This topic of fibromyalgia in the other forum has already been an amazing eye-opener for me. I've had increasingly-debilitating chronic fatigue since the mid-80's. In the past three years, I've noticed a dramatic increase in sleep deprivation (I wake up feeling as if I've run the Boston marathon), crippling joint pain (knees and hips are the worst) and muscle aches, as if I have the flu all the time.

The doctor has been useless. Because of my history of depression, everything gets lumped into "mental illness", even though I've been depression-free for over a year. I've long suspected that the depression could be a symptom of an underlying problem and not the culprit that is producing all of these other symptoms. I've begged her to test me for adrenal exhaustion (the list of symptoms is similar to both CFS and F), but she only requests the simplest test, not the in-depth ones that would uncover any anomalies. And despite a persistent elevated white-blood-count, she doesn't investigate further.

It hasn't occurred to me (or her) to pursue fibromyalgia. But having researched the list of symptoms, it's another possibility.

But how to get the doctor to participate in any diagnostic testing is the big question. She's overworked and exhausted herself, and seems almost as overwhelmed as I feel by the myraid of tests she would have to run to arrive at a diagnosis. And with a critical shortage of doctors across this country, it's not possible to switch to a new one right now (I've already checked, many times).