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I'm jim, living in southwestern virginia

Age range:56

Male/female:Male

What are the symptoms? Pain in all muscles and joints from the neck

down, very minimum problem with headaches, sinus clogged, tired,

Can't sleep due to pain and sleep cycles are shorter.

Also have ankle, hip and back injury.

Has you illness been diagnosed? yes, fibro about 2 years ago.

How long did you suffer before you got help? Don't know, had other

problems, for example, back pain was extreme until I had 2 vertebrae

fused about 3 years ago, some of the pain could have been fibro and

I wouldn't have noticed.

Is there a time that you can remember when it started? Again, don't

know because of other problems.

Some of us have found lack of exercise we are overweight. Have

you found this to be a problem also? Yes, gained 11 pounds in

6 months, now it is hard to take off.

Are you on disability? Yes, for about 2 years

If you are any pointers for others trying to get on disability? Yes.

If you can, go to their web site and read everything you can, take

notes. Be completely honest. Answer questions completely with details.

Don't tell them things they are not interested in (your personal

problems, financial problems, etc.)

What have you found that helps ease the pain, warm baths,

medications etc.? I'm still working on that. Light exercise, too

much and the pains is worse for the next 2 days.

Getting in and out of a tub causes more pain than it relieves.

1 to 2 hour rest period in the afternoon helps some.

Drink more water, at least half gallon a day.

Less stress, stress seems to be a major trigger.

Meds: antacid with calcium, motrin, darvocet, vicodin, percocet

Do you have sleep problems? How do you deal with it? Yes, Sleep

when I can. if I can't sleep at night due to pain, I get up and

the pain is less, then if I go back to bed, sleep later that

morning and/or take naps during the day.

Do you have family that understands your illness? My wife understands

some, the rest of my family doesn't know. Some friends understand.

Some have found certain foods causes problems with CFS or Fibro,

have you? Water helps everything. Strong coffee wakes me up for

a while. Experimenting with other foods, but, the symptoms are

hard to isolate.

What type of Doctor have you found that has helped you the most?

My family doctor and Rheumy helped me get disability.

None have helped with the pain except for meds as mentioned above.

jim