Survey...sort of?

[Guest guest]

Hello, I've just subscribed and I thought I'd send this, but I'm not sure this

is the right place. Apologies if it isn't.

Age range:

29

Male/female:

female

What are the symptoms?

chronic tiredness, confusion, pain from head to toe and in specific areas

(mostly in the back arms and legs), paresthesia, contractures, irritable bowel

syndrome, dismenorrhea, heavy premenstrual syndrome, lack of coordination,

general clumsiness, costochondritis, sleep problems, frecuent throat and bowel

infections, pain with sexual intercourse

Has you illness been diagnosed?

yes, only two days ago...finally

How long did you suffer before you got help?

9 years

Is there a time that you can remember when it started?

yes, and most of the symptoms at once, I had a thyroid infection ten years ago

and everything seemed to have gone downhill ever since, but the worst has been

for the past two years

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

be a problem also?

yes, I put on 22 kilos in two years (1996-98) and I have only lost 6

Are you on disability?

no

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

What have you found that helps ease the pain, warm baths, medications etc.?

warm baths for the back and sternum, but cold showers from the knees down,

relaxing and stretching excercises, a good sleep (virtually impossible though),

aines don't work with me, paracetamol has never done anything either (that's why

I've used mostly ibuprofen and aspirin to treat almost every pain, except of

course fybromialgia pains, as they don't work in my case), I tried diazepam and

I didn't like the side effects, I've just started taking tryptizol but I don't

know if this will work

Do you have sleep problems? How do you deal with it?

again with warm baths, always wearing a tight tshirt to prevent stiffness in the

morning (even in summer), as I said, I'm now using tryptizol, and I feel better

when I wake up, I have better quality sleep, but I think that could be auto

suggestion, as I've only taken it for a few days and they told me it works from

third or fourth week onwards ? I have to get up quite early now in summer, but

my tendency is to sleep later, so I don't know how I'll manage not to break the

routine once I don't have to to go work in the mornings, but I'm sure I'll have

managed to follow some sort of routine with the help of all this

Do you have family that understands your illness?

well, some do some others don't, it seems now there is a diagnostic by a

" proper " doctor they try not to make hurting comments anymore, even if I've

known I suffer from fbromyalgia since I first read about it in 1994

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

I can't tell, but one thing's for sure, if the abdominal problems worsen then

fibromyalgia pains worsen too, at least with me

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

the last rheumatologist I saw, who finally diagnosed the disease without any

doubt (bless him for that) and my gp who has followed all the proccess for the

past year and a half, she's been really helpful

Well, thanks.

María, from Spain