Fibromyalgia

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Okay, I've read that there's supposed to be a correlation between ASD and fibromyalgia (chronic muscle pain). I've never been diagnosed with it, though I seem to remember my doctor poking various points (like the bottoms of my feet) and telling me he was sure I didn't have it.

But I note that this leaves the frequent (though not constant) aching without an explanation. It occurs mostly in my neck, shoulders, arms and legs. I've also experienced nearly crippling joint pain which originated in my lower back, moved progressively down to my left knee, and seemed to be triggered by stress, at least at first. It's been gone for a while but sometimes comes back.

I remember waking up most mornings, when I was a kid, and finding that I barely had the strength to move my blankets, even though they weren't very heavy, or even lift my arms. It always took me a while before I could even move normally. I don't remember it hurting then, but sometimes it does now.

I've also found that moderate pressure can sometimes cause lingering pain, but always with a delay. Like if I accidentally rub against something or scratch an itch a little too hard. It doesn't hurt at first, but then it starts to ache and keeps aching for unusually long periods before it finally fades away.

What do you think? Is it something I should consider? I'm not sure when I'll be going to see a doctor next, but I might bring it up.

Do a lot of people here have this problem? I started reading about it, but there's so much information and so much variation, I just kind of gave up for now. I have a headache, and my whole body aches, and I need sleep. Not that I'll be able to.

Glad someone brought it up. I have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, and then later, chronic fatigue immune disorder. I firmly believe it to be an accumulation of the stress that I've had to weather, growing up as an undiagnosed Aspie. Also , I have PTSD. These things can wear the body down, when not recognized and dealt with properly.

If you want to pursue an evaluation (I would consider it)...you might ask your Dr. for a referral to a good neurologist...they should be able to give you some answers.

I have it, diagnosed with CFS also. Some days are just rough.

I have the fibromyalgia diagnosis. I used to have every symptom and now I typically have none.

What worked for me was exercise. I started with a very small amount (I was dealing with depression then and just had a baby so I mean small!!) Years later, I have worked up to an average of an hour to and hour 1/2 a day. I am curious if exercise may be the answer for others. Stretching is the best place to start for ridding the pain.

This ought to be a good thread....

Some researchers think FM and CFS may have the same cause. I posted some information about an ASD-CFS connection at http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt53282.html Hope it helps.

According to Wikipedia: "exercise seems to decrease the pain threshold of people with Fibromyalgia but increase it in healthy individuals".

However, I did see some improvement when I exercised. I used to have free access to a university gym, but I don't have that now since I transferred. The one I'm at now has a ridiculous membership fee, even though I already pay for it, so it's not really an option unless I want to pay more. Maybe I'll try some things I can do myself at home. I never liked gyms that much anyway.

As for seeing my doctor, I'm not really sure how to ask. This is the same doctor that years ago gave me ritalin because he thought I was hyperactive and then a couple SSRIs because he changed his mind and thought it was depression. He really didn't understand ASD then, and probably doesn't understand it now, but maybe he knows about Fibromyalgia and CFS and the like. Still, I'm reluctant to go in with a self-diagnosis. I think it would be better if I presented the symptoms instead, since I'm not really qualified to do any more than that.

Anyway, if I explain my experience with exercise, I'm certain he'll just tell me to continue that. Not that it's a bad idea, but I don't think he'll pursue any diagnosis given the option.

Fibromyalgia links at Shrubmed

Acupuncture, massage and hypnosis seem to be some of the best researched natural therapies for fibromyalgia.

There are a few studies that show that a vegetarian diet can help fibro - a couple of theories on this, including 1) less inflammation (less oxidized cholesterol, homocysteine, CRP) with a vegetarian diet, 2) animal proteins are different enough from our proteins to trigger an immune response, but they are similar enough so that the antibodies we produce attack our own muscles.

If you think you might have fibromyalgia or have aches and pain in the muscles, you should check out myofascial therapy - fibromyalgia and myofascial syndrome go together in many cases. Myofascial therapy is a type of massage therapy that you usually can do yourself. The basic idea is that 'knots' can form in muscles, and these knots generate pain and inflammation. When one knot forms, the body tries to shift the load to surrounding muscles to avoid the pain or discomfort - and it leads to a condition where the other muscles get knotted up. Some people for whatever reason (genetics, biochemistry, or ??) seem to form the knots easily, especially after injury or even exercise strain... I get them from sitting at a desk too long or driving.

I have spent $20 for a how-to book (The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook: Your Self-Treatment Guide for Pain Relief) and $30 for a tool called the thera-cane (which lets me reach all the points in my back and shoulders). A person could do it for cheaper using improvised tools (like a tennis ball in a sock hung from the wall - just lean against the ball to find and massage out knots in the back).

Here's something interesting. I am tempted to look into it, since I've been in a couple of car accidents, with the resulting whiplash:

http://www.co-cure.org/chiari.htm

I forgot that I used to have fibromyalgia symptoms. I had occasional pain once in awhile related to CFS. I took antibiotics to treat a sinus infection and then developed severe pain almost every night and had pain sometimes during the day. I assumed it was a yeast or fungus infection made worse by antibiotics so I went on a Candida diet (little or no sugar + other restrictions), took Pau d'arco and took trillions of probiotics and now I only have occasional pain.

Probiotics are good bacteria that can fight yeast and pathogenic bacteria in the GI tract. The yeast and bad bacteria can inhibit digestive enzymes so taking probiotics can also help with digestion. I'm not joking about trillions. Probiotics usually contain 100 million to 50 billion colony forming units (CFU) per pill. I bought three different probiotics of almost 50 billion each. I even took one for 10 days called VSL #3 that contained 500 billion CFU. I don't know if I really needed that much. I took probiotics for about 2 months.

I was actually going to start a thread on this, but then I was browsing the old threads and found one already on it, and now there's this one! I get little pains like that every once in a while, but very rarely; about once every 4 or 6 months and they go away fast, like in a few minutes! I also had other symptoms, like mind fog, sleeplessness, laziness and insomnia... it was the most prominent when I was 14, 15, 16, that age. There was a boy on another board who was a lot like me that kept saing me and my mother probably have it, or could have it.

I have been using this link to describe what typical days are like for me:

http://www.butyoudontlooksick.com/navig ... Theory.pdf