So what I've been given is a clinical diagnosis: fibromyalgia, which can only be diagnosed after a bunch of other things (as above) have been eliminated.


Wow Scott. Someone on my Yahoo group, a good friend of John and I's from back on the BBS, just got diagnosed with that as well. If you find any good literature or anything useful that helps you, can I ask you to send me the links or titles or something so I can pass it along to her? Thanks!

The good news: while it's an autoimmune disorder, it's not degenerative, nor fatal, nor any of a number of other nasty things I've been imagining throughout the testing for the past few months.


The bad news: they don't know what causes it, nor do they have a treatment for anything other than symptoms.


The other good news: most of the symptoms can be treated by lifestyle changes: exercise, better sleep (sleep is ultra-important), no caffeine, eat on a schedule, lessen stress and anxiety. The fatigue and pain can be treated with a drug (Effector), which can work at very low doses -- it does stuff with serotonin and the like, all of which I will be investigating heavily.


The really good news: I can stop worrying about what it might be, and get on with living my life. I also konw that, apart from this weird disorder, I'm very healthy. :-P


Hang in there, and do whatever it takes to be okay. I know you'll be allright, and I'll keep you in my prayers and thoughts.

Brenda