i had to see a rheumatologist in order to receive my fibromyalgia diagnosis, but getting there was personally hell for me because i didn’t know a) what was going on with me and b) where to start. my fibromyalgia pain started with severe period cramps, like couldn’t move or get out of bed by myself bad. so i had to go through a gynecologist first, and she did an explorative laparoscopy on my uterus and ovaries. they found nothing and then sent me to GI, where i got an upper endoscopy and colonoscopy. they found nothing and finally sent me to rheumatology. i swear to you, i had gone through 2 procedures and a year and a half of this, just for the rheumatologist to diagnose me with fibromyalgia after 10 minutes of meeting with him. i was diagnosed at 16, and i’m about to turn 21 and the best thing that has worked for me is cymbalta. physical therapy has also been really beneficial to me in the past, and using things like heating pads and tens units have also been helpful. just trying to stay active in some form has helped a lot, i’ve noticed when i’m sedentary and have been laying around a lot that my pain is worse and i get really stiff and tender. i live in the country, so i normally just try to go outside and walk around while looking for mushrooms/rocks/or cool plants for like 10-15 minutes every other day. i’m trying to get to a point where i do that every day, but i have migraines almost daily so sometimes being in the bright sun with the noises of nature can be a bit too much for me. but in short, a rheumatologist is where you should try to be seen for a diagnosis and they’ll help guide you too!

Cymbalta didn’t work for me if anything I got sicker. I try to be active as much as I can. I feel like they diagnosed me with fibromyalgia because at the time they couldn’t figure what is wrong with my body. A rheumatologist diagnosed me.