On Friday, December 15th, I drove to Los Angeles, and I was seen by a UCLA rheumatologist. After spending more than an hour with me, he told me frankly that I had fibromyalgia. He recommended that I be seen at Stanford Pain Management Clinic (I already have contacted them, months ago, and am currently waiting for an appointment). If you are at all curious about the disease and how Stanford treats it, you can watch this video, featuring Dr. Sean Mackey, MD, Ph.D. himself as he is the director of the clinic. The lecture contains information about fibromyalgia specifically, but also contains information about how to treat chronic pain in general. The only downside of the lecture is that it was filmed eight years ago, a lifetime in modern medicine. The information that Dr. Mackey shares is very similar to what I heard from the Rheumatologist from UCLA, that fibromyalgia is primarily a central sensitization phenomenon, and perhaps not even a muscle tissue or ligament disease as was originally thought. The reason why Stanford doctors believe that fibromyalgia is a central nervous system disease is because there are other symptoms that occur like sleep disturbances and cognitive difficulties.
Unfortunately for me, bad planning as it was, I ran completely out of my Seroquel, and was unable to take my usual dose at night on Monday. I thought that evening that I would be fine as I have slept soundly since being put on the medication. That night, I hardly slept at all, and only got about five hours fitfully. It was a reminder of all the good Seroquel does despite the weight gain. I've been recovering ever since.
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