After years of severe pain & having numerous tests, I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia & due to the symptoms, was forced to stop working. This was very traumatic for me since I loved my job. One day I had a severe case of thrush. I had an x-ray of my throat. The x-ray indicated growths on the lymph nodes in my chest. Upon further examination, they found more tumors on lymph nodes in my groin and back. After more tests and biopsies, I was diagnosed with sarcoidosis affecting many lymph nodes, my eyes & lungs, causing even greater pain in more areas of the body. I was told that when you

Fibromyalgia, it is very common to develop Sarcoidosis also.  This is something you should discuss with your doctor so you can get your eyes, lymph nodes and lungs checked. Unfortunately, if it is in your lungs and becomes severe, the only treatment is a lung transplant, which scares me to death.  Because I am unable to take steroids, which is a treatment for sarcoidosis. I just started using a nebulizer three times a day.  I spent 10 days in the hospital in April with pneumonia and another 8 days in November with bilateral pheumonial  I did get the pneumonia shot,  but with the sarccoidosis becoming more prominent in my lungs, I am very suseptable to develop pneumonia. 

I was put on a very high dose of steroids when I was first diagnosed with both fibromyalgia and sarcoidosis and this caused me to develop type 2 diabetes.  After awhile I developed reactions to the steroids and had to discontinue them.  It was very upsetting that I wasn't told of the possibility of developing diabetes from high doses of steroids.  Along with the diabetes, I also gained 30 pounds.  Once I discontinued the steroids, quite a bit of the weight came off without really trying to lose weight. 

My Rheumatologist suggested taking Lyrica for the fibromyalgia, but I declined  due to the side effects.  I do suffer from depression and anxieties (it is hard to live a normal life with  these diseases) so I didn't want to take a medication that can cause depression or suicidal thoughts.

12/14/10 - I had a great check-up with the Pulmonlogist.  The pneumonia was just about gone and the lymph nodes involved with the sarcoidosis had not grown and there were no new lymph noes involved.  He said, at least as far as the lungs were concerned, the sarcoid seems to be in remission.  I was and still am thrilled. 

 12/10 - Pain and numbness in left lower rib area with pain going through to the spine worsened.  Physician ordered an MRI which indicated 2 spinal fractures and 2 herniated discs in the thoracic spine.  Scheduled to see spinal specialist in March for treatment.