Fibromyalgia Community

I see you have another post too...so sorry you are dealing with this...

I do hope you will check out the resources and tips section of things that have helped some of us...It is a struggle and you obviously have more than one thing going on...I don't know that anything changes Fibro...I know I got told to lose weight and it would be better...I did lose weight..and still have fibro..but there are things you can do...like gentle stretching and gentle exercise..and good vitamins...and get your vit .D level checked...none of it is a cure..but it does help. I also do think that B-100 complete vitamins do help with the energy..The problem is that when you are on medications for other things..you have to be careful about interactions, etc.

I do hope you can find a doctor that can help you..I have ..at times.. found a muscle relaxant helpful..and I did find that I liked Cymbalta...for awhile..but if you are on zoloft..I don't think you can do Cymbalta. So, I guess...hang in there..do what you can to deal with the stress...it sure doesn't seem to just go away...and take good care of yourself.

cece

I really appreciate the advice!!! I've done what I can to try and find that happy medium in my daily activities (not too much work but not too little either) but sometimes that just isn't possible... I take daily vitamins especially since my iron is constantly low. I took Cymbalta for a while for depression a few years ago and it made me have suicidal tendencies. But, with fibromyalgia, it was so weird.... one day I was fine the next I wasn't. Was that how it was for any of you??

Hello and welcome....MiMi in NC....the doctor really told you that the FM will just *go away*....really????? Perhaps you need to find yourself a new doctor and one who really knows what FM is and how to deal with it....I am sorry that you are so young and having to deal with this mean and ugly illness....but I do not think, for a minute, that it will just go away....no matter how hard you try to decrease your stress and push through your pain...

There are things you can do without having to take pain pills...and anyway from what I have read about the wrath of the dragon, aka FM...pain pills do not help FMers that much....now I say this but I am also aware that some of the FMers here do use them and have done so for a long time...I happen to be one who tried some different medicines (not pain pills though, as I can not take them for anything to begin with)...and I did NOT find anything which really helped me enough without causing other side effects...

I eventually did my own research and found vitamins and supplements and other things which has helped me control my pain....I am not painfree, nor do I expect to be...but I can manage, for the most part...

I did have to go through a trial and error process to find what worked for me...and this did take me a long time...I do not think anything is easy where FM is an issue. And I also know that since we are all different, what works for one may or may not work for you...only you can decide what works for you...

I take the following though...Fibro Response or Magnesium Malate, Super B Complex, a good multi vitamin with extra D, Omegas, Calcium and others...but these are the ones which help my FM pain the most...
I have other health issues also and have to deal with them as well..

I have also learned that being on some sort of schedule of sorts helps...going to sleep and getting up being one of them...eating meals around the same time each day...watching what I eat..drinking plenty of water...doing gentle stretches or exercises...(GENTLE is the key word here)...when I am really tired at night or I am hurting more than normal...I take a hot shower using lavender bath salts right before I go to sleep...and last, but certainly not least...I am forced to sleep in a recliner...(not by choice though)...I do this to limit the back pain that I have...

I would encourage you to be sure and ask your doctor to check your Vitamin D level...which is important to a lot of people these days....low Vitamin D can cause additional pain for some of us and it can also affect other illnesses as well...it is a simple blood test...but you MUST ASK the doctor to run it...as it is NOT included in the normal bloodwork that the doctors do...

I am sure you will find something that will help you cope better....learn all you can about FM....we, FMers, must keep on keeping on...until we find what helps...

Take care and good luck...


MiMi

I have a physician I work with who told me he cured his FM with exercise and lost weight........???? is all I can say.

I truly think you can get better control of it with lowering stress in your life and losing weight and eating right and being distracted and happy......he will be less noticable BUT HE is always there if you have the right diagnosis.

It seems to be a waxing and waning (coming and going) issue. At times so much hurts and you can't figure why and then is eases off and good days are there for you. There are some in low pain so much more then not and no way to share what they did to get there for the others.....

I wish you so much luck, get educated, be sure your diagnosed correct and if this doctor ends up being the wrong fit, my hopes for youis to find a right one quickly.

In the members toolbox under resources to the right we do state, we are never painfree....just turned down to have a bit of a day. I am hopeful with time you will have all the tools you need to be better then where you are now. Hugs, Nancy B

Your post actually made me tear up. Thank you so much. I've never had so much support and encouragement from complete strangers. SO many people look at me as if I'm just a drug seeker because of my age. It's really depressing. I go to college and have a young child. I can't afford to miss out on the opportunities to watch him grow by being a pill crazed zombie. I hate being dependent on medications. This morning has been especially bad for me. Typing this is even killing me, but I have to try and move. Yes, the Dr. did say my FM would just go away and I figured she was just trying to get me out of her office because she never even explained it to me. She treated the diagnoses as if it were a "cure-all" and sent me home, like I would know what to do! As if it were a common cold! My friends mother in law was put on Tramadal for her pain and she says its amazing! What was your experience with this medication (if you've tried it at all)?

