What is fibromyalgia?
Fibromyalgia is a common condition affecting around 1 in 50 people. It causes widespread chronic pain, and can include, for example, extreme tiredness, marked sleep...
People talked about the early symptoms they experienced in the past before they knew they had fibromyalgia; for some it was a sudden onset, whereas for others symptoms built up over time, getting more painful and affecting different parts of their body. For several people, these symptoms tended to start shortly after or during a stressful life event or series of events (e.g. car accidents, sports injuries, assault, marriage break up or a bereavement). Find out more about what seemed to trigger various symptoms in people.
Debilitating pain was one of the most commonly reported early symptoms. A few described a feeling like they were getting a virus, and others experienced early symptoms like headaches, stiffness, nausea and gut problems, fatigue, insomnia, rashes and bruising, and forgetfulness (or ‘brain fog’), alongside pain. Sometimes people described this pain as starting in one place in their body and then spreading to other parts. Other people described feeling pain all over, or just feeling generally very unwell and knowing something wasn’t right. Kath describes experiencing lots of pain mainly in her hands and feet to the extent where she couldn’t lift her shopping items to put in carrier bags at the supermarket.
Catherine said it got so bad that eventually she just couldn’t even get out of bed and Francis felt so unwell he couldn’t play with her son. Rosie said her sore hands came and went: ‘sometimes I could tie and plait my daughter’s hair, other times I couldn’t. I couldn’t peel an onion for a while.’
Sometimes people’s initial pain was mistaken for other conditions like cancer, menopause, depression, anxiety, arthritis, lupus, MS, injuries (like fractures) or in the case of Aleysha ‘growing pains.’ Alexis describes experiencing very sudden and sharp pain in her legs while walking to the bus stop. Doctors initially though it might be because of the steroids she was on at the time for an auto-immune condition. Several years ago, one of Elsie’s colleagues noticed an abnormal swelling in her hands. She also had very sensitive skin, like ‘sparkler burn feelings’ and pain in various parts of her body. At the time, Elsie put it down to her debilitating arthritis.
Susan describes having experienced pains and swellings for about ten years. She had been a very active person and had initially thought the pain and swellings were simply a result of ‘overdoing it.’ One day at work she describes suddenly starting to feel very unwell, like she was getting a ’24-hour bug.’
The range of symptoms people experience with fibromyalgia can make it difficult for doctors to rule out other causes, and even for people themselves to realise what is going on, but several reported that initially doctors had thought it was a mental health problem.
Many described struggling with these early symptoms for a long time before they were eventually diagnosed with fibromyalgia. Others seemed to get diagnosed quite quickly.
Fibromyalgia is a common condition affecting around 1 in 50 people. It causes widespread chronic pain, and can include, for example, extreme tiredness, marked sleep...
Diagnosing fibromyalgia can sometimes be difficult as symptoms can vary from person to person. Symptoms can also be similar to those of other conditions. Healthcare...