Today I went to my old Rheumatologist. He will still see me, and goes as far to as to say he's willing to keep seeing me until I'm twenty one or something like that (we're going to switch to the adult one though). Why the other doctor can't do this, I don't know. Oh well.
Anyway. I was seen by a student doctor first, and I liked her much better than my last one. She was thorough, interested and listened to everything I had to say. We also joked a bit. It was much easier to say everything I wanted to when I wasn't being interrupted or stared at. She then got the main doctor, and he brought in a hoard of other student doctors to sit in on the rest of the appointment (which feels very awkward). It was sort of the same story as last time--he asked me a few questions and cut me off before I'd answered them completely. Oh well. My student doctor cut in once to correct him, which made me like her even more.
After talking for a few minutes, he had me stand up and started feeling different points on my neck, arms, legs and hips. These are pressure points, apparently, and some of them were very painful when he squeezed. The result of this test is that he has decided I have Fibromyalgia.
Fibromyalgia
Fibromyalgia, also called muscular rheumatism, is when you are in a constant state of pain, stiffness and aching. It is not a form of arthritis, and will not cause deformities or permanent crippling (thank goodness!). Some symptoms (the ones I have) are pain (particularly in trigger points), fatigue, Raynauds Phenomenon (the Dead Feet that I have), dizziness, tingling and numbness, and abdominal issues.
He has prescribed muscle relaxants to take in the evening, so I can sleep without my hip hurting. He also prescribed medication that should slow down the rate my antibodies attack/eat me. I've also been told that I need to start exercising for a half hour to two hours everyday, or my muscles might start to freeze up. It's as important to my body to exercise as it is for a diabetic to take insulin.
There is something else Rheumatoid-ish going on. While my doctor was rattling off about my only issues being thyroid (which really isn't that bad--mine's much less than my mom's or older sister's) and Fibromyalgia the nurse interrupted and reminded him about my high Rheumatoid factor. (Fibromyalgia isn't Rheumatoid, btw. It's pressure points...or something. It's confusing.) Anyway. So then he back tracked and prescribed some medicine I've been taking to help fight whatever Rheumatoid thing is going on.
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