I'm new here. please read.

I have come here for reasons I am not completely sure of, yet. I'm 29 years old and have been privately diagnosed with FM by a friend who is medically educated on the matter but she is a pediatric specialist. I have been going through last 3 years thinking that my anxiety and depression were all from OCD which i was diagnosed with 4 years ago.

Over the past 6 years I have had constant and chronic pain in various parts of my body. The hardest part of what i go through is the pins and needles sensation that I say feels like millions of tiny bugs crawling all over me. this sensation is constant in my upper and middle back. throughout my day the sensation will continue down my back and up my neck, to the sides of my neck and throat, over the back of my arms and down the back of my legs. it never seems to be on the front of my body unless I am having an anxiety attack. once the feeling moves past my knees and elbows.. it is uncontrollable. i know that doesn't sound so bad to some people but trust me.. this feeling is impossible to get used to.

i have had severe arthritis since i was 16. I started developing carpel tunnel at 23. I have had chronic back, shoulder, and neck pain for going on 4 years now. I have a horrible time sleeping. I have to smoke marijuana and drink 2 doses of zquil to fall to sleep. and i am never well rested. my body feels like i have been hit by a train when i wake up in the morning and i am exhausted. 8 hours always feels like 2.

Even when I'm asleep I can feel my brain thinking. i have scalp pain and a nerve pain at the back of my eyes all day long and have for nearly 3 weeks now. i've been experiencing only what i can explain as schin splints or "growing pains" in very random parts of my body. inside my feet. my elbows, shoulders, forearms, fingers, hips, neck, and back. the pins and needles sensation covers my scalp frequently as well.

i have severe mood swings and what my husband and i call ultra or hyper sensitivity. i get nauseous out of nowhere and while i have an excellent memory i constantly feel hazy. dreamlike. and my vision becomes foggy.

one of the scariest things i deal with are "black outs". these happen in the middle of sentences, sometimes while standing, sometimes while sitting.. it feels like the worst "head rush" imaginable. like zero blood in my head. there is an immense amount of pressure covering my head and face, my vision goes black, my ears ring VERY loudly, i lose my balance, and slowly it all starts to come back. the whole thing from start to finish lasts about 2-3 minutes. but the pain in my head and slight ringing in my ears lasts sometimes up to 20 minutes.

speaking of ringing in the ears.. that is something that happens.. i don't know.. 6-7x a week? lasts anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour. i am also extremely sensitive to light and sounds. i can feel sounds in my body as pain. currently my son is trying to get playdoh out of the container by banging it onto their activity table and the clicking of my keyboard are actually bothering me quite a bit. here lately having even one drink has been bothering me quite a bit. i'm not sure why.

my bones crack constantly. my joints are without any cushion. headaches.. i never used to get them.. until about 2 years ago. and now i feel like i have one all of most days and most nights. the weather seems to effect all of these symptoms differently. i almost always have a sore throat and my ears hurt.

so that brings me to why i am here. I do not have insurance and have been a bartender until i had a black out at work and nearly cut my thigh open on the glass i was holding. currently working part time at a gas station and i am trying to obtain employment that offers medical insurance and is easier on my body. i don't think standing for prolonged amounts of time is good no matter what is wrong with me. I (like my pediatric friend) am 99% certain that i have FM. we have gone over the 18 "tender points" of my body and the only one that doesn't hurt or send a shooting sharp pain to another part of my body is my right elbow. so what do i do? I figure all of you would have some good advice for me. i am not even sure that i have listed all of my symptoms.

Post Edited By Moderator (Sherrine) : 3/17/2015 12:36:04 PM (GMT-6)

I've been trying to diagnose myself along with doctor visits to figure out why I'm in so much pain I just want to lay in a ball all day and cry. I have a question though do you have any chest pain? Pressure? Aching? Or someone is squeezing you?

Get properly diagnosed. Not a doctor friend, but a rheumatologist.

Have the standard tests run, including bloodwork and stress test. Go over the results with your rheumatologist. Diagnosing based on symptoms by themselves is not medically sound. The tender point test is one diagnostic factor.

Please make an appointment. With the Affordable Care Act, getting insurance is easier and streamlined.

I hope you find an answer to your pain.

You shared a lot, but are you seeing a doctor, other than your friend?

A whole lot of your symptoms do sound like finro , but you sure want to rule out other things.

Have you had your vit d levels checked...?

I did ok for many years with fibro..but when my d level was too low, i just crashed...and its been a real battle coming back out of that.

A lot of us have more than one thing going on, so we need to know and address each of them.

This is a great forum

Depending on the state you live in, you have many choices for the ACA. My best suggestion is to contact your state's insurance site, or the federal network if you live in one the state's which has delayed enactment of the law.

Public assistance doesn't have to mean no insurance. Many people here have the same issues.

I would also echo Angel and say that fibro is one of many conditions with similar symptoms. A good rheumy or even a very good PCP can make a proper diagnosis, and hopefully begin to help with quality of life issues.