A Question for My Friends with Fibro (or for those with back problems)

If I get real angry, it feels like I am being electrocuted. This happens to my whole body at once and it's extremely extremely painful. I think it is related to fibro. I try very very hard never to get real angry. When I had the hernia in my stomach repaired, I had the same problem if I moved and I had to be catherized for several days because I could not pee... I was in so much pain, if I moved I spasmed...the doctor even felt it, and he gave me something in the iv.

I am much better on a daily basis but extreme anger or pain will set off something awful and that takes a long time to leave. Fortunately outside of these episodes, I no longer need daily pain meds like I did before I was healed in a healing service of my diabetes.

When I feel like I am being electrocuted, there is no warning, just a wave of pain and my whole body is in a jolt.

It could also be your back though, years ago I had problems but the electical type pain went down my legs.. from my lower back... but that was years ago..

Either way I hope you get your answers and find out how to stop it.

Thanks, Heather. The first time was quite "shocking". :-) Then today, when it was so strong and knocked me out of my chair, that concerned me. What if I was driving and that happened?

Frightening thought. I hope you get some answers. I try hard not to get angry so it won't happen.. but I'll admit I don't tend to drive as much as I did. I have don't seem to have the patience I once had.

I understand the strong, the first time it happened to me I was sitting in a car and my whole body stiffened up every single muscle went off. It was like being electrocuted having a jolt go right through me.

It's so hard not getting angry and I try to find ways to not be angry... many times I think, well this person said that to make me angry, I'm not giving them what they want. Or I'll be calm and ask questions, which puts the other person on the spot and either I learn they said something wrong or they back down... because when you are calm they don't expect it and when you ask them to elaborate, or explain... they are put on the spot.

Another trick I use is, saying to myself, the worst that can happen is I can go to jail or I can die. If I go to jail God will use me there, and if I die, I'll be with the Lord. Nothing in life is worth getting all worked up about.

Other things I say to myself is, I've had worse happen to me, I'm not letting this throw me.

I hope you get some answers. If you have been under stress lately it could be that. You might want to consider seeing a chiropractor, that always seemed to do me good....

I'll be praying for you. I really hope you can get it solved and dealt with. :) Hugs, Heather..

Thanks, Heather. In all the fibro forums I've visited - even in the fibro groups here - I've never heard anyone talk about having these pains. We've talked about all kinds of pains, but not being electrocuted.

What about that sciatic nerve? Isn't there a condition that the main nerves feeding the legs get pinched, and it feels like electric shocks (to some)?

I've not experienced such a sensation. Possably a nerve being affected? Seeing a doctor is a good idea.

It is pressure on a nerve, most likely the sciatica, and the electrical jolt is really an electrical jolt. I get them ALL the time in my hands...and it can be quite messy...when you are holding a gallon of milk when it happens. LOL

Nerve conduction tests are painful, but they'll isolate the source...might be worth it if this is really bothering you. Not sure if there's a cure but a number of treatments, including "burning" the nerve endings, are available. My mother-in-law had that done and it helped her tremendously.

Hmmm. My doctor suggested cauterizing the nerves in my back a few years ago just because of the "normal" pains that never go away. What worries me about that is that long ago when I was in labor with my son, when they gave me the epidural, it didn't stop the labor pains. It just moved them from my belly to my chest and I thought I was having a heart attack. So I wonder if cauterizing nerves might end up doing the same thing? Just letting the pain re-route?

Marilyn, is that radiofrequency nerve ablation you're talking about? I've had that done and it didn't hurt. I'm not so sure it worked very well but it didn't hurt.

I don't know, Piasa Bird. He just called it cauterizing the nerves. He also wasn't interested in treating me if I wouldn't do what he wanted without asking questions. I hate doctors like that.

It breaks the pathways, Marilyn, so no re-routing is possible.

I can't tell you how many doctors I've walked out on because of their arrogance.

Arrogant doctors? Wha? lol

I'm going through something like that right now. I go to my primary and tell him my problems. He says it's probably related to your back. Orders tests which come out normal. I go to my doctor at a pain center, tell him my problem, ask him for a shot in the hip. He says, "No, no, it's all related to your back!" He gives me two shots in the back over a three week period. Not fun and really didn't work for long. This doctor insists that it's scar tissure from my back surgery messing with a nerve root.

So I go back to the doctor who did the spinal fusion. He does his exacmination and he says that he thinks it's bursitis in my right hip. So now I have an appointment with my orthopedic doctor. *sigh*

Can't get in there until Feb. 1st. and I could have already had this taken care of!!! Now we'll see what this doctor says. In the meantime I'm in pain and can't hardly make it through a whole night at work without being in tears.

Geez, Piasa, that's awful. Insist on an MRI - or another one if you've had one - of your hip/back area and demand to see the results yourself. You'd be surprised at how even us lay-people can spot problems in the images of an MRI. I could see what was going on in my neck before the doc showed me. Inflammation will show up as brighter and fuzzier than normal, bones and soft tissues (discs) out of alignment will be obvious.

I had the back trouble before the fibro. And I now have arthritis in the hand I write with, so I can't write.

The best thing I can do for the back is exercise. No drug helps. Do situps the best I can, work with a weight machine. But I have to be careful about the weights: too much and the pain is horrid instead of better. I use a 5-pound weight and do the exercise SLOWLY.

Yeah. I had a back injury and knee injury before fibro (and a botched knee surgery), so I'm best off exercising under supervision. If I could find a doctor in Cincinnati who would deal with Texas worker's comp, they would pay for physical therapy forever. But alas...

Yeah, I keep my lower back under control with yoga and I've added the elliptical to my workouts. It's a fine line though...too much and OMG...the pain is incredible.