Arthritis & FMS combination Support Group

Good morning, everybody! My name is Melody and I just had FM added to my RA diagnosis yesterday. I am one of the group leaders over at the Arthritis group. I just finished checking out this group and I recognized a couple members that are in the Arthritis group as well.

Well, let's see.....where to start.....I was dx'd with psoriatic arthritis in July of 2009. When symptoms got worse and became symmetric, rheumy checked me out and changed my dx to RA in September. Pain has been getting worse in lower back/hip area and I have found when I lightly push above my elbows, right below knees, halfway down legs, right above ankles, in chest area, in shoulder blades, and along base of neck, it hurts like H E double hockey sticks. That caused the rheumy to say..."Being as you're having that kind of pain in those areas, I believe you have Fibromyalgia as well." Aw, snap! Then he orders an MRI to be done on my SI joints and tells me that 1. If he sees inflammation there he is going to up the dosage of my Humira or change me to another TNF inhibitor. 2. If there is no inflammation there then he believes I have OA in my SI joints. Hmmm....

So here I am. I don't know what to think or what to expect. How do I know if my pain is from the RA or the FM? How do y'all tell?

Anyhoo, I know this group is small, but I believe there will be more members as more of us with arthritis get a 2nd diagnosis of FM. I hope to get to know everyone and I hope to learn from those of you who have been dealing with FM for a while.

I hope everyone is having a great Saturday. Gentle hugs to all!

Hi Melody

I've only been here a week or so myself. I have OA and Fibro, with severe degeneration in my spine. As for telling which pain is from what ... your guess is as good as mine!! I have asked the same question myself, unfortunately no answers

Sorry to hear of your new diagnosis, as if one is bad enough, eh?

Gentle hugs to you and God bless!!

Cheryl

Post edited by: Wisdom1956, at: 02/28/2010 07:58 AM

Hey, Cheryl! Welcome to the group! So you've got an arthritis and fibro, too. It seems like arthritis and fibro are partners in pain. And you've got spine degeneration, too. How long have you been going through all this? What medicines are you on for it?

Gentle hugs and a happy Sunday afternoon to you!

Hi Val

I was diagnosed with DDD in 1993 after I broke a vertebrae in my neck. It's been downhill since! I didn't get the fibro diagnosis until about 2006, but am sure I've had it a long time.

Going to add my med list to my sig, as it is a long one. Hoping to get into a local pain clinic soon. Having a rough 3rd day now with my lower back, so haven't been on here as much.

Hugs!

You do have a long med list! Mine is longer than what I want it to be.

I think a lot of folks with fibro have it for longer than they really know. I think it's the same with folks who have arthritis.

I have had neck and back issues for a while, but I thought it was just age. You know how it is. You get a pain and you put it to the side. Then there is another pain...and then another....and then one day there is a whole bunch of pain and you realize you need to go to the doctor.

How in the world did you break your vertebrae, if you don't mind me asking? Ouch!

Believe it or not, was helping husband put a vinyl slide on a wooden swing set we had put together for our son. I rested the slide on my head and supporting it with my hands while he bolted it on. It wasn't even heavy!! Doc said it was because the degeneration had already started, I broke the whole prong off a cervical vertebrae. Didn't even feel anything til the next morning and woke up with the worst stiff neck I had ever had. That was the cause for my first spinal fusion.... and let the games begin!!!

It was hard as I suffered for weeks waiting to see a neuro!

OMG! That's rough. I have never heard of anyone breaking a vertebrae that way. I wonder how long you had the degeneration before that happened. If you hadn't of broken your vertebrae you might have gone for a long time without knowing. That's kind of freaky.

It was a freakish event! I had no idea before then, although when thinking back I had a lot of neck pain when pregnant with my son ... thought it was work, etc. The neuro said I probably had issues then and it just wasn't severe enough to seek help.

I think that's how a lot of this stuff happens. My neck and back have been hurting me for years and my tailbone started hurting about 6 months before I went to the doctor. What sent me was my lower back and legs just hurting and throbbing. I had never felt like that before.

I guess when it's just pain in one or two places every so often it doesn't seem like a big deal. But when it hurts in many places and it just seems like it never gets better is when you finally cave and go to the doctor.

Why are we so stubborn?

The stubbornness comes from being afraid someone will think we're hypochondriacs or something! Mine comes from the way I grew up, my Mother was always telling us to "suck it up"... so, we learned to do just that

I'm convinced now that her Mother had fibromyalgia. My Mother had DDD, but I don't think she had fibro, but remembering how she talked about Grandma, I'm sure she had it as well.

I really feel sorry for her, look how long it takes us these days to get the right diagnosis!