Fibro Pain vs Other Pain

kjs831, Praying for you. I have had Fibro for 31 years and I undersand your dilemma. It is hard to tell if it's Fibro pain or something else.

With that said, I do find that Thyroid Disease (I have both Thyroid Diseases) can cause joint pain and it tends to go along with Fibro. Also, osteoarthritis (I have that bilaterally and in my spine and neck) tend to accompany Fibro. It take years for this to happen for me.

Usually for me, Fibro leaves me sore all over, aching and sore to the touch on the skin. Osteoarthritis tends to be a deeper ache. Since weather change affects both, it's hard to tell. This hot humid summer has been hard for Fibro pain. The colder weather, I have more arthritis pain. Severe fatigue goes along with Fibro (for me) in a deeper way than the fatigue that I get with osteoarthritis.

I recommend going to an orthopedic doctor and get scans done to see if you have devleloped arthitis. Also, if you can get your primary doctor to run all of the Thyroid panel, TSH, T3, T4 & Thyroid Antibodies, you will see if you have Hashimoto's or Hyperthyroidism. Hashimoto's can go into Hypothyroidism.

Last but not least, a Rheumatologist to run all of your inflammatory markers. Not all primary doctors will do this. I did not fare well with a Rheumatologist as they no longer will take Medicare and they refer you back to your Primary Doctor. I found a wonderful doctor that treats Arthritis/Fibromyalgia and he has prescribed a
pain cream for me that is compounded and it takes the edge off of my pain. I use heat packs with it.

If you can soak in the tub in Epsom salts, it truly helps. Use Voltaren Gel (Over the counter) and it helps too. I cannot take NSAIDS (Motrin, Advil, Aleve) and I know Voltaren Gel has that in it. You do not absorb a lot of a topical cream internally and I have had no problems with it. After a while, it just wasn't strong enough anymore to "take the edge off", hence the prescribed compounded cream. It does not have opioids in it, but, it helps.

I had to do a lot of research to find out what was causing all of my pain...hence, all of the doctor visits. You have to be your own advocate with Fibromyalgia. Yes, you will run into some that don't even believe it exists....but it does.

I cannot tolerate any of the meds for Fibromyalgia. I only take an occasional Flexeril (5 mg) and Tylenol and of course the prescribed compounded pain cream on the hard days. I do find a massage helps. My massage therapists massages me with the compounded pain cream. It's wonderful!

We tend to tense up when we are in pain. If you can go outside for a few minutes each day and sit in the sun and relax, it helps. Also, if your Vitamin D is low, it can cause joint pain. Get your Vitamin D and B12 checked. Both of mine were low at one time and it added to my pain and fatigue.

Rest. Take a nap during the day if you need too. It does help with Fibro. Try and go to bed earlier at night to get more sleep. Celestial Seasoning teas are very relaxing at night as well. Learn to balance your day. If you have a good day with pain, don't over do or you will pay for it.

I know this is a lot to take in. It took me years to get a proper diagnosis of everything.

My faith in the Lord keeps me going. I am praying for you as I know how debilitating Fibro can be.

Blessings & Prayers....

Go to American Fibromyalgia Syndrome Association. It is a non profit org that will have all your answers. Hug 🤗

I agree with other comments about going to see your doctor to get a x-ray to start, if you haven’t already done so. After that if nothing is found, some sort of scan along with an orthopedic doctor.
I usually feel pain in both shoulders and all over pain but I do have arthritis all over and lupus.

@covidstinks2023

I have arthritis in several areas on my upper neck and spine. I destroyed my shoulder in a fall back in 2024, so I know from the gallery's worth of imagining that it's there. My Doctor ordered a large amount of blood work earlier this year. Nothing wrong with the Thyroid and inflammation levels were ok. I do have a Vitamin B12 and Vitamin D deficiency, so once a month I have to go to get injections of the B12 and once a week, i take a Prescription level of Vitamin D in a capsule. I also have to get up every hour and walk slowly for 5 minutes.

I wish i could take a hot bath, but I have no cartilage in either of my knees, so it would be virtually impossible for me to get in and out of my tub from sitting.

I have Voltaren, my Orthopedist told me to use it on my left shoulder, the one destroyed in the fall. I'm going see how the pain in my right shoulder continues and if it stays hurting, I'll go see my Ortho or his PA.

Thanks for the idas, and Im praying for you too

I thought I had better post my recent fibromyalgia experience. Fibromyalgia pain or something else, hum?.
I was feeling increasingly tired and ill and having really bad pain around my lower abdomen and groin areas. This started around 10 th July.I have fibromyalgia pain everywhere but this felt different .
I live in the UK and I tried getting a GP appointment and eventually to my shock after explaining to the receptionist over phone my symptoms I got a "doctors "appointment. In fact the lady I saw despite calling her a doctor was an associate physician.
She did urine dip as I said it felt exactly like my previous UTI. It came back negative but I said please post it off to hospital for culture testing.
More than a week later after getting much worse I made a desperate call to see if results were back so I could get antibiotics if needed. NO RESULTS!!. In desperation I did get to see a real doctor who said I had a high temperature and he thought I had appendicitis as I was in so much pain and was guarding while he pressed down on my abdomen...I agreed with the GP it wasn't just fibro pain as I knew I wasn't well. What a lovely GP as he could see through the fibromyalgia and knew it was something else.
He said go to hospital now, so I did but I did say on leaving I was betting on a UTI.
6 hours later I finally see doctor in Aand E...
In hospital urine dip did say UTI so I did get my antibiotics in the end.
On an interesting note the general practitioner wrote on my notes "highly unlikely to be a UTI. "She even wrote down incorrectly on my medical notes where my pain was coming from.
So to cut a long story short, Fibro pain or something else?.
I would say trust your instincts, if it doesn't feel like your usual pain patterns, type of pain and you get other symptoms get checked out.
My UTI in my fibro body mimicked appendicitis as our bodies tend to go into high alert mode amplifying everything , even guarding when my abdomen was being pressed by my GP fooling him into thinking it was possibly appendicitis.
I think as time goes on we become used to what's normal for us but it's never easy and if in doubt get checked out..., fibromyalgia isn't the cause for every pain....

Holy Moly! If you can tell where the Fibro leaves off, or possibly some other conditions are at play, I take my hat off to you. At aged 70 this gets worse. Is it Fibro? Is it arthritis? Is it my ulcer? Is it that I'm 70? Is it the flu? You get the idea - the disease can mimic many things.

In my experience, a pain that continues at a specific location (to the exclusion of everywhere else) is usually something OTHER than fibro. When I have fibro pain, it is diffuse (all over my body) and it feels like my muscles are burning. If you have consistent pain in one location, SEE YOUR DOCTOR because it could be one of the 'itises' - bursitis, tendonitis, arthritis (and I've had them all and costochondritis as well) or a muscle tear. I send waves of healing and good luck with diagnoses.