Thank you for the information on fibromyalgia

My wife and I both have osteo arthritis in multiple areas. Prior to the diagnosis of arthritis, we both had some degree of fibromyalgia. Any information on these areas is read with interest. John E. Speck

Hi, 39 year old female who has extreme back pain for years. I've had 2 disc fusions in 01 successful and 3 disc fusion c4-c7 rejected. Assumed all pain from fusion gone bad. Now diagnosed sleep apnea using CPAP still wake with severe numbness and with pins and needle pain in the morning. Legs like I've run a marathon when nothing done. Hurt enough I think I won't be able to take a step but easeses as I move. My knees thighs buttocks back delts elbows wrists and hands all feel fat and hurt terribly. With time eases. I'm on a morphin patch due to the bad disc fusion pain in the neck excruciating and now told to fix properly I will need to be fused from c3-t2. Opted not to operate. Now one last thing to the mix I sleep (for no known reason) for 4 and 5 days at a time. Never know when the sleep spells occur it just happens. I wake to go to the bathroom and eat but remember nothing. I also have sleep paralyses, asleep but can hear conversations going on and want to be a part (my congestive heart failure mother telling my husband to take the fat from the meat and use that to make gravy and to give her the burned fat off the roast because that's the best part) ... "no no no Mom no you can't cook like that anymore. Please Mom no no no we're going to cook the roast a better healthier way....." I was screaming these words but only I could hear my screams. The time I've described I slept for 4 days and did not go back down for 2 weeks. I've found info on Klein Levin's Disease and the sleep patterns described sound just like KLD. I can't seem to find any doctors that can tell me what is wrong. I went from playing professional volleyball 5 nights a week and was a work-aholic as a robotics space engineer to being 65lbs over weight and barely able to walk with a walker and sleeping my life away. Anyone have any thoughts?

I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia in 1994 but believe I've had it from a very young age. I worked from age 5 to 18 on the family farm. I attributed my aches and pains to the hard work I was doing. Then I went to work for the U.S. government. I spent 33 years working at a desk with a typewriter and then computers as they came into the office. I attributed the burning/aching/wrenching shoulder/back pain (which I always had on the farm) to 8 hours a day at a desk typing/answering phones/interviewing people/and other normal office duties.

Currently I take 3 pain meds and a muscle relaxer. Two years ago I was offered an early retirement and took it. The last year that I worked, I only worked one complete week.

I am willing to be a "guinea pig" but have had no luck in finding any trials/testing/etc near where I live. I am in upstate NY near the PA border.

Any information would be appreciated.

I was dx. almost 1 year ago with ra & fibro. I have been treated with meds for the ra. but I am having trouble telling if the pain is coming from the ra or the fibro. Is there a way to tell the difference? I was told the treatments I am using won't help the fibro. Only the ra. so I am not sure if the meds are working since I can't tell which pain is which. Any help would be GREAT. thanks Alex

I have had fibromyalgia, RA, Sjogrens, psorias athritis and a few other kinds of athritis. I can now tell when one or the other of these hurts, there are various levels of pain and types. When my RA is bothering me, the pain is distinctively my joints. When the fibromyalgia is hurting, which is most of the time, the pain is in between the joints on either side. At least for me, everybody is different. Like for about a 2 months my wrists and elbows just throb like a dull toothache, but it is the tissues and musles that run between the wrist and elbow. I can feel my wrists all over and the pain isn't there, it is in the (meat) meaning everything even my skin will be so sore to the touch of your arm. My RA is a totally different level of pain and gets really sharp pain to even worse pain. Fibro I think is more painful and can go to extremes. My body feels like a big toothache that never quits hurting. Well I hope this my help someone out there. Thanks Teresa

I have had fibro for 6 yrs and have been on many different meds which all seem to have some kind of intolerable side effect. Vicodin 7.5mg is the only thing that has worked for me and I take one every 4 hrs while awake for the past 5 yrs. I never take less then 4 a day and try to keep it under 6 tabs. I would like to be off Vicodin as a regular drug and take only occasionally. The problem is that it is the only drug that makes a difference. I can't stand the sweating of SSRI or SSNRI and Lyrica sent me to the ER with extreme anxiety and I felt like I couldn't sit still. I do take Ambien CR every night and I know I wouldn't sleep without it. Trazadone made me hungover and fatigued. Flexeril gave me heart palpatations. I need a muscle relaxant, but had my B/P fall extremely low. I swim in warm water, work part-time and keep my house for me and my husband. I have 2 wonderful adult children and enjoy my life, but I feel like I have hit a wall. Do I start over again and reevaluate the side effects, or stay on the opiates. I have had minimal, short term relief with bio-feedback. I have tried accupuncture and massage both with negative results. Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm desperate.