Thank you. I do what I can but sometimes the "mind over matter" mentality is not enough.

Hi csshughes... Welcome to our family... Sorry this took so long in getting to you... I wasn't around much due to illness and just am coming back...

First thing I would do is call around for new Dr's and ask right up front if they treat or believe in FM... That is how I finally ended up with my team of 6 Dr's who all care for my specialties... and know of and help each other...

Then I would set up an appointment with this Dr... And go see this Dr... One who wil hopefully believe in you and your pain... and know enough to be able to tell you the way things really are about our illness... and know that there are no quick cures...

I would also start doing regularly gentle stretches daily at least twice a day... I am in a bad space right now and I am doing them at least 6 times a day... if not more... I do them until I don't feel as still and al the demoralizing pain... When I can at least move freely for a few minutes..

Get rest... I know that is hard to do with a 4 yr old around... I have a 4 yr old and a 5 yr old grand babies around and they are sometimes my responsibility... During my hard times we do a lot of cuddling and watching movies or cartoons... There are a couple of games we can play with me lieing down but I find it difficult... We have picnics in my bed... and pig out on our favorite foods lol... Sometimes I have enough energy and am pain free enough to do crafts with them but those are special days... and far and in between... Mostly we have picnics and watch movies... Anything to get them to keep sorta quiet lol... the hard part is to get them not to dance to their favorite movie that has kids dancing and singing in it... They tend to want to dance on the bed.... A definite no no... lol...

I got ill and was a single mom to 3 small children 30 years ago... My baby girl was premature and ill and only a few months old... my youngest son was 2... and my oldest was 5... My legs became paralyzed for no reason they could find... And it lasted over 9 months... It was in and out of the wheelchair and off and on crutches since then... My children were in and out of foster care for I was in and out of the hospital either with this phantom illness or with cancer...

They say now that our times together... Our picnics on my bed... Our making snowmen indoors in a baby bathtub... Our camping trips when I had cancer so we could stay closer to God and the wonders of the world... Our all night atari vigils when I was too ill to sleep after surgery... All our crazy IOU'S at Christmas when we could hardly afford to give anything else lol...

All the illness could have built up resentment and hate... but We are a lucky family... It all bonded us together... I am 55 and all 3 of them have taken turns taking care of me already... No resentments... Just a lot of love and caring...And I have never been more grateful for anything or anyone in my entire life... Except maybe my deceased husband...

So hun don't despair and hold onto the hope of your little one and the love you share...

I am also bi-polar... with a few other mental problems... and I have multiple physical problems... My stress level is maxed 99% of the time... I use self hypnosis and meditation to deal with it... and it helps my pain but nothing takes it away... Life and pain can be tolerable tho... and I hope you find that happy medium...

Take care... Love... Jan/Dakota

Hi crystal... I am so sorry you are going thru such a hard time... I truly know how you feel... I am alone too... I don't have anyone who understands what I am feeling and thinking except my sons and they don't talk to me about their FM... I think they don't want to make me feel worse then I do for passing it on to them... That is if I did... But in my heart I did... My oldest son will call sometimes to talk about it and having bad pain but my son I live with wont discuss his pain... I can just see it is there...

Sometimes I wish I could perform magic and make this internet group a face to face group just maybe once a week so we could all get a hug and cry tears that we can have someone wipe away... And we can share without a computer between us... No internet... just real life...

I learned a long time ago that if you are taking an opiate and it is making you high or puts you to sleep all the time you are taking too much of it or your pain level doesn't need it... I am one of the lucky ones my opiates work for my pain and bring down my pain level to at least tolerable pain... I am a multi problem person however and have a lot going on... syndrome wise... disease wise... physical wise and mental wise... and I can witness to the fact that with one comes the train lol... I also have the blessing of not getting high or sleepy off my meds... They don't take all my pain away but they make pain tolerable... and that is all I ask... I can still have some function-ability... I still have some quality life if I look for it lol... If I don't look for my happiness and love I may be missing it... lol...

You might try a reumatologist... I have tried several meds you have tried and they either didn't work or I had a bad reaction... I finally got good results from tramadol... that is the only FM med I take... They tried everything they could think of and I just kept getting worst... When I am flaring nothing wants to help... but when I start mellowing out I start feeling the difference with the tramadol right away... I just have to start mellowing out with all my illnesses before the FM will stop flaring..

