I have no idea about compatibility, so you would need to research, but I take a natural anti-inflamatory called Zyflamend - I get it at Super Supplements. I am allergic to ibuprofen, so I can't take that. The Zyflamend helps quite a lot with my arthritis inflammation, so it might work for you, and has that added benefit of being completely natural.

The thing is fibromyalgia is not classified as an inflammatory disorder.
Fibromyalgia doesn't show inflammation in lab work. So perhaps that why your doc is reluctant to prescribe them.
And maybe you have some other condition going on if you are responding in a positive way to the anti inflammatory.

I take an anti inflammatory as I have arthritis and bursitis, tendonitis. Which cause inflammation.
I just take ibuprofen. Naproxen bothers my stomach too much.

I take Mobic but it's for my arthritis. It doesn't help my fibromyagia pain as its not caused by inflammation.

Anti-inflammatory drugs are generally also analgesic but they're not usually effective for fibromyalgia pain - they're just not enough.

Any time someone gets a lot of relief from anti-inflammatory drugs I suggest they continue to be tested for other conditions.

I cant take anti-inflammatory meds because of stomach problems. I wish I could take them for my chronic bursitis and costochondritis.

I had great luck with the NSAIDs of the world b/c of a lot of -itis that came with my fibromyalgia--including inflamed tendons. I couldn't get the FM "under control" with all the other stuff also causing pain. So while FM is not inflammatory, if inflammation issues for whatevr reason (arthritisi, etc.) cause more pain, then I see no issue with NSAIDs. Let's face it, stress can trigger th eFM---and pain from whatever-itis is stress. THat's how my rheumy saw it when he gave me the anti-inflams back int he day. Hope that made sense I am not doing well today.
Cheers
Leo

I take Mobic every day but it is for severe Osteoarthitis and not Fibromyalgia. My knees are completely shot and up for two full replacements. There is nothing inflammatory about Fibromyalgia (FMS) so unless you have an arthitic conditon your doctor should be prescribing something different to control your pain. Take care.

I was on anti-inflammatories for the first several years. Yes, for me it did decrease the pain. At the time, my CFS Dr was using them alot for her patients. However, then I started having alot of GI issues and I was told I could no longer take them. I can't tell you why they did help from a medical stand point, but they did.

I concur w/ what Leo said about a co-morbid inflammatory issue aggravating fibro sometimes, and NSAID meds being a help.

Of course you need to make sure there is no drug interaction effect w/ you other meds, but if an NSAID helps, then hey why not take it?

I am med-hypersensitive the ONLY pain med which also happens to be an NSAID that my body can tolerate is plain old aspirin. To protect my digestive track I take 2 normal dose aspirin w/ 1200 mg. of calcium w/ D. I have been doing this for 25 years now w/ no negative digestive complications. With aspirin there is the disadvantage of blood/vessel/tissue thinning. But it is the only med of this sort my body will tolerate so I muddle along with it. AND it helps a lot.

Maybe I havesomething additional to fibro and definitely the antiinflammatory does not by itself take care of the pain. But for me, they are the last20% that takes me from bedridden to almost normal. Blood tests don't show arthritis and the rheumatologist and the orthopedic say my joints look fine. But still, the feeling of swelling is there, all over, including brain fog,and it goes away with the med. (with all due respect, whoever said that antiinflammatories don't help fibro was in the same lab as the guy who said opioids don't work)

I am in pain, or I need 2 ibuprofen 2 times a day, or I Mobic or the arthrotec that has Prilosec in it. Issue is I risk gastritis, already had it once, and the antiinflammatories have been linked to heart attacks. Which poison? (Will check out the natural alternative suggested above, but if that doesn't work for me...

The cytokine study only looked at 20 patients. As far as I know no other study has replicated their findings.

I was in a cytokine study myself that didn't find a correlation.

That's actually the same study I was referring to - the only that only studied 20 patients and was cited in your previous post.

Triad and Peace, I too looked at some of the research you cite. Now, I don't have enough science knowledge to understand their hypothesis, methods, and results. So, I looked at their conclusions. But, my personal experience is irrefutable. Anti inflammatories work for me an dinflammation is a huge, huge, component of feeling poorly.

Just this morning I woke up feeling great and thinking that it would be a grat day for a little bike ride. Before taking meds, I did a little stretching, bending, arching to unkink my body and precipitated an inflammatory response. Even talking to my husband required stopping momentarily what I was doing to be able to focus.

My questions are these, although fibro seems to affect people in various ways, there have to be groups of people who are similarly affected; subtypes. In other words, if not everyone, there must be lots of other fibro sufferers who have similar inflammatory responses. Aren't they taking antiinflammatories? Why not? Is it because there is an assumption that it doesn't help?

Then, there are my personal questions. I am going to have to decided to risk the side effects or risk be in pain. I'm risking the side effects because pain is bad enough, but what is worse is that I become less active which leads to a downward spiral.

So, risk gastritis or risk th negative side effects of the proton inhibitors?

Triad, let me see if I understand you correctly. One, you are supporting my contention that inflammation is one of our problems (at least for some of us).

Two, You mention 3 factors. Turmeric, particularly dissolved in fat will lower TNF. Correct? How much turmeric? This source suggests 1.5 to 3 grams/day (about half a teaspoon)
http://www.toguizhou.com/html/Minorities/140.html

Three, homocysteine will not be affected by turmeric. Are there other means of affecting homocysteine? Is your basic point that I might not need medications if I use natural anti inflammatories?

LOL Triad. With that much turmeric and garlic, I will be sweating curry! (Have to find what humor I can). Actually I have a friend whose perspiration smells like curry for exactly that reason.

If anyone is following this, my friend who is a pharmacist says that 4 pills/day of ibuprofen is probably less taxing on my body than the prescription medicines.