Hi Donna, Yes I agree with you as far as doctors diagnosing people with fibromylgia. I feel that no one doctor knows for sure what FMS is. I think through my experiences, I feel it's a combination of different ailments from chronic fatigue, flu like systems (which I get all the time and puts me down for 3 to 4 days. I just got over one) muscle spasms, degenerative nerves and joints, digestive system, sinus problems and everyday pollution in our environment. Of course getting older doesn’t help! At least for now I do have relief with cymbaltia from all the drive me crazy pain in my inter body. I know it won’t last forever, but a break from Fibromylgia (or what ever it is) is good. Take Care Patricia Special $2.95 shipping on many items in my eBay store! http://stores.ebay.com/pdstevensonsomethingforallstore

Hi Patricia,
I am really glad you are getting relief from Cymbalta. I hope it lasts forever!

I can relate to a lot of the symptoms you mention. I get lots of muscle spasms..in my toes, feet, calves, chest, underneath the ribs and in my back.

I definitely have the digestive symptoms..both the IBS and stomach discomfort.

I take medication for sinus congestion.

The fatigue comes and goes. Some days I am sooooo tired. Other days I am quite energetic. There seems to be no pattern.

Take care. Keep in touch.

DonnaZ

Donna, I know it's hard to plan anything because you never know what your day's going to be like. Some days it so hard to move. I've been having good days so far. I even went to a party Saturday. It so was nice to get out of the house with my husband! I'm doing some research (or should I say trying to) on this lyme/tick thing. I was reading an article at the hospital last Friday. All kinds of illnesses were blamed on everything but the real culprit, Lyme disease. This has been going on for years. What I'd like to know if by some way all us with FMS had Lyme disease at one time. I know for me I had a doctor in Lewiston several years ago that put me on an antibiotic for a few years (he said; I had some kind of infection in my blood and didn't know what it was). He never checked me for lyme. The thing is I felt great! Then I moved here and have new doctors and they took me off the antibiotics and then I started going down hill since. Until now with Cymbalta. What do you think Donna? Is there some way this is connected. I was brought up in the country and us kids would get up and run thru the woods all day. I love the wooods. Nowadays you can get ticks right out on your lawn. My husbands gotten a few and neighbors kids get them all the time. Take Care Patricia P.S. I did check out that site and saved the info in case the Cymbalta stops working, I'll let my doctor know.

Hi Patricia,

As far as ticks possibly causing our symptoms, I have only recently heard
about the problems caused by ticks.
Like you, as a kid I lived in the country
(northwoods of Wisconsin) and played outdoors in long grass as well as in the woods. We lived in a densely wooded area.
I remember that I had a tick at least once. It was in my ear. My mother got it out by using a hot match. We never heard
of lyme disease back then. If someone had a tick we just removed it by whatever home remedy we knew. We did not go to a doctor.
 

Can ticks cause the symptoms we attribute to fibromyalgia syndrome? Perhaps, then again, perhaps not. Do any others with fibromyagia remember getting bitten by a tick?

DonnaZ

Hi Donna,

I have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia and wondered at the time if I just don't yet show the necessary criteria for Rheumatoid arthritis, which I was initially checked for.  So many of my symptoms really do fit into the fibro illness.