New here also/long

[Guest guest]

Hello all! I have been reading all your messages the past few days and

decided it was time to jump right in. (oh,oh bad choice of words, LOL!)

My name is Sherri and I am 40 yrs old. I was diagnosed with CFS in 2000 but

think I've been suffering since 1993. Back then, I just thought it was

depression. I had lost my sister who was 9 months pregnant in a car

accident. We were in the military at the time (and I was healthy) We were

2000 miles away when it happened. Had to get on a plane and come back home

to Indiana. It was the worst time in my life then. Anyway, we got out of

the service in March of 93 and moved home to try and take care of the 5 kids

she left behind.

In 1996 I got pregnant and that is when alot of my physical problems

started. Thought I was gonna die! Had so many problems so when I had my

son I thought I was going to get better and never did. Even after having my

baby (which is another story in itself) I was suffering from deep

depression, tired all the time (extremely). I cried almost all day and

night. Couldn't figure out why I felt this way because I had this beautiful

baby boy. In the years before I had him, I was crying and thought about

dying all the time. I would actually pray to God everynight before I went

to bed asking him to take me. I couldn't stand the thought of facing one

more day. Thought my kids would be better off without me.

In 1997 I finally went to another doctor and she diagnosed me with sever

clinical depression and put me on prozac. I also was hypothyroid at the

time and helped me with that. So far, my thyroid is working okay. Just had

it tested a couple weeks ago. The prozac worked some, at least I wasn't

crying all the time. I was still in pain (meaning sadness) but could at

least cope with the daily things in life. Decided to try and get a job in

2000. Was a cashier at Wal-mart. Started out just a few hours a week

because of being tired. Really thought working would help with that. The

last day that I worked there was on a Saturday and I had worked a couple of

hours and suddenly got very tired and sick. Went home at 2 p.m. and slept

the rest of the day and night, got up Sun morning for about 15 min and went

back to bed until Monday. Got up and made appt to see doctor. She

diagnosed me with CFS but didn't do anything except up my prozac. I had to

quit work because I couldn't cope, which was only a couple months after I

started.

This past January I woke up with a really sore and stiff neck. Thought it

would go away so waited a few days. It got worse so went to a chiropractor.

He said that my neck was curved the wrong way and my back went at an angle.

I had 3 treatments a week for 6 weeks and was still getting worse. Went to

my reg doc and she thought it was a pinched nerve so gave me Skelaxin and

saw me the next week. Then she decided to put me on prednisone for 15 days.

I was sicker than a dog and it seems to me that is when my whole entire body

went bad. Now, I have all of the 18 tender points, can hardly walk. Can't

do my regular household chores. Getting severe fibro fog. The whole

shebang. I didn't realize that FMS could come on so fast????

I do not have insurance so we decided to do two tests last week. One was my

thyroid and the other was an ANA test which both came back okay. Thyroid

was normal and the ANA was negative. She also changed me to Effexor XR (In

2001) and gave me Zanaflex and Celebrex. Celebrex isn't doing any good.

Neither are the relaxers. I called her back yesterday to see what tests we

could do next and she said that we could do all the blood tests in the world

and I would still have to see a Rheumy so she is done with me now. Just

wants to forget about me and send me to the RH.

I am soooo confused and aggrivated. Dr also told me a month ago to try for

disability. I called the SSS office and they told me since I haven't worked

(oh, they haven't raised kids?) in the past ten years I was out of luck. I

have tried and tried to get insurance but everyone turns me down. So now I

am kinda stuck.

Thanks for listening and sorry this was soooo long. Hope to get to know you

all better. I may not post that much because of the depression but will at

least try.

Cyberhugs,

Sherri