AnJeL
Posts: 11
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I realized that I have been a member of this group for over two months and haven’t properly introduced myself! Here’s my story as previously written for another member, attached below: I’m a homemaker for my 3 year old son and husband of 6 years. I have an associate’s degree in music education and a bachelor’s in animal behavior (half bio and half psyc) which I finished just before I became pregnant. Right now we are sharing an apartment with my retired father while my husband finishes his degree in computer forensics (due to graduate in May). We owned a house before a car accident in 2004, but the accident wrecked more than the car. My husband was a bus mechanic for the transit administration and a part time college student. Unfortunately, he suffered a permanent back injury (blown disks) and eventually had to leave his job. We sold our house just before the real estate crash and are using the proceeds to support ourselves until he completes college full time. Needless to say, finances are mighty tight! My symptoms started after the car accident when I was 9 weeks pregnant in early 2004. I hit my head pretty hard and had a mild concussion. A few weeks later, I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes, which went away right after my son was born. The pregnancy was horribly painful and tiring. Sciatica really bad. Anyway, I breastfed my son for a year, who wanted to eat every hour and a half, so I never really slept for that year! After stopping breastfeeding and my son was sleeping through the night, the exhaustion never went away. Neither did the weird pains that seemed to come and go at the oddest times, but always upon waking in the morning (esp. bad backaches and headaches), at least for the first half hour or so. One afternoon, I'd have my Achilles tendon hurt like I had run a marathon. The next day that would be gone, but my knee and hand would be hurting. All this and I had done nothing to bring it on. I thought I was going bonkers! The tremors and spasms really suck, too (my thumb twitched on and off for a week at one point although I never had tremors before the car accident in my life). I had headaches for a several months, then they just went away for half a year, but now they're back. My doc originally thought I had stress-induced depression. It all snowballed from there. I got a heads-up that I might have FM a year ago after a sleep study detected Alpha-Delta Wave Disturbance. I couldn't get enough restful sleep, even if I slept 12 hours + a nap, so the doc sent me for a sleep study. Before then, the doc had me convinced that I had stress-induced depression and put me on Effexor, then Cymbalta, which helped for the first two or three months. I had terrible side effects after being on it for several months and stopped taking it soon after the sleep study results came in. This Alpha disturbance is comorbid with FM in a lot of people, so I’ve been told. Strangely, so is teeth grinding while asleep!?! (I use a tooth night guard.) So, from there, my doc sent me to a rheumatologist for "official diagnosis". Only problem was it took 5 months for me to get in to see the rheumatologist! I live in MD, so living in a big city and still having problems getting in to see a specialist was quite a shock! This past May, I finally got the appointment and the answer that I did have FM (he did the trigger point test and I had more than 11 of the 18 points). I went for another sleep study this past December to see if anything changed (I still have the Alpha wave disorder). I'm also seeing the rheumatologist in February again to go through all of my records to see if there is anything else that my regular doc missed testing me for, to rule out all other possibilities (what fun). There were blood tests for thyroid disorders, pituitary and adrenal gland disorders to rule those out, diabetes, MS, then there was a nerve conduction test to find out if there was a problem with sciatic nerve, etc. So far, what they’ve found entails the sleep disorder, osteoarthritis in my lumbar spine (not severe, but enough to cause general back pain and sciatica), as well as a Vitamin D deficiency which has led to Osteopenia (the stage between normal and Osteoporosis). I still have testing on my upper spine to look forward to.  I had 2 “dry” MRIs that came up normal. And lastly, neuropsychology tests to look for any problems with my brain as a cause for the memory problems I have (fibro-fog), which are most likely due to the sleep problem and meds (I think the neuropsychology tests are going to be a big waste of my time). I got so sick of my regular doc chalking up everything that I feel to FM! Example: I had swollen salivary glands for a month and she said that she thought it was just part of the FM. Sounded so silly to me! I changed my primary doc last November. The new guy told me that swollen salivary glands could be from chronic fatigue syndrome. I looked it up and he was right! He also discovered that my other PCP didn’t run many of the tests that she should have, hence all the testing listed above! Right now, I'm taking Darvocet when it gets bad (not strong enough) and Ambien for sleep every night. Non-medication help I've found includes massages and meditation, as well as lots of pillows while I'm resting on the couch! I do tai chi from videos in my living room when I'm feeling fairly well (a few times a week), being careful not to overdo it or else I'll pay for it over the next 2 or 3 days! So that's my story. I still have to set up an appt with a physiatrist (NOT misspelled!). It seems a lot of people in this support group have pain specialists, too. In my situation, my family understands fairly well but my hubby doesn't! He believes there's something going wrong with me but doesn't believe that it's FM at all, even with the rheumatologist's report in his face! At least he doesn't deny the sleep disorder and spinal arthritis as well! This makes it very hard on the days when I just can’t keep up with all the work and activities that go along with having a preschooler and a college student in the same house! Thanks for being here. Since there are no support groups in my state, it’s good to have a forum to come to for info and support! 
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