Third type of Pain

Again...taken from article at: http://www.fmcfsme.com/article_theseventypesoffmpain.php
"Paresthesia & Fibromyalgia

Paresthesias are odd nerve sensations that can feel like crawling, tingling, burning, itching or numbness. Sometimes, these sensations can be painful. Paresthsias are also associated with peripheral neuropathy, chemotherapy drugs, multiple sclerosis and migraine."

>>>>>>>>>>>

I experience crawling, tingling, burning and/or itching all on a regular basis. Various locations. Generally the itching, when scratched, results in pain. I don't know that I necessarily have numbness- I do experience neuropathy in my hands and feet. I just don't know that I go past the tingling to numbness.

That one was quick and to the point- lol.

My lower back has been extremely painful the past few days. Painful when up and especially when walking. Not so bad when sitting. Lying down is iffy. *sigh* My hands ache something terrible right now. Hands and feet are tingly. I am exhausted. Had one nap already today.

My IBS seems to be acting up a little. Was bad the other day though I had forgotten to take my lactaid (I take one every morning and it helps.) Had my latte and I think it was related to that. I know caffeine is a big no-no. I will not be giving up my lattes though. Just will not do it. I have cut down from two sometimes three a day to one sometimes two. I have also given up soda (again) and am drinking LaCroix sparkling water. I like the lime the best. I also like the grapefruit but I prefer it when mixed with cranberry juice.

My husband is so understanding and supportive of me and what I am going through. I appreciate that so much- I am lucky to have that.

The first Two types of pain

(Taken from article posted at: FM/CFS/ME Recources Website )

"You hear a lot about "fibromyalgia pain," but really those of us with fibromyalgia (FM) experience several kinds of chronic pain.

Medically speaking, only a few of the fibromyalgia-pain types I talk about here have actual names and definitions. But just as Eskimos have several words for snow, I feel like we need to have several ways to name, define and categorize our pain. I've created some of my own categories, based on my own experience and on conversations I've had with other fibromites. My hope is that understanding the medical terms will help us communicate better with doctors and other healthcare providers, while my categories will help you understand your illness and let you know you're not alone in feeling these things.


Types of Fibromyalgia Pain

The first 3 types of fibromyalgia pain are medically defined:

Hyperalgesia
Allodynia
Paresthesia

The next 4 types are my own creation, which will be obvious by their names. I don't recommend using these terms in a doctor's office (unless you want to be seen as crazy), but these labels may help you get to know your body's quirks, triggers, patterns, etc.:

Knife in the Voodoo Doll
Randomly Roving Pain
Sparkler Burns
Rattled Nerves

Hyperalgesia & Fibromyalgia

"Hyper" means excess and "algesia" means pain. Hyperalgesia is the medical term for pain amplification in FM. Our brains appear to take normal pain signals and "turn up the volume," making them more severe than they would normally be.

Most of the drugs used for managing FM pain are aimed, at least in part, at reducing hyperalgesia.


Allodynia & Fibromyalgia

A symptom that perplexes a lot of us, especially when it's new, is allodynia. That's what it's called when your skin hurts to the touch, and when mild pressure from clothing or gentle massage causes pain. A lot people describe allodynia as similar to a bad sunburn.

Allodynia is a fairly rare type of pain - other than FM, it's only associated with a handful of conditions, including neuropathy, postherpetic neuralgia (shingles) and migraine. Allodynia is believed to be a hypersensitive reaction that may result from the central sensitization associated with FM. The pain signals originate with specialized nerves, called nociceptors, that sense information about things like temperature and painful stimuli right from the skin.

Allodynia comes in 3 forms:

Tactile, which is pain from touch or gentle pressure
Mechanical, which is from something moving across your skin
Thermal, which is pain from heat or cold that's not severe enough to damage tissues

(...)

If you have allodynia, massage therapy may make it worse. If you feel other aspects of your health would benefit from massage, be sure to discuss allodynia with your doctor and massage therapist and keep track of how treatments impact this symptom."

>>>>>>>>>
I am going to try to give a picture of how this affects me. I want to document what I go through- a journal of sorts. So this is what comes to mind. :)

Tactile Allodynia: For years I have had a couple of issues that I never understood. This type of pain explains it. The first is my shins. My husband learned to NEVER touch my shins. I used to describe it as "being so ticklish it's painful." In all actuality- it is just painful. Period. The other thing is that for as long as I can recall now, I hate it when someone attempts to massage my shoulders when I am stressed. My husband had a hard time understand why I didn't like. Why it was painful. "What do you mean it hurts? I wasn't even doing it that hard."

Mechanical: Occasionally I will have a painful tingling sensation in response to clothing, like a skirt for example, moving across my skin. But, thankfully, it is infrequent.

