Fibromyalgia Community

Hello,

I have been procrastinating joining a support community because I never knew what was wrong with, but I just knew I didn't feel good...

Yesterday, after a few visits since retiring from active duty in October of 2010, my PCM at the VA Clinic did an exam, and diagnosed me with Fibromyalgia. I am still not sure how to feel about that because I was always under the impression that a "syndrome" is not a real diagnosis and is not really recognized. It just means that you have a whole bunch of symptoms that can't be explained, so we need to call it something so you will go away... I question the credibility of the diagnosis, even though I do have the symptoms, and everything else that can be ruled out has been.

I had Mono in 1992, and was infected with a severe case of Epstein Barr Virus in 1998. I have been telling people and doctors for years since then that I have never felt right again after that, and that was when my symptoms started and just began getting worse.

I am a 23 year military veteran, now retired and 44 years old. My symptoms:

Severe fatigue not explained by other conditions.

Memory or concentration trouble

Muscle pain

Multi-joint pain/burning without swelling or redness

Unrefreshing sleep

Exhaustion after physical or mental activity

Mood changes/irritability

No one has been able to help me. I firmly believe that there has to be a link here between the Mono/EBV and FM, but I can't find any supporting documentation or studies to confirm this.

All I know is that my quality of life is degrading more and more every year, and I am so tired of being tired, and hurting with that feeling of intense sleepiness that makes it so hard to concentrate... I go to bed and wake up feeling like I haven't slept, I wake up often at night and if I sleep too long even though I feel like I could sleep for days sometimes, it makes the fatigue and pain worse.

I have had significant service related injury to both of my knees, and a have had a total of 3 surgeries on each knee (2 scopes with debridement, and patella re-alignment), but I am still left with moderate to severe patellofemoral pain due to both my kneecaps not having any natural padding left and causing pain when the patella rubs against the femur. This is not correctable with anymore surgery, and my knee joint is ok, so that along with my age rules out knee replacements. I am stuck with pain management to control the pain so I can continue to work full-time. This medication also helps with the FM pain, but the fatigue still makes me miserable.

I take Flexeril and bedtime that helps some with the pain and allows be to get a little more sleep. My pain medication that I have been on for quite sometime is Vicodin. I tried the longer lasting 12 hour pain meds, but I did not like the way they made me feel and the fatigue which is already bad, it made worse.

I take a multi-vitamin, Vitamin C, Vitamin B-50, Garlic, Flaxseed daily. I also take Panax Ginseng, but not everyday as it raises my blood pressure that I take meds for.

I see some other medications that are mentioned for helping with fatigue, but I am not keen on taking an anti-depressant when I am not depressed. My symptoms are physical, and the sleepiness is what I am having a really hard time with.

What meds that are discussed relating to FM can truly help with the fatigue part? If I could deal with this part a little better it would be easier to cope with everything else...

Thank you!