i've had fibro most of my life.was only formaly diagnosed 2yrs ago.
my mom also has it as well as my brother. my rheumatologist prefers to call it inter muscular rheumatism.it's like a combination of arthritis in soft tissue and cerebral palsy.the messages that are being sent to the nerves are wrong.
like when you have a sprained ankle it's supposed to hurt , only when you haven't injured yourself you feel as though you have.this is why things like amytriptiline work,they block the receptors partially.gotta watch it though,i don't notice things like hot stove elments as easily and once thought an element was off when it wasn't,gotta a nice burn.
i've found that getting consistantly 8hrs sleep a night keeps me from having flare ups.losing weight has helped to manage pain so that i could reduce my meds.i also find that i can't stay in one position to long,sitting or standing,i need to move every 20min even if it's just to stretch.
i've also noticed that a flu can trigger a bad flare,as well as severe stress,my allergies ,and cold /damp weather.
one of the most irritating symptoms of fibro ,i find,is that if i allow myself to get overtired or off routine when i go to bed and finally try to go to sleep my skin all of a sudden gets really itchy.doc says that has something to do with the mixed signals being sent to my nerves.extra motivation to keep on track