The picture says it all. Living with Fibromyalgia is painful and a number of people will never find relief of that pain. I'm on a mission to find relief but at times wonder if I will ever truly be pain free. Every symptom listed in the picture is present in most sufferers most of the time. It's not just one or two of these symptoms...it's most of them, if not all of them, all of the time. I can say out of these 23 symptoms, I have 19 of them everyday. No wonder I am always sick, always tired and always feel so run down. It's exhausting being a host to these ailments.

Today I had my first appointment (out of 20) at the Fibromyalgia Center up North. This appointment consisted of a 30 minute soft tissue massage and 2 trigger point injections in my back (if you look at the picture of where the woman has her fingers, that is where I got the injections on each side). Now I'm not feeling as great as one would expect after getting a massage....I never do. I can tell exactly where she massaged me as the areas hurt...tomorrow they will hurt more. The injection sites are tender which is to be expected. I got a headache after the massage and was extremely tired immediately afterward as well. I found it difficult to do much the rest of the day after returning home due to the fatigue.

From what I understand the trigger point injections help the muscles stay relaxed for a few hours longer than they would without it. This allows the body to heal according to the Dr - the theory is that over time the massage will hurt less and I won't need the injections as the muscles will learn how to stay loose instead of tightening up again so quickly. The injections also serve partly to help relieve any pain associated with the massage as well - so it's an effort to help the muscles stay loose and keep them from being as sore as they would be without it.

I'm really new to all this alternative medicine so I don't want to jump to the conclusion that it isn't for me.....if asked right now, I don't feel good and probably would tell you that I am not sure about all this....but I need to give it time to work - I have an appointment scheduled every Monday for the next 4 wks......I'm hoping to be able to see some kind of positive benefit/effect after a couple more appointments. I honestly just don't quite understand how the massage works to help, although I've read about it, I have links here on my blog about it as well but still don't "get it" - I know the body functions best when all areas are working together so I'm sure the massage is one aspect of getting the body to work in harmony with other vital components.

Bottom line, I just want to feel better NOW...not in 4, 5 or 6 weeks from now....NOW......which I know isn't going to happen. It's taken many years for me to get to this point, so it's going to take some time to reverse the causes that got me here.

At my appointment today I also received a preliminary treatment plan pending them getting all my labs and medical files in. Once those all come together I will have more things included such as supplements, IV nutrient therapy and nutritional counseling to help everything work together to maximize the benefits.

Right now it's just all unclear to me how this will all come together to help me feel better as it seems that the entire treatment plan consists of a weekly massage with injections and some chiropractic, 1x each 5 weeks I'll see a pain management Dr and 1 time a counselor if I want or feel the need to see one. I'll also get some nutritional counseling in the process and the nutrient therapy will be added if needed once all my labs are in and reviewed. About 10 wks into it I will have the option to explore accupuncture or continue with the massage and weeks 15-20 will start some physical therapy.

The goal is that at the end of 20 wks I will be less sensitive in my soft tissue/muscles/joints, be able to exercise more with less pain/fatigue, be more energetic and be well on the road to a healthier, less painful me. I hope it plays out this way - I need to trust and just let go of any doubts I am feeling right now because they could potentially hamper my progress - let go and let God as the saying goes.

On the Mayo Clinic side of things I'm still waiting for them to call - I had to go into the lab on this last Friday to get yet another blood draw as one of the tubes of blood couldn't be processed for some reason so they (the lab) needed more blood to process the one test that was ordered (one out of many)