Symptoms of Fibromyalgia

Please share it with anyone else you know who suffers with Fibromyalgia, or think they might.

• Fatigue, made worse by physical exertion or stress
• Activity level decreased to less than 50% of pre-illness activity level
• Recurrent flu-like illness
• Sore throat
• Hoarseness
• Tender or swollen lymph nodes (glands), especially in neck and underarms
• Shortness of breath (air hunger) with little or no exertion
• Frequent sighing
• Tremor or trembling
• Severe nasal allergies (new allergies or worsening of previous allergies)
• Cough
• Night sweats
• Low-grade fevers
• Feeling cold often
• Feeling hot often
• Cold extremities (hands and feet)
• Low body temperature (below 97.6)
• Low blood pressure (below 110/70)
• Heart palpitations
• Dryness of eyes and/or mouth
• Increased thirst
• Symptoms worsened by temperature changes
• Symptoms worsened by air travel
• Symptoms worsened by stress
• Headache
• Tender points or trigger points
• Muscle pain and aches
• Muscle twitching
• Muscle weakness
• Paralysis or severe weakness of an arm or leg
• Joint pain
• TMJ syndrome
• Chest pain
• Lightheaded; feeling “spaced out”
• Inability to think clearly (“brain fog”)
• Seizures
• Seizure-like episodes
• Syncope (fainting) or blackouts
• Sensation that you might faint
• Vertigo or dizziness
• Numbness or tingling sensations
• Tinnitus (ringing in one or both ears)
• Photophobia (sensitivity to light)
• Noise intolerance
• Feeling spatially disoriented
• Dysequilibrium (balance difficulty)
• Staggering gait (clumsy walking; bumping into things)
• Dropping things frequently
• Difficulty judging distances (e.g. when driving; placing objects on surfaces)
• “Not quite seeing” what you are looking at
• Hypersomnia (excessive sleeping)
• Sleep disturbance: unrefreshing or non-restorative sleep
• Sleep disturbance: difficulty falling asleep
• Sleep disturbance: difficulty staying asleep (frequent awakenings)
• Sleep disturbance: vivid or disturbing dreams or nightmares
• Altered sleep/wake schedule (alertness/energy best late at night)
• Depressed mood
• Suicidal thoughts
• Suicide attempts
• Feeling worthless
• Frequent crying
• Feeling helpless and/or hopeless
• Inability to enjoy previously enjoyed activities
• Increased appetite
• Decreased appetite
• Anxiety or fear when there is no obvious cause
• Panic attacks
• Irritability; overreaction
• Rage attacks: anger outbursts with little or no cause
• Abrupt, unpredictable mood swings
• Phobias (irrational fears)
• Personality changes
• Eye pain
• Changes in visual acuity (frequent changes in ability to see well)
• Difficulty with accommodation (switching focus from one thing to another)
• Blind spots in vision
• Sensitivities to medications (unable to tolerate “normal” dosage)

• Sensitivities to odors (e.g., cleaning products, exhaust fumes, colognes, hair sprays)
• Sensitivities to foods
• Painful urination or bladder pain
• Alcohol intolerance
• Frequent urination
• Alteration of taste, smell, and/or hearing
• Prostate pain
• Impotence
• Endometriosis
• Worsening of premenstrual syndrome (PMS)
• Decreased libido (sex drive)
• Hair loss
• Mitral valve prolapse
• Cancer
• Dental problems
• Periodontal (gum) disease
• Aphthous ulcers (canker sores)
• Stomach ache; abdominal cramps
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Esophageal reflux (heartburn)
• Frequent diarrhea
• Frequent constipation
• Bloating; intestinal gas
• Decreased appetite
• Increased appetite
• Food cravings
• Weight gain
• Weight loss
• Difficulty with simple calculations (e.g., balancing checkbook)
• Word-finding difficulty
• Using the wrong word
• Difficulty expressing ideas in words
• Difficulty moving your mouth to speak
• Slowed speech
• Stuttering; stammering
• Impaired ability to concentrate
• Easily distracted during a task
• Difficulty paying attention
• Difficulty following a conversation when background noise is present
• Losing your train of thought in the middle of a sentence
• Difficulty putting tasks or things in proper sequence
• Losing track in the middle of a task (remembering what to do next)
• Difficulty with short-term memory
• Difficulty with long-term memory
• Forgetting how to do routine things
• Difficulty understanding what you read
• Switching left and right
• Transposition (reversal) of numbers, words and/or letters when you speak
• Transposition (reversal) of numbers, words and/or letters when you write
• Difficulty remembering names of objects
• Difficulty remembering names of people
• Difficulty recognizing faces
• Difficulty following simple written instructions
• Difficulty following complicated written instructions
• Difficulty following simple oral (spoken) instructions
• Difficulty following complicated oral (spoken) instructions
• Poor judgment
• Difficulty making decisions
• Difficulty integrating information (putting ideas together to form a complete picture or concept)
• Difficulty following directions while driving
• Becoming lost in familiar locations when driving
• Feeling too disoriented to drive

The high-lighted ones are my most common symptoms. I also suffer frequent bouts of insomnia, and have other physical reasons for some of the pain (advanced degenerative disk disease, and osteo-arthritis). I always wondered why my "normal" body temp was lower than the set standards and why my hands, feet, and nose were always cold, no matter how hot it was outside! According to this list of symptoms, I have had Fibromyalgia since I was a very young girl, well before puberty, which makes a lot of what I went through as a child make sense. It also makes me want to ask why now? Why are we just now finally recognizing Fibromyalgia for the disease it is? What took so long? And why did so many doctors fight for so long telling us it was all in our heads?