jul 31, 1999)

I have been diagnosed with Fibro in 1989 by a chiropractor after an auto accident back when everyone thought it was a bogus disease......especially MDs


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## M&M (Jan 20, 2002)

Well, the symptoms you listed are all pretty typical of Fibro. General flu-like symptoms and widespread pain in all 4 quadrants of the body are your typical Fibro symptoms, unfortunately.Are you concerned you were misdiagnosed with Fibro?


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## knothappy (Jul 31, 1999)

yes, I always think i have something worse that is not being picked up by the drs...I cannot run to the dr with twinge, I am a widow on low and fixed income..I do have a lotof anxiety because of finances..of course with todays economy who doesn't?? On bad days I really obsess over it, but then on the good days I feel I worry for nothing..it just is so hard to believe fibro can be so painful and hurt in so many places!


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

I know it seems logical that only really deadly things could be severely painful, and if a disease is "mostly harmless" it shouldn't hurt enough or cause enough problems to mess up ones life.However how much pain you are in and how lethal something is really doesn't co-respond very well. Many of the things that are "quality of life" problems rather than "it is killing you quickly" things are very painful and very hard to deal with. Some of what makes them hard to deal with is that there isn't a simple thing that is wrong that can be fixed and it all goes away.I've got friends with Fibromyalgia who are in a lot of pain that is very disruptive. Try to enjoy the good days and not let the bad ones get you down.


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## M&M (Jan 20, 2002)

It is hard to believe all of the symptoms Fibro brings with it. I think that's why many doctors didn't "believe in it" for a long time. And I think that's why research into Fibro and its symptoms has been poorly funded for so long. It's just assumed that, since you're not dying, you can't be hurting THAT much. Unfortunately, you CAN be hurting that much, and most patients ARE hurting that much. I have several friends who have Fibromyalgia, and they all run the gamut as to the severity of their symptoms. A couple are disabled and receive Disability Benefits, some can work part-time, and some can work full-time but with limited other activities.The good news (if you can consider it good news) is that your symptoms definitely fall within the normal boundaries of Fibro symptoms. In fact, if you did not have wide spread pain in all 4 quadrants of your body, you actually wouldn't fit the diagnostic criteria of Fibromyalgia. So that wide spread pain is actually a big proof that you really DO have Fibro. Most other illnesses cause pain limited to 1 area, or 1 half of the body - so that is a good way to differentiate that what you are dealing with really is Fibro, rather than something else.


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