I often talk with my clients about the fact that not everything is fibromyalgia because we and our health care providers can fall into complacency about any new symptom that shows up and think, “Oh, that must just be fibromyalgia.”

 This type of thinking can cause us and our medical team to miss what is actually going on in our body and prolong our suffering.

I recently asked a client, Lynn, who has had a long, fierce, complicated journey with fibromyalgia, “Could something else be going on in your body?”  Her description of her symptoms didn’t sound consistent with how fibromyalgia usually presents.  

It turned out that she had a couple of other significant health issues that were not being treated properly.  When she started on the appropriate treatment regimens for both issues her symptoms started clearing right away.

As a health coach, who also has fibromyalgia, I am experienced and trained to pick up on signs that something else besides fibromyalgia needs to be addressed by your medical team.

Getting accurate diagnoses of what we are experiencing in our body is key to developing an effective treatment plan and key to ultimately feeling better.  We have to be determined and persistent in doing our research and talking with our health care providers.

My own experience

I recently had the opportunity to apply this principle to my own health situation.

A few months ago, I started having severe pain down the front of both of my legs. I had been doing pretty well managing my fibromyalgia and this is not a symptom I usually have.  I knew from previous experience this was likely referred pain from my hips or lower back. 

I made an appointment as soon as I could with my physiatrist, a pain specialist, and eventually had an MRI and a diagnosis of inflammation of my sacroiliac (SI) joint and some other degenerative issues with my lower back.

So, no, this is not fibromyalgia, but fibromyalgia acts as an amplifier in the body and intensifies pain and distress and makes everything more challenging.

What to do

Fortunately, because of my training as a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach I have known what to do and I can support you in using these strategies as well:

1.  I activated my entire health care team and I also added some new providers.  I’ve been having extra treatments with my core team members:   my chiropractor, acupuncturist and massage therapist and my own Fibromyalgia Coach.  I am in the midst of a treatment protocol with my pain specialist and physical therapist.  I reached out to my new primary care physician for her expertise and she’s been very helpful. I just love her!
    
2. I’ve reached out for support from family and friends. My husband, as always, has been a marvel of patience and encouragement. To avoid being isolated in my home I joined a fun women’s business network group that provides a lot of joy and I’m so happy to be back to attending a monthly lunch with ladies from the therapy pool.  I have several friends who pray regularly for my healing and that means so much.
    
3. I’ve been working on maintaining a positive mindset (I do not always succeed) adjusted my expectations, re-evaluated my schedule and reduced stress and commitments where I can.  Several projects have been postponed, maybe indefinitely.
    
4. I am resting and relaxing a lot. My own Fibromyalgia Coach, Tami Stackelhouse often says:  Recovery is a lot of work and that work often looks like resting.
    
5.  I’ve made a renewed commitment to my own self-care and I finally made it back to the warm water therapy pool class that I love! Yes, I have to be very careful and take it very slowly to avoid causing a flare.

Does this sound like a lot of work?

It is a lot of work! LOL!

But I know from previous experience that it is so worth it on the other side.

Do you relate to my story or the story of my client Lynn I described above? 

Are you going it alone, yet feeling so sick that you are floundering? Are you afraid to let your friends and family know how bad you feel?

I truly understand what you are going through and I have the compassion, confidence and tools to help you reclaim your health and get to where you want to be.

Please reach out to schedule a Free Breakthrough Session  HERE to see if we would be a good match to work together.