Difference between fibromyalgia and PN
 

I first of all went to my GP and she referred me to pain clinic. They diagnosed me with PN and gave me RX for gabapentin.

Later, I complained of sore spots on my body to my GP and she thought fibromyalgia might be possibility. I got referral to rheumy MD and she said it was not fibromyalgia.

What is difference between the two? Gabapentin is used to treat both. Allodynia is prominent for me.

A lot of my pain is in tummy and waist. It hurts to wear pants. Pain is better in morning after sleeping overnight. Sitting hurts worse. I get more relief from standing and laying down.

I am not an expert so I may be wrong but PN is damage to the nerves and is usally from a condition,injury,illness etc. Sometimes like for myself the why is unknown. You can have numbness,pain,burning,tingles etc. For fibromyalgia it is wide spread joint and muscle pain. I think the cause can be unknown.Now for me though I don't have fibro I do have a lot of joint and muscle pain and no one can touch me but I think that is from my PN and RSD.
Have you seen a neurologist? How did they dx you with PN? Do they know why you have PN? Have you had bloodwork

I have not seen neurologist.

I think the widespread pain criteria is why rheumy MD said no to fibromyalgia. I do have pain in various locations of body, but not all at one time.

I don't know why I have nerve pain. I think the diagnosis was based on tingling, numbness, and electric shock type of pain.

With fibro you must react to 11 of 18 specfic pressure points in your body. I had 16. Usually you feel worse in the morning. I feel like I've been run over by a truck. A good rhumy should be able to do this. There isn't, as yet, a blood test or x-Ray to determine fibro. There is some info coming out with MRIs. There are over 100 symptoms for fibro, sometimes it has no known cause. I do have PN in addition, it was confirmed by EMG. So you could have both. I also have OA

I have both also. I often wonder if fibro isn't related to neuropathy also. Sometimes it is difficult to know which you are suffering from, or maybe they feed off of each other. Fibro involves nerves also, I believe. The nerves, which are located throughout your body, are the sites where you first receive impulses and also the site where you start to process and transmit them. In fact, nerves are the starting point of your pain. So how can we tell the difference. I was diagnosed with my neuropathy first about 6 yrs ago, my fibro this last April.

My understanding of this from the recent medical seminars I attended is that Fibro is a central pain disorder.

It can be triggered by anything that sets up a pain sequence.
Listed were
Trauma --like a car accident.
Arthritis
PN
Infections
Vaccines

We were told that trigger point diagnosis is no longer valid. And that Fibro was basically like having a radio on full blast with no volume control. Eventually small signals from the periphery get magnified in the brain and read as a higher pain level than really exists.

Also that it runs in families, and that an 8 fold occurance is possible if family members have it.

So yes, PN and Fibro can exist together. The PN would be the trigger for the Fibro.

Research is still ongoing about it.

I don't know much about PN, but lots about fibro.

As it is I am not positive if I have Neuropathy, but its been discussed by
more than one of my doctors. But I'm treated for fibro.

Donna:grouphug:

Makes perfect sense to me. When I read you must have 11 of the 18 points, I know I didn't, at least I didn't think so.

My mom has fibro as does both of her sisters. So, I guess I come by it naturally!:eek:Also makes sense that the neuropathy may have triggered it, who knows!

A pain doctor I saw also stated that the trigger points for dx is not accurate. To the OP how is your D levels? I thought I was told that low D can also be a sign of fibromyalgia. Though my mom has low D and does not have fibromyalgia but does have osteoporsis. So even if you have low D does not mean you have fibro. Just a thought.
I often wonder since I developed other conditions too if one causes another or a person becomes more sensitive to conditions/problems. Who knows. When I have asked doctors some times they say it is a fluke.

My Vit D level was low, but for over a year it's been much better..this last blood work it was 70. My neuro told me to continue with the dose I take and to not take a lower dose in the summer time.

Rosie, I do not think we are flukes of nature. We are a product of the things that go wrong in our world. We just happen to be more sensitive to things than some people.

I just read this morning that celiacs whom went years without knowing what was wrong, have the chance of developing several autoimmune diseases. How sad is that? Always something to brighten my day.

I'm thankful that my fibro seems pretty stable for now and I hope it stays that way!

For myself and many here I don't feel it is a fluke either. Just too much odd stuff that pre condition did not happen. I feel if doctors would make more connections between problems happening it would really help. The problem is that each specialty does not like to go outside that.

Januarybabe,

You are one of the very few people at this forum that have posted about having allodynia (unless I've missed seeing others). Is yours due to the texture of certain fabrics, the pressure of clothing/bedding?

