There are many sites giving you this basic information (and I will as the site develops add these to the site, but for now), please see the links if you still need this information or contact me directly.
I would like to welcome people to contact me with their stories and experiences of fibromyalgia. As we all know each experience is different and also there may be unusual illness/conditions that others may not be aware are connected to Fibromyalgia, which would be nice to make you aware of.
To start things off, I will tell you of one case: Pete is now 33 and has been a fibromyalgia sufferer for the past 4 years officially, although he had been suffering for about 2 years before this. When I say officially, it was when the government recognised him for DLA (Disability Living Allowance).

He was not one to bother the doctor about minor things and to be honest when he first started going to the doctor on a more regular basis just after losing his dad to cancer and the doctor first thought he was very stressed from that becoming the head of the family. But things didn’t seem to improve. It may well have been stress and that he was run down that he caught a virus which left him running a very high temperature and looking back that was the turning point of a very quick downward spiral.

He had about 12 blood tests after complaining to the doctor that things didn’t feel right and he had pains in his knee and blinding migraines. The blood tests showed a slightly higher count for gout so the doctor started to treat him for this, even though he didn’t drink or eat rich foods, which are the usual things for this condition.

He went back to the doctor as he was feeling unable to continue working and that the tablets had made no effect at all. He was put on diclofeniac, which seems to be the doctors most reached for painkiller in fibromyalgia. This helped a little for about 6 months and then it was as if he’d not taken anything at all.

He was sent to a rheumatologist at Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham and was told at this first consultation that he had fibromyalgia after pressing on the tender points. He gave him a booklet written by the arthritis people, which on reading terrified us both. Now he was a little depressed but this isn’t why he was put on the next step.

The doctor moved onto anti-depressants, which Pete was against anyway, but was willing to try. Although he kept stating he wasn’t depressed, but was a little low after the rheumatology visit. The single dose did nothing but make him tired, so the doctor suggested that he take two and all that did was knock him out. He had no life as he either slept through till lunchtime if he took them in the evening or he had to go to bed at 7pm to wake up sensibly. The other problem with these were as he was sleeping so much that was leaving him with a headache the whole time he was awake.

As Pete will tell you he doesn’t take any specific medication these days although when he gets a migraine he takes migraine pain relief and if he has any unusual ache or pain i.e. toothache, not fibro related, he takes over-the-counter pain relief.

We found some support in the city centre but was fortunate to meet a lot of very local people suffering from fibromyalgia and as our social life has grown so has the coping mechanism and now he has his good and bad days and moving to a smaller house has made a big difference.

I would say that life is very different from 5 years ago, but he will have fibromyalgia till the day he dies but will fight it every day, even if sometimes it does beat him.
Latest research: From the GMC in October 2006: Latest research into Fibromyalgia shows there is a connection between Fibro and Irritable Bowel Syndrome sufferers. This was on a recent press release through Reuters.

Update: Pete and I are moving down to the Dorset area in the near future. Having been spending a lot of time down there we have started a business of renting caravans out, which involves work one day a week, apart from a couple of phone calls. Anyone looking to try the West Country’s fresh air please see the website: www.southernbreaks.com (anyone mentioning Fibro Friends will receive a gift on arrival when a holiday is booked.)