Thermal: I do not have a problem with HEAT. The hotter the better. In fact my dad insisted I didn't like my water at a temp that burns many people...so I put the water on to the temp at which I shower and it feels so good. I used my beverage thermometer. 116 degrees. yikes! No, heat is not an issue. (Not talking about hot weather...don't do well in hot weather of 90 or higher.) But...cold...? An ice cube "burns" my skin. Being cold makes my hands ache something terrible. I can't handle mixing up meatloaf if the beef is fresh out of the fridge.

That's it for now as far as types of pain. Trying to keep this in bite sized pieces. :)

Nausea Anyone...?

Had a pretty good day yesterday. Felt good in the morning then my mom came out in the afternoon for a few hours. Had a headache but either felt good otherwise or was too distracted to notice anything mild.

Had to take a nap in the late evening though. Woke up feeling severely nauseated. Lower back was 'catchy'. Neck felt strained. This morning- same thing...severe nausea, headache. Can't wait to go back to bed. :(
My intent is to take the pain article I posted and post it section by section to get a good picture of what it looks for me overall. :)
Have a blessed day. Xoxo


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Day in bed yesterday

Spent the day in bed. Ached from my neck to my toes with deep sharp pain in the back of my upper legs. Started the day off with a pain pill. Don't usually need that. I think this flare was hormonal related.

Today I had some pain in my leg still but mostly the usual ache in my legs and arms. I took a bath this morning- we have a spa tub with the smaller type jets. While in there i recalled the reason we went with those type over the usual jets...i have never liked the full sized ones...cuz I find the painful. (long before fibromyalgia was even on my radar...) interesting. Anyway, I was able to get out of the house for a while. I didn't have to drive so that was nice- my hands cramp and hurt when I have to hold the steering wheel.

Very tired right now regardless of oversleeping this morning and taking a nap...ugh. Hands really hurt too. Have had legs under heated blanket and they feel a little better.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

And...

In the time it took me to write and post the last short post, I started having pain in the of my upper arms and the back of my upper legs mostly just above the knees. *sobs*



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Wow

A ton of pain this afternoon. Forearms and hands stiff and painful. Thighs have deep pain. Ankles tingly. Ugh!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Good start but then...

Physically speaking I had a pretty good start to the day. A bit of very painful stiffness in my hands but it disappeared quickly.

Needed a nap, as usual, and woke up to headache, stiffness, and severe nausea. Made myself get up- it's all gotten worse but well see how it goes- going to try to keep moving.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Long Day!!!

Two naps today. Pain off and on mostly in my hands today. After second nap I woke up feeling SO heavy. Like I am paralyzed. I have to assume that is the 'stiffness' referred to. Sometimes I have mild stiffness mostly in my elbows...other times, like today, I am so stiff all over I can't move for a while.

On the up side- I dreamt I went to Hawaii. Lol


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Bad bad day

I spent much of the day sleeping. Felt ok around dinner time for a couple of hours but was so tired.

My son fell and split his lip open while playing outside. Poor little guy. :(


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Bad day today. Felt nauseated earlier...realized I hadn't eaten anything yet. Made a delicious omelet stuffed with tomato, spinach, onion, mushrooms and cheese. SO good!! Helped with the nausea but I still have a headache, muscle pain and twitching in my legs, pain in my back and deep-seated pain in my upper left arm. So tired to. My goal today is to get the dishes done. I did get a little business work done earlier. :)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Ugh....

OK...extremely nauseous this morning... :(. I am not sure why I didn't have that for a while but it sure was nice!

Abdominal cramping, pain from lower back down legs. :(

Found the link to the really good 'types of fibro pain' article. Posted in the previous post.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Types of FMS Pain

http://www.fmcfsme.com/article_theseventypesoffmpain.php


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Today...well yesterday ;)

Since it is past midnight, I guess I am talking about yesterday now. :)

Had a stomach ache this morning after being up for a little while, and also pain in my tailbone that went down my left thigh. Went back to bed and slept for a couple hours until about 11. Woke up with nausea- which has been common in the past but I was blissfully without that issue for several days I think.

Had to fill out a couple very short forms- holding the pen for even a short time causes severe cramping pain in my hands...I have found that even holding the steering wheel while driving does the same thing. *sigh*

I did go grocery shopping and ran a couple of other errands. Was nice to get out of the house.

Right now my hands just ache...and my legs ache...feet are tingly. I found a post by someone about the different types of fibro pain she experiences..it was so accurate to my experience. I am going to try to find it and Share it here.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Good Morning!

This morning has started off a little rough. Pain in lower back, headache, aching hands. The usual. I feel exhausted. Two naps yesterday and I was still tired! I have to go into town today and get grocery shopping and dentist appt's done- yay.

I did forget to mention I was diagnosed with fibrocystic breast disease/condition last fall as well. That pain had become almost constant over the past couple of months and new large lumps were appearing. I was reading online and found some sites that claimed going bra-less could lessen the pain and discomfort from that, decrease the size and number of lumps and also reduces your risk of breast cancer. I was skeptical an had no idea as to the validity of the claims, but I decided to give it a try. I figured it was free to try and I had nothing to lose. I was pain free within 24 hours, and on the second night I woke up on my stomach- something I have not been able to do in ages. I had a lump the size of a river rock that has decreased a little in size already- though they do change with the monthly hormonal cycle so I need to give it a couple months. I call it success so far!! =) Nice to have one less pain to deal with.

