As with symptoms and onset of fibromyalgia, the course of this illness is different for every individual.
Below I have summarized the course of my fibromyalgia over the last eighteen years.
At first fibromyalgia presented itself in my body as flue like symptoms. After a while the symptoms became more like that of being run down or exhausted. In the beginning my major symptom was always fatigue.
After a year or so I began to have multiple infections: bladder infections, pneumonia, micro bacterial infections, sinus infections.
After about three years I began to have symptoms of interstitial cystitis and was eventually diagnosed with it. During the same time I was having stomach pain and IBS symptoms.
By the fourth year I began to have repeated unexplained rashes on different places of my body (neck, between my fingers, arm pits, legs, face). At this time I also began to have near fainting incidents and was nauseous a lot, especially in the mornings.
By the fifth year I began to experience lower back pain, then electric shock like sensations in my arms and hands. After that, my legs and feet began to hurt, especially if I stood for in the same place for more than 15 minutes.
By the sixth year I bean to have serious problems tolerating our cold mountain winters. Any time I went out in the cold I immediately began to hurt very badly all over. During the summer, if I was in an air conditioned room, my nail beds turned blue and my body ached. And, though each year my symptoms seemed to increase, the old ones, like fatigue, never left. By this time I had serious varicose veins in my legs, an elevated ANA, and constant skin and bowel problems.
By the tenth year I began to have mild cognitive and short term memory problems, problems with coordination and balance and trouble paying attention. A neurological evaluation during my twelfth year showed that I had abnormalities in some of my reflexes, my pupils were slow to dilate, my gross motor skills were poor, and I had weakness and lost of sensation throughout my body but that my left side was weaker than the right ( incidentally I am left handed, which would indicate that the left side should be stronger- not weaker).
During my thirteenth year I saw a neurosurgeon who diagnosed me with cervical stenosis and performed a surgery to correct the condition. For the next two years I had absolutely no symptoms of fibromyalgia.
This brings me to the last three years. Three years ago my fibro symptoms gradually began to return. First I began to have serious cognitive and short term memory problems. At times my long term memory would fade as well. Before long the fatigue returned with a vengeance and then came the wide spread body pain, which I had never experienced before. It has been very hard to control and I am finding it hard to tolerate. Most people only report muscle pain with fibromyalgia, however, I experience muscle, joint and bone pain. Now that I am unable to work, I do not get infections as frequently but my stamina is so low that I often cannot enjoy the activities I once did. I am not able to make plans or commitments because some days I wake up so tired I am unable to function, even to take a shower. Some days, I am too confused to drive. Some days my house work has to be set aside until I am feeling better. Most days I have to pace myself so that I don’t become physically overwhelmed. Occasionally there are days when I can do extraordinary things like sweep and mop, go on long outings or shopping or visit with friends. Most people don’t understand how limited in the amount of things I can do because fibromyalgia is an invisible illness. And even though I constantly have dark circles under my eyes, rarely take the time to put on makeup or style my hair the way I use to, and have gained over forty pounds, no one really believes that I am as sick as I say. I have learned to just silently suffer and not expect anyone to “get it”. I am really hopeful that one day soon researchers will find the answers we need to make this illness a thing of the past.