2 of my meds for my psych problems were lamictal and zoloft... they just changed my lamictal for I was having aggression problems and itching all the time... did ok on a low dose but it didn't help the depression much lol... upped the dose and I was jeckle and hyde lol... They had me on tramadol for sleep and it said it didn't like to help me anymore so now they put me on something new... I am sleeping longer then half an hour... like and hour or two... lol... but that is better lol... it will get better lol...

Well... My granddaughter and grandson are finally awake... and she woke up being a pill you don't want to take... So the fight is on with miss attitude...

Take care and have a good day...

Love... Jan/Dakota

Everything I have read really covers it all. It's horrible that you are so young and going through this. I was 29 when mine first flared. Besides what all of the advice others gave, make sure your closest friends and family get educated with you on the true nature of the beast. It is so important to be surrounded with support if at all possible.

It took me three weeks to get used to Lyrica, and now I take it and Cymbalta, the cymbalta replaced the zoloft I was taking. Nurotin made me really sick. Lyrica creates a lot more brain fog and I gain so much weight with it, but it helps me the most.

I do a lot better when I take my supplements, like the vitamin D, fish oil pills, Malic Acid with Magnesium, Vit B 12 ...

I had lost a lot of weight about 4 years ago, went real OCD on this diet...no sugar, no fat, no processed foods, and no sodium. I also had started on the lamictal at the same time. The exercise I did with my diet was walking, started at 5 minutes at a time and worked my way up to some days I could go for 2 hours. I SOOOO miss that. I hit several bumps in the road, and then one sent me back into a horrible flare that I am having a hard time recovering from.

I pray you can find the right doctor. There are a lot that really just have no clue about FMS.

While it is true that reducing the amount of stress in your life is probably one of the best things you can do even if you have no serious medical issues, I think that your doctor suggesting that you push through the pain is perhaps an indication that he (or shea0 has never experienced the pain you are discribing. They say that there is no "cure" for Fibro. You seem to have many other things going on besides just the Fibro; bi-polar is a separate issue all together. Zoloft can add unwanted weight gain, and Lyrica and celebrex are more suited for diabetic neuropathy. Nerontin is helpful for some people, but even at max. dosages is very little help to others. If the is a pain clinic in your area you should get a refferal from your family doc, as your fibro could be something else entirely. There are some opiates such as dillaudid that don't have the same adverse effects as the morephine drugs. Fibro is difficult to diagnose and usually causes extreme fatique that I see you haven't mentioned. Try a good pain clinic, get into a program of yoga, swimming exercises, and talk therapy with others at the pain clinic. Try to get off of Zoloft, and discuss the possibility of sympathetic nerve pain. best of luck...

Hi again... just wanted to check back to see how you were... I hope this finds you hanging in there and finding some answers... I have been thinking of you a lot... Please return as often as needed and vent or ask any questions you have...

Take care... Love... Jan/Dakota

I cried while reading this and greatly appreciate all you shared with me, a complete stranger. My mother tries to be supportive but is really pushy or tells me to "take something and get over it." Shes been pushing me to get into this pain clinic and I dont want to be on opioids just yet. I still have more good days than bad and getting into a regular schedule has helped quite a bit. I'd rather try something like Tramadal (something I only have to take IF I need to). But, I'm scared of that too because the medical community is 50/50 on if its addicting or not and my dad has an addictive personality trait that got passed onto me (at 23 I've already battled addictions to alcohol and methamphetamine). So I get scared to try anything at all. I'll keep working at it tho. Thank you!!
Cassie

I LOVE my lamictal and zoloft. I was very hostile before because I am more on the mania side as opposed to the depressed side ( I was treated for depression alone since I was 14 and going through PTSD from a rape). I didnt know what was going on with me when I went through a major mania stage and my mom was scared of me. Its hard to hear my son get frustrated because I don't want to play with him the way I used to due to the pain... How did you finally get on Tramadal? Most doctors I know won't prescribe if you "self-prescribe" and advertise that pain medication is what your searching for, especially at my age. I'm treated like a liar and a "pill-seeker," I hate it!

I HATED Nurotin and Lyrica. Both made me way dizzy, the Lyrica made me throw up and the Nurotin made me sleep for 2 days straight. I really hope I can find something that works because I get so frustrated because my own mom thinks I'm exaggerating. How can I exaggerate when there are times I can't even move my fingers after typing a paper for my Finals in school? *shrug* keep on keepin on, right?