84 Possible Fibromyalgia Symptoms

Posted on July 22, 2015 by Troy Wagstaff

84 Possible Fibromyalgia Symptoms

Of those who respect fibromyalgia as a legitimate medical condition, most of them associate chronic wide spread pain as the primary symptom. Some also recognized chronic fatigue and fibro fog as additional symptoms. But what many do not realize or appreciate about fibromyalgia is that there are more than 82 symptoms that go along with fibromyalgia, either as a primary symptom or overlapping secondary symptom.

Also consider that many of these symptoms can be unrelated to fibromyalgia and could easily be symptomatic to other types of illnesses or diseases. This list is presented as something to think about and as information you may want to talk to your doctor about.

This list of fibromyalgia symptoms are alphabetically ordered.

  1. Abdominal cramps
  2. Abdominal & Digestive Symptoms
  3. Awkwardness
  4. Bloating & nausea
  5. Bruising or scarring easily
  6. Chronic wide spread pain
  7. Clumsiness
  8. Confusion
  9. Coughing
  10. Cravings for carbohydrate and chocolate
  11. Delayed reactions to physical exertion or stressful events
  12. Depression
  13. Difficulty speaking known words, other language impairments (dysphasia)
  14. Diffuse Swelling
  15. Directional disorientation
  16. Earaches & itchy ears
  17. Fatigue
  18. Fibro Fog
  19. Fibrocystic (lumpy, tender) breasts (as an overlapping condition)
  20. Foot Stiffness
  21. Foot Pain
  22. Free-floating anxiety
  23. Frequent Chronic Sciatica nerve pain
  24. Hair loss (temporary)
  25. Headaches
  26. Hemorrhoids
  27. Hip Pain
  28. Impotence
  29. Inability to recognize familiar surroundings
  30. Insomnia
  31. Irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome)
  32. Irritable Bladder
  33. Irritable Bowel Syndrome
  34. Light and/or broken sleep pattern with unrefreshing sleep
  35. Loss of libido
  36. Loss of ability to distinguish some shades of colors
  37. Migraine Headaches
  38. Mitral valve prolapse
  39. Mold & yeast sensitivity
  40. Mood swings
  41. Morning stiffness

fibro_symptoms2

  1. Muscle Spasms
  2. Muscle Twitches
  3. Nails that curve under
  4. Night driving difficulty
  5. Nose bleeds
  6. Other family members with fibromyalgia
  7. Pain that mimics heart attack, frequently from costochondritis
  8. Painsomnia – Insomnia directly related to pain disturbances
  9. Panic attacks
  10. Paresthesias in the upper limbs (tingling or burning sensations)
  11. Pelvic pain
  12. Pelvic Pain
  13. PMS (as an overlapping condition)
  14. Poor balance and coordination
  15. Post nasal drip
  16. Pronounced nail ridges
  17. Ringing ears (tinitis)
  18. Runny nose
  19. Sensitivity to pressure changes, temperature & humidity
  20. Sensitivity to noise
  21. Sensitivity to light
  22. Sensitivity to odors
  23. Sensory overload
  24. Sensory Symptoms
  25. Short-term memory impairment
  26. Shortness of breath
  27. Sleep starts (falling sensations)
  28. Specific tissue pain
  29. Specific muscle pain
  30. Staring into space before brain “kicks in”
  31. Stiffness caused by sitting in the same position for a prolonged period of time
  32. Sweats, usually night time
  33. Swollen Hands
  34. Teeth grinding (bruxism)
  35. Tendency to cry easily
  36. Tension Headaches
  37. Tingling Hands
  38. Tissue overgrowth (non-cancerous tumors. lipomas, ingrown hairs, cuticles, adhesions)
  39. Trouble concentrating
  40. Unaccountable irritability
  41. Unexplained weight gain
  42. Unexplained weight loss
  43. Urinary frequency
  44. Vision changes (including rapidly worsening vision)This list is for informational purposes and is not a diagnostic aid. Always consult your health care provider for any diagnosis or treatment of any of the symptoms.

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14 Ingredients For Fibro Stew – The Recipe for Fibromyalgia Stew

Posted on July 2, 2015 by Troy Wagstaff

Fibro Stew

The Recipe for Fibromyalgia Stew

fibro_stewIt has long since become a common practice to share recipes online via Facebook, Pinterest and other social media sites. I would like to share with all of you the recipe for fibromyalgia stew. The problem with the recipe for fibro stew is, no one knows what causes fibromyalgia. Researchers do know what the ingredients to fibro stew are. But they don’t know how to mix them, cook them or how high the temperature should be.

