C Lindsey
I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia in 1988. At that time no one even knew what that was or if it was even real. There are still many doctors who do not understand it or believe it is a real condition. Your son needs to be seen by a Rheumatologist. Fibromyalgia will not kill you but many days you wish it would. Everytime a doctor would tell me "this is the worst it will get" it got worse. It's not necessarily the pain that gets to me - it's all the things that go along with Fibromyalgia like IBS, reflux, fatigue, irritable bladder, headaches, heat intolerance, cold intolerance, cognitive problems (especially memory), etc. My body is in so much stress from the fibromyalgia that it has caused me to have high blood pressure and high cholesteral. One of the side effects of the condition is allergic reactions. I have a list of meds a mile long I am now allergic to and I am having a lot of environmental problems because my body is so sensitive. I do know this from experience and from going to a rheumatologist (they are really the only ones who know the condition and can adequately diagnose it) that steroids, anti-inflammatories and many of the other prescriptions a doctor will prescribe will not work - they just add to the problems. Pain killers will do NOTHING! There are some tri-cyclic antidepressants that help with the pain cycle. Also, since they believe FMS is caused by sleep abnormalities, drugs like Clonazepam can help to lessen the symptoms. My rheumatologist treats me for the reflux and prescribes Clonazepam. That helps a lot. But she also prescribed water aerobics and full body massage therapy which, luckily, my social security disability paid. The biggest problem with water aerobics is making sure the water temp is exactly right. So many health clubs turn their pools up for arthritis patients and anything over 92 degrees just makes thing worse and temps below 88 will cause severe cramping. Ideally, a pool of your own would be the best bet but we can't all afford that. Get your son to a rheumatolgist and make sure the diagnosis is correct and have him/her treat him. The worst thing anyone can do is treat the symptoms rather than the condition causing them. Good luck!!