Remember, the doctors probably only start taking us seriously when we’re in our forties

I was 23. Naturalpath said chronic fatigue symptoms but doctors said no. I was treated by every doctor I saw. An awful humbling experience

One doctor said if I was going herbal not to see her. That doctor said Zoloft would cure me when I was 50. I was denied cpp disability

So terrified of doctors i keep my bookkeeper business going from my bed. Knowing no doctor would understand. Except naturalpath. But that got way too expensive.

In 2010 I got a new doctor and she understood chronic fatigue and fybromyalgia. I was diagnosed and got my cpp disability .

Now I finally have very good help from doctors etc.

What a difference in my recovery to have an understanding doctor

That’s the tough part, figuring out which symptoms are actually fibromyalgia and which ones are caused by another condition. It makes it extremely difficult to pinpoint the exact date of onset of symptoms. It’s far easier to know when you were diagnosed. I’m guessing we all have that day firmly lodged in our brain.

I think I’ve had mood swings all my life but when I got in depression medicine at 31 it made a big difference. I’ve been on meds for depression since 2001. I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia in 2019 which is about a year or a year and a half after symptoms started. Unfortunately, for me, my Rheumatologist didn’t explain anything about the disease back then and I literally am just learning more about it now this last year in 2025 by doing my own research I never realize that my brain fog my memory issues, my sleep problem so many things are from fibro at one point I thought I was going crazy or that I was getting Alzheimer’s. It was so bad. I am thankful for technology because without it, I would still be in the dark and thank goodness I have a new rheumatologist now.

It does seem to be largely a midlife thing, however, many seem to have had symptoms prior to that. I was officially diagnosed at age 55, and I would have said my symptoms started around age 50. When I think back though, I had rib pain and headaches for years. The headaches in my teens and rib pain in my 20s. I had migraines as a preteen into my 20s. I wonder if there is a link to that. My doctor at Mayo Clinic said he thought it was brought on by the bout I had with Covid in 2021. I do think that ramped up all of my symptoms and caused me to seek answers, but I know I had it well before that.