After slipping a disc in my back in 2019, I was left with constant whole-body pain, which varied between 6/10 to 8/10 on the pain scale. Coupled with brain fog, insomnia and tremors in my arm and legs. Also, my fatigue had ramped up to a whole new level and any sleep I was lucky enough to have, didn’t bring about the rested feeling.
After several appointments with my doctors, I was given a referral to a Rheumatologist. Before seeing the Rheumatologist, I had multiple blood tests and an MRI scan. During my referral, I was tested on my trigger point sensitivity and questioned on how the symptoms were affecting me on a day-to-day basis. I was then diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. At the time I was pleased with the diagnosis as it wasn’t a degenerative condition. One thing I was less than happy about was the way I was passed back to my Doctor to manage the condition, with no further follow-up appointments. I was prescribed Amitriptyline, which relieved a lot of the pain symptoms but not so much the fatigue and disturbed sleep. After 15 months the amitriptyline seemed to stop working, so I was prescribed Duloxetine ( Cymbalta ). This affected me in an opposite way to the amitriptyline and made me feel a lot more rested, but unfortunately, the more intense pain levels returned.
During treatment with both medications, I still suffered from brain fog and tremors. From my experience, is very hard for people who do not have a chronic illness to understand how much we suffer 24/7 and that we are not just “Tired” or ” a bit run down”. This isn’t a life choice we make, we do however continue to try to live our best life.