Any young pain sufferers?

I was recently diagnosed with fibromyalgia, and it is really impacting my life. I am 18 and part of me feels angry that all my problems are taking my youth away. I am so limited!

Can anyone relate?

Has anyone found a way to come to peace with the fact that they are going to be limited during what is supposed to be the "prime" of your vitality and health?

Sorry to hear you are in pain at such a young age. I live with chronic pain, yet am older than you. I can still relate to what you are feeling. Have you found any medications that help?

It's ALIVE! Another young person with illness! NO WAY! :p jk

I am almost 23 now, have had FM since I was about 20. I was a little older than you, but I had a spinal injury when I was 18 that laid me out flat for a good while too.

So sorry you are going through this! When did your symptoms start? Have you found anything that helps with your pain yet?

My one advice would be to stay active. I literally couldn't... due to other symptoms which I have described in other posts. Still don't know what the hell is going on with that, chose to opt out of seeing doctors for now. Simple to say we are pretty sure I have MS as well, and recently there has been another problem unrelated.

ANYWAYS the point is YOU! I hope your family is supportive. Is there anyone your family knows even if they are older who suffers from this as well? Sometimes that seems to help.

Email me anytime if you want! I really wish you the best. Hoping to hear from you soon.

Alice

Edit: There is no way in hell I have come to peace with the thought of being sick for the rest of my life, however there was a time when I got close to acceptance. I would recommend you at least explore the idea of acceptance, but just remember, you get to choose whether or not to choose acceptance. Make sense? I thought not. Oh well, I tried anyway.

Edit of edit: Humor helps. Also, there is a show called Breaking Bad. Deals a lot with acceptance of illness and the choices you make after a diagnosis. Helps me a lot. Very introspective. It's also action packed. You may want to try it out.

Starting at 16 I started having really severe pain, particularly in my wrists. I thought it was carpal tunnel or some such. By the time I was 18 I had to almost completely give up using the computer. I'm an artist and it was really starting to become difficult. My neck always hurt like crazy and I couldn't look down to draw on paper. I was always in pain somewhere.

Around 21 or 22 it really escalated. My eyes felt gritty and it hurt to the extent that I couldn't watch TV. I couldn't hold anything more than a few pounds. I was seeing a physical therapist and there was a long period of time where all I could do was sit in a chair and listen to a radio. I had other health issues at the same time which were, frankly, even worse.

Anyways, I'd seen various health professionals and I eventually found a good doctor. He was basically like, 'this is all in your head.' I brought up fibromyalgia and he said he doesn't believe it exists. Now I'm NOT saying it doesn't exist. Not at all!

Anyways, he told me that, at the very least, I wasn't going to injure myself, so I should become as active as I can. I pushed through the pain and started doing everything I loved again. It got really bad but after 2 weeks, the pain started to go away. Now I can do almost anything without having pain. The change in mentality really helped me.

I do, however, believe in fibromyalgia because I wake up in severe pain every day and, right now, my back is in burning pain. While I believe in it, I think it could be a psychiatric disorder (made worse by thought patterns) instead of a disorder of the nerves. It's gotten better to the extent that I haven't cared enough to change doctors and aim for a diagnosis. I may not have fibromyalgia, but my advice is that you try to ignore the pain as much as possible. You won't be injured. The more you focus on the pain and pay attention to it, the worse it will get. Don't over do it, obviously.

Anyways, I'm 25 now and I have got to go to bed or I'd write more. It sucks. It set me back a few years. It put me through hell. By far the worst pain I've ever felt was psychosomatic. I even went to the emergency room for psychosomatic pain, because it was so bad (paid out of pocket). Anyways, wish you the best of luck~

This body has had pain issues it's whole life, but as it got older, the pain started becoming even worse. now it's 18 and we have been unofficially diagnosed with fibromyalgia.

I sometimes feel angry that the body is always hurting and i too feel like it has robbed me of "prime" years. I keep getting told it doesnt improve with age

We exercise and cut out sugars and alcohol from our diet as much as possible and that actually reduced some of the pain. It is manageable to a degree. It doesn't fix it, but it makes it feel like you got hit by a small car instead of a train at the end of the day

I don't have fibromyalgia, but I am 19, and I've had severe pain and problems with my lungs since I was 17 due to excessive smoking from a young age. You're definitely not alone, and it doesn't make you any less young, even though it may prevent you from doing certain things. Hang in there, bud.

We're 21 and were just officially diagnosed with fibromiyalgia recently, although we knew that would be the diagnosis as it runs in the family. We've been dealing with the symptoms that have been slowly developing for somewhere around four or five years.

Honestly we haven't really come to peace with it but we acknowledge that it is what it is, just as our mental diagnoses.

Hey, sweetheart.

I am very sorry for your current ordeal. People do not understand the full extent of just how painful illnesses like Fibromyalgia can be.. I can identify with your problems, as since the age of 13 I have suffered with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome / M.E. (I am now 19).

The positive words I can give you are to think to yourself "This may be the renowned 'prime' time of my life, but I do not have to see stages of my life in this narrow way. The prime of my life could be when I hit my 30's - Which is still very young and I have settled down with the man of my dreams and family." [if you have this yet to come].

This may be desultory, but you may see an example of what I am trying to say.. It really peeves me off when people are so selfish and are like "I wish I'd have had kids later" or "I want to LIVE before I have kids" etc. Because, for the sake of what??! Getting p*ssed out of your skull on a weekend-ly basis!!? Kids are the BIGGEST GIFT one could ever wish for in life!!! ... The situation with me is that I am 19 and there is an age difference between my boyfriend and I - We are hoping to settle down very soon in terms of creating a family.. I may end up being a young mum, but I could not care less!!! This "prime" time of my life doesn't have to be conventionally adhered to in terms of having no ties, but for having the greater good bestowed upon me at such a young age - that is kids, marriage, family stability. Do you see my point?

You have all the time in the world and all the rest of your years to make up for lost time..
You may be ill now, but you may have greatly improved in a year or two.. Keep your head up as much as you possibly can and always think to yourself that there will be a cure one day.. You could do something proactive about your illness - research medicine, try different foods / holistics / exercises, keep a food / activity diary to determine triggers of symptoms.

In the mean time, please do get all the necessary help you can get. Utilise your resources as much as possible. Claim whatever disability income you are entitled to - at least then you could by comfort things and luxuries to pick your mood up
Get plenty of sleep and bed-rest. Lie in a dark room when you feel off it. Take naps. Meditate.

Note: I got told that someone had M.E / CFS and they had thyroid tests, albeit they came back clear. They went to a specialist and got put of thyroxine - MAGIC!!! This person suddenly felt better and had loads of energy.. So a thyroid issue could be looked into.

Take care and God bless. I hope you feel better as soon as possible. x

I work for a company which specializes in TENS/electro therapy for pain management. In the past 4 years insurance companies have cut and reduced coverage and added many restrictions to limit patient access to prescription TENS devices and supplies

You're not alone. I'm 24 now, but I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia at 19, and chronic tension headaches at 12, I've had chronic pain since I was around 10 years old in my upper and lower back, neck/shoulders, lower legs and as mentioned chronic tension headaches.

It sucks. It really does. But if it's any consolation, you are not alone.