My husband gives me a hard time with finding stuff on the Internet but what does he think dr's do when they are stumped? They pull out their books, medical journals and, yes, google. You have to be smart- you can't have every disease and you likely don't have a rare condition. But you never know and even dr's say "hmmm...the symptoms fit, let's check it out and run some tests." Before we found out about his spinal compression we thought he might have MS. All his symptoms fit perfectly. When he finally got in to the neurologist, guess what, she agreed it fit the symptoms and was worth checking out. The MRI showed no lesions (signs of MS) but revealed the spinal compression. It's the way it works- symptoms point to this, let's check it out. I saw that alot when working as a nurse too. ;)

Have a good day!!!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Greetings!!

Well, I am trying to find the best way to chronicle my journey through chronic pain. I believe I suffer from fibromyalgia but with no health insurance a professional diagnosis will have to wait. I figured this would help me track symptoms, timeframes and keep a record of things. I enjoy writing and I know reading about others going through similar things can be beneficial, too, so maybe by doing this I can help myself and someone else. :)

In 2001 I was diagnosed with PMDD. I was treated with Prozac. It helped tremendously. Eventually I went off the Prozac for a few years and did well until late summer of 2010 when I asked my doctor to put me back on it. I asked her if it would help with the physical issues I was having that seemed to be cyclical. They were not typically listed as PMDD symptoms but they did seem to come and go with my menstrual cycles. She said it should because they were probably a psychosomatic response to the mental/emotional symptoms. Stop the mental/emotional and you will stop the physical as well. And this worked...for some of them. But, I was still having the 'strange' physical symptoms. I didn't understand why and started to briefly entertain the idea of fibromyalgia as a possibility.

It was shortly after this I found myself at the chiropractor (due to the nature of our business we were able to barter services with them.) I have mild scoliosis- I was diagnosed as a child but was told I would likely grow out of it (most do). I never really thought about it much after that and since it is mild it wasn't noticeable and I didn't realize what even an 11 degree curve can do to your nervous system. I have also suffered from migraines since I was an infant...before they even had a name I think lol. So, in the fall of 2010, I began treatment with a chiropractor for both of those issues. She was confident she could cure my headaches and that she could help my scoliosis as well. But after a couple of weeks, the adjustments were becoming excruciatingly painful. The chiropractors at the office couldn't understand why they were so painful for me. They said that was not normal...that some pain as your spine is manipulated is expected but the degree of pain I was experiencing was rare. I began to dread going and would put it off until eventually I stopped going completely. I do have to say, that the migraines have in fact decreased- I still get headaches but not the migraines like I used to. Unfortunately the pain has continued and my symptoms are random now- no longer cyclical and the "flares" are much worse in severity. It is almost like the adjustments "triggered" the fibro and made it so much worse.

After doing more reading and research, I am even more convinced that I do in fact have fibromyalgia. And I found out my grandpa was diagnosed with it just the other day adding to my confidence it is the correct diagnosis. I believe it is caused by the scoliosis because it messes up the spinal cord and nerve transmissions. (Fibromyalgia is a syndrome caused by an underlying disease process.) I have probably had it for a long time and it used to be triggered by hormones. Since the chiropractic adjustments- I don't know what triggers it now, if anything, but I have a lot of pain in my neck (my scoliosis is in my lower back and also up in my neck) and the fibro symptoms are more severe on days when my neck is in pain than others so I am guessing I strain my neck somehow- sleeping wrong, turning to far, too fast, etc- who knows.

Regardless of the definitive diagnosis, if you read the symptoms of fibromyalgia, that is what I deal with. I suffer from at least 90% of them. So, I guess I figure the true diagnosis is insignificant- the symptoms and the struggles are the same.

I probably should interject something here about the chiropractor. My husband has a spinal compression in his neck (I think at the C5 vertebrae). He has many similar symptoms as I do. He has continued with the chiropractor and feels he does find relief and improvement in his symptoms. So, I do not mean to say here that chiropractic care is bad...it is just bad for me. =)

As far as pain...like anyone with this...I have good days and I have bad. And the bad ones range in severity from simply needing an extra nap that day to being in such severe pain that I am almost brought to my knees and am completely debilitated.

I will probably not stick to just the pain issues...so let me tell you a bit about myself. =)

I enjoy reading, writing, rubber stamping (though I haven't done that much lately) and making jewelry. My husband and I own a business and I do graphic design work for that. I also work from home assembling crafts for a company in New England.

I am a mom of four- and will become a grandma in the fall. I also have three 4-legged furry kids...two dogs- golden retriever and mini poodle- and a Maine Coon cat.