Thursday 31st March - My first flare

Well I knew from reading on the discussion site that it would happen at some point but I didn't know when. I had my first fibromyalgia flare last night.

By the time I got home yesterday I was feeling pretty rough, my arms were still aching, my legs had joined in and I had stomach cramps and was feeling nauseous. I was in bed by 9:30pm, asleep by 11pm. I woke at 3am this morning knowing that I hadn't slept very well at all as I remember waking numerous times as I turned over. Both legs and arms felt incredibly heavy as though they were weighed down by ton weights. There were sharp shooting pains through my left ankle, left knee and left wrist and all of my body was aching. My skin was burning in places, especially on my knees, elbows and back, a bit like an allergic reaction but with no swelling or redness, just the burning sensation. Also my stomach ulcer was giving me loads of pain. When I got up to go to the bathroom I found I was dizzy and my right ear was ringing. It took me about one and a half hours to get back to sleep. Knowing that it was most likely a flare I just tried to relax as much as possible as I knew stress would make it worse. If I hadn't already known about it from the UKFibromyalgia discussion site it would have scared me a lot as I felt like I wouldn't be able to move due to the pain and heaviness of my body.

When the alarm went off at 5:30am I knew that getting up for work and travelling on 2 trains and a bus would be an impossibility although I had slept much more peacefully and the pain and heaviness wasn't as bad as it had been. I set the alarm for 8:45 so I could phone in sick then slept again. The rest of the day has basically been spent sleeping with a bit of reading occasionally and food every so often.

At the moment I feel a lot better but I seem to be left with some residual weakness in my left wrist, it is painful and feels like it can't support any weight at all. Legs and shoulders are now starting to ache again so I hope it is not going to happen all over again tonight. A cancellation came through with the physio so I get to go tomorrow and I am seeing the doc tomorrow too so maybe I can get painkillers and a wrist splint and some advice on what I should be doing.