For all you fibro sufferers out there I have a question. It appears I am having a fibromyalgia flare up - the first in about nine years. I have been in remission. I am not thrilled about this to say the least. Anyway, since this awful achiness in my muscles (typical tender point spots - around the elbows, upper back, lower back, thighs, etc) has started the last couple of days, my dizziness has increased tenfold. I am so dizzy and lightheaded. It doesn't seem like my bp is unusually low so I'm wondering if fibro can make us dizzy? It's not unusual for me to feel dizzy when my POTS symptoms aren't acting up anyway but this is much worse than usual. Just wondering if any other fibro sufferers also suffer with a lot of extra dizziness.....
Thanks..

trebleclef,

How do you know if you have fibromyalgia? What are your symptoms! I know when I am sick with a cold or anything is going on with my body my dizziness is unreal! It's very annoying because you can't really do anything and it doesn't stop!

Laura

Hi Laura - After I had my daughter, my body went haywire. I started having widespread pain all over my body. It became very hard to walk or even hold anything in my hands. I was exhausted and just felt awful. All x-rays, etc. were normal. The pain isn't like a typical pulled muscle or the pain I would experience a day after exercising. It is like the achiness you get when you have the flu. It's a very deep ache. Anyway, my primary care dr. suspected fibro and sent me to a rheumatoid specialist. After arthritis and all other obvious things were ruled out (MS, lupus, flu), he diagnosed me with fibro (also based on my symptoms and the amount of tender points I had - you can do a search online for fibromyalgia tender (or trigger) points). My understanding is that if you have 11 of the 18 points it helps confirm your diagnosis. When he touched some of the points, I practically jumped off the table. Anyway, it was about 6 months later that my POTS symptoms kicked in (although that wouldn't be diagnosed correctly for another five years). After a couple of years of daily pain and fatigue, I discovered yoga and was able to put my fibro into remission. Pain stopped but POTS symptoms held on. My Dr. said fibro is never cured but can go into remission.
Like you, I also feel awful when I have a cold or get sick. When this first started over the weekend, I thought I was just coming down with something. But with fibro, it is a very distinct pain. As I said, the only way I can describe it is the deep achiness we get when we have the flu. Mine is restricted to the tender point areas which is why I suspect a fibro flare up. I am really hoping it isn't anything that's going to start on me again. It is suspected that fibromyalgia can be aggravated by not experiencing REM sleep. The last few weeks my whole sleep cycle has been off because I am having to jump out of bed at 5:15 full throttle to get my at times very impatient, tween, daughter ready to catch her bus at 6:30 a.m. I keep waking up during the night too. This has been really tough on my POTS and heart arrythmias and I'm wondering if it is triggering the fibro as well.
So, that's my experience.....I just hope and pray it doesn't last.

My understanding of fibro and CFS is that they have a large autonomic component to them and often are accompanied by dysautonomia. It sounds like you already know the answer here-- your stress is flaring up the fibro and you are flairing up the POTS as well.
I was interested to hear about your yoga practice quelling the fibro-- I may try that myself. I'm doing some physical therapy now but it only seems to make me more tired. All I can say is if it worked for you before, you might want to try it again.

A

You're right - I did pretty much answer my own question (now if I could only do that with all of them ) I would like to try the yoga again but I'm not sure how I'd do with some of the positions. I think it helped because of the stretching which warmed the muscles and tissues.