Good Morning Lovelies

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Biscuit
Biscuit Member Posts: 4
edited 28. Nov 2023, 14:04 in Living with arthritis
Hi All,
I'm new here because I am a right wreck and have no idea what to do.

For 5 years now I have been exhausted, put on weight and everything hurts. I have been fobbed off with Fibromyalgia but hardly any of the symptoms fit. Menopause doesn't help but I haven't fared too badly with that.

Any bit of exercise and my bones hurt for a week and I can barely stay awake. This is not good with a full time job. I have solved a bit with cutting out any processed food and filtering water etc. I am still aching.

I recently joined a proper old fashioned gym. I used to do bodybuilding in my 20s (now 54) so I know how to do stuff and what muscle soreness/use feels like. My muscles don't get chance to get sore, after a light workout, 2-3 days later I feel like my bones have been steam-rollered. My knees are so painful I have given up the 'leg room.' My finger joints are now starting to grate and ache and I had a gout attack in one thumb a few years ago.

Getting up...bed or sofa...means I have to poddle about for a few minutes before my feet sort themselves out!!

Doc says just age....not convinced.....
Any advice gratefully received.....no gym tonight...home to sleep....

I'm glad this place exists, I've read through a number of posts and you seem like a lovely lot dealing with more than your fair share of bad stuff. XXX

Comments

  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 3,635
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
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    Hi Biscuit

    Welcome to the Versus Arthritis forum. The members here are friendly, empathetic, offer you support, advice and tips to help you cope with your problems. Just a reminder, no one on this forum has any medical background, if you have something medical you will need to go to your doctor.

    Your doctor has given you a diagnosis of fibromyalgia which he feels you have. Fibromyalgia is a complex condition and there many different symptoms of this. At the top of this page there are buttons which you will find takes you to many different conditions and various ideas which can help you. Are you in a GP practice where you can see another doctor. Personally, I find it helps to go to a different GP as they can differ in their diagnoses. A good idea is to write down all the things that are worrying you and then select the three most important ones to discuss with the GP. This way, as they only get 10min. each patient, you don't forget what is really important to you. Take your list with you in case you get chance to discuss more.

    If you would like to talk to someone one-two-one. There is a very helpful freephone helpline you can ring on 0800 520 0520.
    I am one of the moderation team and we all have one or more of the Arthritis "hanger ons" or look after family with similar.

    I look forward to reading future posts from you and to see how you are getting on.

    With best wishes
    ChrisK.
  • Biscuit
    Biscuit Member Posts: 4
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
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    Thanks for your reply, much appreciated.

    The doc said fibro as a 'its probably that' rather than a process of elimination. I am just soooo knackered!!! I will go back to a different doc as the joint pain is a recent thing. It just feels like my bones have been hammered. I have tried graded exercise therapy and it doesn't help at all, there is a low threshold of what I can do before I fall apart!!

    So...go back to weight training methinks....easy....done loads....bleeugh.....ooh this is new.....not tonight eh!!! :lol:
  • dreamdaisy
    dreamdaisy Member Posts: 31,520
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
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    Hello, I apologise for not replying before now, I've been having a break from the forum. I have both kinds of arthritis (an auto-immune and osteo) plus fibromyalgia, having been born with eczema and developing asthma when I was seven I was always a prime candidate for the dross. :lol: I began when I was 37 and am now 60 so know a little about the frustrations of living with it and remember well my struggle for anyone medical to take me seriously. Mine is a long, boring and irrelevant-to-you story but it took nine years for an accurate diagnosis which, when it happened, changed nothing.

    You mentioned an attack of gout, that is a condition on the auto-immune inflammatory spectrum . Has your GP done any blood tests to check your inflammatory markers and the presence of rheumatoid factor? DD
    Have you got the despatches? No, I always walk like this. Eddie Braben
  • wazz42
    wazz42 Member Posts: 233
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
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    Hi Biscuit,

    It’s good you are doing exercise, I was advised that if I hurt more than usual 30 mins after exercise I had done too much. Maybe your regime needs a tweak or two :P

    I also use cold or heat to help my joints, cold if a particular joint is swollen and hot and heat to help relax joints - I’m love my electric blanket and really relax as I get in bed!

    It can be hard to get to sleep, and hard to stay asleep if you are in pain, do you take any meds? Sometimes topping up on pain meds can help you sleep better/longer, maybe try out some routine to help you get the best sleep possible.

    It is hard to adjust, seeing a different doctor sounds like a good idea, there are blood tests, X-rays and examinations that can help work out what’s going on, and then working out what works for you in the mean time so you can have the best quality of life is a good way to start

    Take care
    xx
  • Biscuit
    Biscuit Member Posts: 4
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
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    Thank you both for your lovely replies.

    After the gout episode, I was tested and told I didn't have it :?:

    Docs have done loads of tests but inflammation comes up as normal. I guess that is normal for the population and not the individual.

    Sooo....with the strapped NHS in mind, I gave in and went for one of those 'test everything' private blood tests. if it comes up with nothing, well, then I must be imagining it...if it finds something, I dread facing the doc with it.... :oops:

    I have given up the gym and gone back to walking. Shame, I liked it but even after not doing anything but light upper body stuff I am still floored!!

    I am however trying to get off Citalopram....we'll see what that does.....

    keep going all of you, this place is fabulous as it really does help to know we are all in the same big ole boat.
    Love to you all xxx
  • stickywicket
    stickywicket Member Posts: 27,710
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
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    Hi Biscuit.

    Please excuse a brief post but I've a lot to do today.

    1. You mention 'gout that wasn't gout'. Might it have been pseudogout? It's similar but with a different cause. https://tinyurl.com/yy79x6fv

    2. Personally I'm not a big believer in the commercial medicakl tests. I think they'll almost certainly come up with something or other which might or might not be relevant.

    3. Fibro, which you mention, is a difficult, multi-faceted thing. It certainly seems to affect energy levels badly.
    If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.
    Steven Wright
  • dreamdaisy
    dreamdaisy Member Posts: 31,520
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
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    I'm not sure whether you were tested for gout and that was negative or tested for rheumatoid arthritis which was negative. If it was the latter then yet again we have a GP who knows a little about a lot and not enough about auto-immune inflammatory arthritis.

    Auto-immune inflammatory arthritis can be a sero-positive kind (i.e. rheumatoid factor is present in the blood) or sero-negative (where it isn't). I have one of those kinds. DD
    Have you got the despatches? No, I always walk like this. Eddie Braben
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