But knowing the ingredients of fibromyalgia stew will at least give you a good idea what it tastes like.

1. Chronic Pain

The primary ingredient to fibro stew is wide spread chronic muscle and tissue pain. The element of chronic pain can be as simple as carpel tunnel pain in your wrist to sciatica nerve pain in your lower back and legs. This chronic pain ingredient can pierce deep into the core of your spine and it can cause all kinds of muscle spasms. Chronic pain is the chief additive to fibro stew.

2. Chronic Fatigue

A liberal dose of chronic fatigue added to the stew is very important. This type of chronic fatigue is not the Swiss, French or Mexican type of fatigue, it’s the type of chronic fatigue you feel when you wake up after a good nights rest feeling unrefreshed and worn out. It’s the type of fatigue you feel when you are recuperating from major surgery and your body craves sleep and rest to heal. You can nap and sleep all day long and still feel tired and void of energy.

fibro_stew

3. Fibro Fog

This common part of the recipe, fibro fog, is when you know what words to use, you even know the meaning of the word, but can’t think of the actual word. It’s going into another room to look for your reading glasses only to find them on your head or looking for the car keys while they are in your hand. The ingredient of fibro fog is where you know the answers, it just takes a longer time than usual to get them. With fibro fog you forget what you were concentrating on.

4. IBS

By glancing over this list of ingredients of fibro stew you can clearly see there are a lot of elements to the stew, Irritable bowl syndrome is just one of many elements to the stew. IBS is also served as entree for some people that don’t have fibro stew.

5. Tension Headaches

Don’t confuse chronic fibro pain with tension headaches. While they share a common element, which is pain, they are still different ingredients. When your muscle spasms get so tight they cause your head to ache, then you know you have the right ingredient in fibro stew.

6. Migraines

Migraine headaches are another big part of fibro stew. It has similarities with chronic pain and tension headaches, which is, terrible pain, but it is a separate ingredient to the stew and a unique part of the stew.

7. Depression

Depression is a key element to the mix. Several of these ingredients can be served as an entree or be part of the fibro stew. Depression is just one of the many of elements of fibro stew. It is often served as its own entree.

8. Tremors

Tremors in the extremities are a common additive to the Fibro stew. Sometimes your hands, legs or feet can have such violent tremors that you might loose the food from your fork or spoon. This item can be optional as it is not something that every fibro stew has.

9. Insomnia

It can seem strange that elements of the stew can be as diverse and yet related as chronic fatigue and insomnia, but this list of ingredients can appear to be contradictory at times and that is the nature of this recipe. Don’t question the chronic contradictions in these ingredients, but rather embrace them.

10. Sensitivities

Sensitivities like a sensitivity to sunlight or UV rays are a common element in the recipe of fibro stew along with other categories of sensitivities like noise and chemical sensitivities. Like herbs and various seasonings, the sensitivities can vary according to taste and circumstances.

11. High Sensitivity To Stress

Any chef or health care provider knows that stress, through no fault of your own, is a major component to many medical conditions like high blood pressure, migraines, and fibromyalgia. Use the sensitivity, ingredients according to how your stew works.

12.  Night Sweats

Night sweats are also an optional ingredient, however, it is more common than you might think for a good recipe of fibro stew.

13. Coordination Issues

Some people thing that the coordination issue ingredients are related to other parts of the stew, but it is a surprisingly popular element to the stew.

fibro_awareness_subart

14. Anxiety

Anxiety is another often overlooked, but a big part of fibro stew. It’s not for everyone, but it is a part of a fibro stew of many people. Use accordingly.

There are even more parts to a typical fibro stew. We have only scratched the surface of what goes into the fibromyalgia recipe. There are many factors and other parts to consider when listing all that goes into chronic fibro stew.

As we said at the beginning, we don’t know how long to cook this recipe or at what temperature or in what proportions, but knowing what goes into fibro stew can give you an approximate idea of the fibro stew flavor.

Just as fibro stew is real so are the ingredients. This fibro stew mentions fourteen ingredients. There are more than seventy symptoms. Add to the main ingredients the other ingredients (symptoms) according to what you suffer from and viola, you have a tasty painful fibro stew.

Do you have any other ingredients that are a part of to your fibro stew that you would like to share with us? I’ love to hear them.