I still have some residual to denim or coarse fabrics but not to a lot of my other clothes anymore. I wear a pettileg slip under the linen crop pants and Land's End silk longjohns in cold weather under the corduroys, denim and other pants/slacks.

Thanks,

Sheltiemom18

Fibro and PN
 

Ten years ago I was finally told I had Fibro and was prescribed Zoloft and Celebrex. I guess I got some relief, with flare-ups minimized. Just when I thought I had the Fibro thing figured out, I was diagnosed in March with PN and prescribed Lyrica.

Thats interesting , mrsD because my pn came to fore round the same period I started working on a do extensive prioprioception work to help my HMS , and all round chorinc connective tissue issues.

In fact ive probably taken that (without boosting )to level way beyond most are capable of given what i can do / have to do just to get by.

It makes me wonder then, if theres way of measuring the proprioceptiors in the periphery ( im assuming FMRI is one way ) that might show any relationship between the two ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proprioception



Basis of proprioceptive sense

The initiation of proprioception is the activation of a proprioreceptor in the periphery.[10] The proprioceptive sense is believed to be composed of information from sensory neurons located in the inner ear (motion and orientation) and in the stretch receptors located in the muscles and the joint-supporting ligaments (stance). There are specific nerve receptors for this form of perception termed "proprioreceptors," just as there are specific receptors for pressure, light, temperature, sound, and other sensory experiences. Proprioreceptors are sometimes known as adequate stimuli receptors.

Although it was known that finger kinesthesia relies on skin sensation, recent research has found that kinesthesia-based haptic perception ( This is basically what i used to help myself ) relies strongly on the forces experienced during touch.[11] This research allows the creation of "virtual", illusory haptic shapes with different perceived qualities.[12]

[QUOTE=Sheltiemom18;791707]Januarybabe,

You are one of the very few people at this forum that have posted about having allodynia (unless I've missed seeing others). Is yours due to the texture of certain fabrics, the pressure of clothing/bedding?


I seem to have all kinds of allodynia. My waist feel like sunburn and pants rub the "sunburn". The texture of clothing bothers me for things like denim. I have a system of wearing cotton dresses. In colder months I wear boots with dresses. When it is very cold I find some nylon tights that are somewhat tolerable and wear these under dresses.

Sometime my arm or leg feels warm. That is one of the few "good" feelings I get.

Unexpected things happen. I have gotten electric shocks from the metal push carts at Walmart. I now use a hand basket or go to Target that has plastic carts.

The shower spray sometimes causes stinging pain.

Can you explain to me what getting shocks has to do with all this? I get shocks all the time and I hate it. I had decided I must be an electric conductor of some sort!:p

Actually--
 

--a lot of us, over the years and many posts, have described symptoms of allodynia (pain from non-painful stimuli).

I certainly have experienced this during the most acute phases of my neuropathy attack., and still tend to get it in "flares" from time to time.

It is not uncommon in those with small-fiber involvement, in particular.

I found this in About.com this am:
I think I fall under the mechanical allodynia. I often call myself "the princess and the pea"...I can't stand things touching me sometimes, not all the time. Some days I can wear a necklace, other days I can't stand it touching me, or it weighs too much...can't stand sleeves touching my elbows, hate pants touching my legs, shoes can't be tight in any way.

Then I found this website about headaches and allodynia...very interesting. I hope it's ok if I post the link, if not, remove it:
http://www.achenet.org/education/pat...utshouldnt.asp

I think the electric shock might have to do with vibrational allodynia. The vibrations from the grocery carts get my hands to buzzing.

While I do not have the extensive sensory involvement most of you have, I do get odd sensations like the sheets feel damp when they are not or that rain drops are falling on my arm when its not raining. Forget using a fan in this heat, the breeze irritates my skin. :(Can't wear a bra, waistbands are painful even tho' not tight, have not found a shoe that does not cause problems. I shaved my maltie a few days ago with an electric shaver and it started my hands to fasciulate so fast, they appear to be vibrating and they are still doing it intermittantly. I used to enjoy a nice hot shower, well those days are gone. Water hitting my skin is unpleasant at any temperature.

:D I'll never tell.......:winky:

OMG, is that legal?;)

Hi MrsD, :)

I'd really like to call in question the FM being hereditary. I have FM and there is no one in my family that had it before me. I was involved in a car accident and it started not long after that. In fact I had the symptoms right after the accident but was told it was shock; FM back then though was not even fully accepted as a disorder.

So I believe I contracted it from the accident, not from a hereditary source :)