Hi. Sorry to hear that you have this awful condition but I'm glad you're reaching out for help. I can certainly relate to the frustration and the struggle. Though I have never actually found a medication which helps, I have heard of others who have and hope one of them might be able to advise you.

The real key to managing this condition is pacing yourself. If you try to push through when you're tired, you're only going to make things worse - possibly even permanently. When I was first diagnosed, the management recommendations were still based around gradually increasing your activity levels. That however, is the absolute worst thing you can do and every time I tried, I made myself a little bit worse. Unfortunately not all doctors have caught up with the new developments - or I should say, the debunking of the old theories which have now been showed to be based on bad science and prejudice.

Please, if GET (graduated exercise therapy) is recommended to you DON'T agree. CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) is also one of the old recommendations, but that was based on the supposition that this is basically a psychosomatic condition - which it is not. That isn't to say that CBT isn't helpful in coming to terms with everything CFS does to your life and what it robs you of and I have used it for that purpose more than once but it is NOT a cure for the condition itself.

I had to change jobs fairly early on in my years (a bit over 30 now) of suffering from this disease as I was in a very physically demanding job and simply couldn't keep up. I have had bad times (which we sufferers tend to refer to as "crashes") and better times (often called "remission") and it took me a long time to learn to recognize the subtle warning signs my body gives that I have to stop and rest.

That's the real key - rest. Do it as often and for as long as you need to. It will feel like you should be doing more and many people will assume you are
being lazy but resist the urge to push yourself to do more. In the long run it will hopefully prevent you from ending up house or even bed bound. I'm now pretty much housebound myself and I can tell you, it's not worth it to try to live up to other people's expectations. Very few understand what this condition really is and how it effects us, so be prepared for disbelief and even outright opposition from lots of people - including, unfortunately, sometimes friends and loved ones.

Well, sorry if this all sounds very negative but the condition is manageable to a degree and a few people who do the right thing have even been known to recover. Feel free to ask any other questions any time and I hope that things go well for you.

Thank you for your input. I appreciated all you insight. I'm sure I'll have more questions as i go along this journey.

A neurologist suggested Lyroca to manage pain to me.

Thank you for the suggestion.

I recommend reading "The Fatigue and fibromylalgia Solution" by Jacob Teitelbaum. It covers the nature of cfs as well as some nonconventional treatments for the symptoms. I tried one and it helped. Best of luck

Definitely can relate. I used to be a full time massage therapist. But the pains got so bad that I went back into teaching, doing still a few massages each week. Then fewer massages. Finally no massages. And then the last years of teaching became a true struggle. I began each school year with the thought, I hope I make it through the year..... Until, finally, I didn't. I am totally unable to work. I think I pushed it too hard. But I had no choice but to work.
Whatever you do, don't push too hard. Any kind of stress will make it worse.
I've been on medicine for the pains, but not any more, per se. I am on Pristiq which does definitely reduce pain for me. (Cymbalta did too.)
I'm also on Provigil, which was meant to help regulate sleep plus clear up the horrible brain fog. It helps me focus somewhat.
I'm on hormone therapies, estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone.
I can't think of a medicine after all my research that will help me with anything. I wish there were something to alleviate the dizziness and balance issues. And maybe there is. But I haven't run across it.
This illness can get worse. I'm not trying to upset you. I'm just trying to emphasize the need NOT to push it. As cmiat said: you have to rest.
I found the movie, the Forgotten Plague, to be helpful to me. To understand what's happening to me, and to validate what I am feeling physically. And it helped me to be thankful too.

Thanks for sharing. I am definitely going to check out the Forgotten Plague. Since, I posted this, I have stopped working on Drs orders. Not working has really helped with my stress levels. I still have low energy days, but I am finding pacing myself helps. I have a quality to my life that wasn't possible while working. It's a simple life, but manageable.

YAY! Happy you were able to stop working. My doctor had suggested it; but financially I couldn't afford to stop working. Or at least I thought I couldn't. I don't know. But it came to the point that it was impossible to keep going. I too feel like I have a different quality of life. Thankful every day that I don't have to work, too. I wish I could do more. But it's easy to be thankful for the simplicity of life now compared to trying to work and meet stressful demands of work and life.

Take care!