Troy Wagstaff ©

This is for informational and entertainment purposes only. This is not medical advise. Consult your health care provider for medical advise.

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The Most Popular Fibro Posts Of The Last Two Weeks

Posted on June 26, 2015 by Troy Wagstaff

The Most Popular Fibro Posts Of The Last Two Weeks

I plan on posting about every two weeks a post of links to the most popular fibromyalgia posts. Since this is only the second time this year that I have done this, this post will have a larger list than upcoming posts.

most_popular_posts_of_the_last_two_weeksFibromyalgia And Depression

This post talks about depression from the standpoint the having fibromyalgia is depressing and that depression is one of many symptoms of fibromyalgia.

Victimization Caused By Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue or other Invisible Illnesses

A victim is someone who has had something bad happen to them, against their will. This article explores that idea in regards to fibromyalgia.

Winner Of The 2015 Visibility Award

CallahanWriter.com was a recipient to the 2015 Visibility Award for an article on my 31 year journey with fibromyalgia and the efforts of the blog to explain one of the biggest invisible illnesses to the public.

IS FIBROMYALGIA THE END OF LIFE AS WE KNOW IT? PART 1

This article asks the question “Is fibromyalgia the end of the life as we know it and then examines the issue in detail which includes a part 2 article and there will be one or two more posts related to this topic.

Review Of The Movie “Cake” and Comments About Chronic Pain

The movie Cake with Jennifer Anniston is about a character with chronic pain. I look at the movie from the perspective of one who has fibromyalgia.

My 31 Year Journey With Fibromyalgia

thirty-one years ago I has mis-diagnoses with Ankylosing Spondylitis, a form of arthritis. This non fiction short story takes you though my journey finally getting an accurate diagnosis of fibromyalgia and eventually the proper treatment for it.

Life With fibromyalgia – More Than Pain, Fog and Fatigue

Explores other aspects of fibromyalgia beyond the common symptoms of pain, fog and fatigue.

Fibro Whatchamacallit

This post delves into the annoying symptom of fibro fog.

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Book Review – A Voice Of Hope

Posted on June 17, 2015 by Troy Wagstaff

Book Review – A Voice Of Hope

A Voice of Hope

By Connie Bricker Shaler

You can pick up a copy of her book at http://www.shalerpublishing.com/

On the back cover of the book where it gives you an idea of what the book is about, it asks “Are you trying to cope with depression, chronic fatigue syndrome, grief, anxiety, lingering illness, or imminent death?”

The story takes a look at the spiritual side of Connie Bricker Shaler and her poor health spanning a twenty-eight year period. It is her spiritual journey.

a_voice_of_hope“A Voice of Hope” doesn’t read like a journey at all. It reads like a Christian self help book or a Christian devotional book. The key words printed on the back cover imply it is being marketed as a Christian devotional book. As such, it is a good book.

Sadly, it doesn’t talk that much about her depression and Chronic Fatigue.

Based on how this book was presented to me and based on what the back cover said, I went into the book looking for a story of a person and how sick they were with depression and Chronic Fatigue. How did those illnesses affect her ability to carry on or did those chronic illnesses interfere with relationships, work, mothering, etc. I expected those ideas to be the subject of the book since depression and chronic fatigue were mentioned as much as they were.

I need to say up front that this book is worth the read. It is thought provoking and inspiring. However, I was disappointed because it referred very little to how her spiritual journey affected her illnesses. Her journey was inspiring, but I would like to have seen how her journey was affected, step by step.

I would like to have had her explain how her CFS affected her daily living over time and how, during the flare ups, her spiritual encounters helped her. There is only a little story behind some of the narration and reflections and then it isn’t in any chronological order.

So enough bashing, because that’s what I feel like I’m doing. I don’t want to come across as bashing the book because it is a good Christian devotional book and if you go into the book properly prepared, I think you will find it enjoyable and inspirational.

I think she should do a book or ebook with just her poetry.

When I realized “A Voice of Hope” wasn’t what I expected, I didn’t put it down or throw it out. I kept reading. I read it like a devotional book, no longer looking for the correlation between her illnesses and here spiritual journey.

My copy of the book has my handwriting in the margins and many sentences highlighted or underlined. I was inspired by many of her thoughts and touched by many of her poems. I have some new outlooks on different aspects of my journey with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome.

