Fibromyalgia Support Group
You're not alone in your pain. Fibromyalgia is a condition that can be difficult to diagnose and manage. If you're trying to cope with pain throughout your body, sleep problems, general fatigue, or other common fibromyalgia symptoms, you're in the right place. The community is here for you to talk about therapies and share your challenges.
so ... over the last week i've had one of the worst ibs flares EVER! you know, i can tolerate gettin a flare every now and then but not weekly, and then this time a whole week long! so i called urgent care (couldn't get a hold of my doc, bn tryin since Monday) and told them what's been goin on... they told me to come in asap that the GI clinic would be waiting for me! FINALLY!!!!!!
the ibs i've been having over the last months is ibs-c. i mean, my "urge" to go was becoming less and less until i had no urge at all anymore. talk about SCARY!
the GI specialist was askin me a bunch of questions like "have you ever had a colonoscopy?" yes i have back in 2002 and yada yada.... . finally she was lookin over my medicine list, and guess what?? she noticed i'm on cymbalta and asked if my ibs-c may have become severe since starting it how many months ago (since cymbalta can cause constipation). YES! YES! i tried telling rheumatology about it!!! but they said ibs wasn't their department and has nothing to do with fms and that i am "staying on cymbalta"! she looked puzzled at me. "they told you to stay on it?! well i'm recommending that they change it! so i'm writing a note in the system about it."
she came to that conclusion after finding that cymbalta was the only new med i was on this year and that THAT'S when my ibs became severe. she also prescribed me some syrupy stuff i have to take daily for a month (smells like caramel and tastes like maple syrup) and told me to drink shit loads of water with it since it will clean me out and keep things "moving".
i have to follow up w her in a month... and in the mean time, i gotta call rheumatology about switching me off the cymbalta to something different. FINALLY a doc that was hearing me out and took the side effects seriously!! i'm so relieved!!! (literally lol)
if any of you notice harsh side effects that are making you miserable (with any medicine), please talk to your doc! don't wait till you feel like a prisoner in your own home. and dont wait and just suffer with it like i did. i feel like an idiot, i should have spoke up more before it got to this point. but i never thought it could get this bad....
the ibs i've been having over the last months is ibs-c. i mean, my "urge" to go was becoming less and less until i had no urge at all anymore. talk about SCARY!
the GI specialist was askin me a bunch of questions like "have you ever had a colonoscopy?" yes i have back in 2002 and yada yada.... . finally she was lookin over my medicine list, and guess what?? she noticed i'm on cymbalta and asked if my ibs-c may have become severe since starting it how many months ago (since cymbalta can cause constipation). YES! YES! i tried telling rheumatology about it!!! but they said ibs wasn't their department and has nothing to do with fms and that i am "staying on cymbalta"! she looked puzzled at me. "they told you to stay on it?! well i'm recommending that they change it! so i'm writing a note in the system about it."
she came to that conclusion after finding that cymbalta was the only new med i was on this year and that THAT'S when my ibs became severe. she also prescribed me some syrupy stuff i have to take daily for a month (smells like caramel and tastes like maple syrup) and told me to drink shit loads of water with it since it will clean me out and keep things "moving".
i have to follow up w her in a month... and in the mean time, i gotta call rheumatology about switching me off the cymbalta to something different. FINALLY a doc that was hearing me out and took the side effects seriously!! i'm so relieved!!! (literally lol)
if any of you notice harsh side effects that are making you miserable (with any medicine), please talk to your doc! don't wait till you feel like a prisoner in your own home. and dont wait and just suffer with it like i did. i feel like an idiot, i should have spoke up more before it got to this point. but i never thought it could get this bad....
Now on savella, & it ? i haven't had get recovery i was expsecting! no real bad side effect, but just feel sick all the time! cymbolts screwed my stomach up & suidile thought was very dominet same w/ lyrica was worse very very sick was poisen to me!
i also have "CROHNES" so i don't w/my stomach!
Im weaning off Lyrica and not going back on any scripts. I was approved for medicinal cannabis and Im getting my seeds in a few days to grow my own.
I sometimes think I was better off when I was just in pain and not having to deal with the side effects of these meds PLUS the pain.
I was only on Cymbalta for six days as my vision got funky and the doc (seemed pissed) but told me to stop. I had already refused Lyrica - told her I'd rather be in pain :)
Savella is doing well for me so far but having major issues now with trigger points - apparently the Tramadol was keeping them under control and now I'm hurting all the time - but just in certain spots. Got one trigger point injection Monday and it was fine until today when I started feeling it again.
Lidocaine patches are my new best friend!
Down side: I had very serious suicidal thoughts while I was on it, but I've found that to be true on other antidepressants too. After a really BAD drug interaction with CHANTIX while on Cymbalta, I requested to go back to Effexor. The effects of the interaction lasted for months. Sometimes I feel that we are lab rats for the drug companies.
I am so lucky that I have a doc that listens to me, I think that he knows that I watch every little side effect from the drugs that we try to help the FM and clinical depression. I do research between appointments and he lets me make suggestions for my treatment. He changed my sleep and pain meds based on suggestions that I had (requesting his opinion of course)
Good luck to you in your treatment search, don't give up. I know that one day I will find that mix that helps me feel more "normal" and like myself again.
Karen
I had to stop taking Savella because I could't AFFORD IT! (Damned drug company doesn't have a patient assistance program as of yet).. GRR!
I have found through experiencethat Cymbalta helps my deprsssion symptoms immensley, but not so much for the fibro pain., and Savella helped the pain but not the depression! I sure do wish they could come up with something that would thoroughly cover BOTH!!
I hope you start to feel better soon, in the meantime, I guess I am stuck with Cymbalta until Savella comes up with a prescription assistace program since I don't have any insurance. I would go back on Savella in a heartbeat..it was a tremendous help with the fibro pain, fatigue, and brain fog.
Too bad they couldn't find a way to combine the GOOD benefits of both meds to help us all feel better, at a REASONABLE price!
i just wanted to know one thing with your IBS do you get constapated or go all the time sorry but i would like to know because i to have IBS really bad at a lot of times the pain from that is way worse than the fibro I have been taking cymbalta for a few years and the past 2 years my IBS has gotton unmanageable recently I hurt so badly from it that it makes me sick. I just had a colonist done and they sad everything was fine just take fiber well i have and that hasn't helped at all. I was just wondering if my problems could be from the cymbalta. if it is i will gladly change the fibro pain for this IBS pain no questions asked (it is that bad)
Thank you just wondering!!!
if you have noticed it getting worse then yes you probably should get off cymbalta too. talk to the doc that prescribed it and see if you can get on somthing different or nothing at all. i too would rather put up with fibro pain than IBS pain!!!
best of luck and please let me know how it goes!
Worth asking your doc, anyway.
Vee