Her typical format is to start of a section with some narrative, an occasional original poem and then some related quotes and then a reflection box which often summaries that section and asks probing questions getting you to think about what you have just read. Often those reflections encourage you to think and apply her ideas in your life.

She includes many of her poems and they are very good. Her narration is good also. The book is laid out nicely and it’s got a good readable font. Its 179 pages.

I should have been able to read it in a few hours, but it took several days of reading to get through it because it caused me to think and ponder. It was an inspirational book more than it was an entertaining book. The only real complaint is that for me, it would have been nice to have her narrative and poems interspersed with the chronology of her illness so we knew how she was feeling and what she was thinking about at the time certain events happened. It would also be nice to know how life and her chronic illnesses are doing at this later stage in her life.

I endorse this book wholeheartedly and recommend reading it from the standpoint of being a Christian devotional book more than anything else. I would lovingly encourage her to get it on ebook at an affordable price because this book as the ability to touch and inspire many people, both with and with chronic illnesses.

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Fibromyalgia and Depression

Posted on May 28, 2015 by Troy Wagstaff

Fibromyalgia and Depression

Some studies and reports say the up to 50 percent of all fibromyalgia patients suffer from depression. We know that depression, anxiety and all other mental health issues are a real physical disease that can be treated with the right medicine. Often many of these mental health disorders like depression are rooted in chemical imbalances within the brain. I don’t know for certain just how many fibro patients are plagued with depression or anxiety but to me, it makes perfect sense that so many would be thus affected.

Consider what we typically go through as fibro sufferers. Chronic pain, mental fog, fatigue, pressure, headaches, migraines, sore joints, malaise, insomnia and countless other symptoms. It’s no wonder that so many fibromyalgia patients have depression problems.

I would be willing to bet that almost all chronic illnesses have a higher percentage of their patients afflicted with depression. The chronic pain of fibromyalgia drives me crazy. Sometimes I just get furious in my mind that the dull, burning and aching sensations deep within my core just won’t stop. Pressure develops from deep-seated aches and pains that make me feel like a volcano is going to explode from somewhere on my body to release that pressure. But that volcano never appears and the pressure eventually relaxes.

When that happens every day, day in and day out, week in and week out, month in and month out, year in and year out, with no end in sight, it can make you feel like you are going to loose your mind. Perhaps that’s what starts the depression. Feeling the pain and know that while pain relievers will help they will not cure the pain. When all you have to look forward to is endless pain that is depressing.

fibromyalgia depressionI know that there are many who suffer from fibromyalgia who do not respond well the medicines presented to them. Perhaps they haven’t met the right doctor or just have a very complicated case of fibro. But for most people, we respond to one degree or another to medicine that treats the symptoms. Depression is another symptom of fibromyalgia. That would be depression secondary to fibromyalgia. But there are people who have depression independent of fibromyalgia. Whichever one you are, get help. Get medicine. But beware. Just like not every medicine will help fibro, not every medicine will work the first time with depression. Sometimes you have to try one medicine for a few weeks or a month, or so. If it doesn’t work, don’t worry. Try another one. There are enough depression medications out there that the chances of finding one that will work are very good. I know that for the symptom of intense muscle spasms, it took three or four tries to find the right kind of muscle relaxer to help me sufficiently. It turns out that I take one non drowsy type during the day and a different muscle relaxer during the night that makes me groggy. That way, I get help with my severe insomnia. Depression medicine can be similar in that it may take several tries to get the right one.

Medical scientists know far more about depression than they do about fibromyalgia so while you are forced to suffer pain and other symptoms like fatigue and fog etc. with the fibro, you should almost never have to suffer from depression. Just go to the doctor with your eyes open and you perception in check. But whatever you do, get help and don’t be tempted to self medicate, meaning drugs and alcohol. I have an alcoholic brother with PTSD as a Vietnam vet. He self medicated with alcohol and he has a slew of health problems as a result of the overuse of alcohol including the ravages of a stroke.

Don’t stand idly by and suffer from anxiety or depression. Get help. With fibromyalgia you have enough to worry about with the pain, fog, fatigue and dozens of other potential symptoms. You didn’t ask for fibro and you didn’t ask for depression. Get all the help you can with depression and maybe someday fibro will be like depression, take one or two pills and your fibro will no longer be a problem. We can at least hope, right?

Troy Wagstaff ©

I have no medical training. I am writing this article as friendly advice. I take no responsibility for what you do or your actions regarding this information.

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