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.
I am doing very, very well and I want everyone to be as pain free as I am. If I think of my improvement as adding up to 100, I first got
20 from meloxicam
40 from Cymbalta (30 mg morning, worked after 3 or 4 months)
20 from milk, gluten, additive free diet, and
20 from naltrexone (3 mg, morning, started at 1.5 mg)
I am doing so well that I am going to try to go off of the meloxicam
Learned this recently, if you go to an immunologist with our symptoms, you will probably be diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome and given naltrexone. If you go to a rheumatologist... There is a huge overlap. May even be the same condition, but rheumy s don't know about naltrexone.
I know that if you take high doses of opiates you cannot take it, and if that is your case, then this is not for you. Please do not be offended. But I have heard that it is ok with s all or occasional opiates because the naltrexone is a very small amount.
Take it in the morning, no matter what the doctor might say, else you won't sleep
Honestly, when I got diagnosed I thought I was dying. Now I am doing 40 minutes or so every day of exercises in the water and having as normal and active a life as most people. (Other than I can't wear a necklace andrefer not to sit through a movie or performance in a theater, I sit on an exercise ball at work-- ok some minor adjustments, but REALLY, for the pain I was in!)
20 from meloxicam
40 from Cymbalta (30 mg morning, worked after 3 or 4 months)
20 from milk, gluten, additive free diet, and
20 from naltrexone (3 mg, morning, started at 1.5 mg)
I am doing so well that I am going to try to go off of the meloxicam
Learned this recently, if you go to an immunologist with our symptoms, you will probably be diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome and given naltrexone. If you go to a rheumatologist... There is a huge overlap. May even be the same condition, but rheumy s don't know about naltrexone.
I know that if you take high doses of opiates you cannot take it, and if that is your case, then this is not for you. Please do not be offended. But I have heard that it is ok with s all or occasional opiates because the naltrexone is a very small amount.
Take it in the morning, no matter what the doctor might say, else you won't sleep
Honestly, when I got diagnosed I thought I was dying. Now I am doing 40 minutes or so every day of exercises in the water and having as normal and active a life as most people. (Other than I can't wear a necklace andrefer not to sit through a movie or performance in a theater, I sit on an exercise ball at work-- ok some minor adjustments, but REALLY, for the pain I was in!)
Recently, I tried to go without codeine--hoping I might have better result without opiates--but I wasn't having much luck.
I wasn't able to take Cymbalta because of a really bad reaction.
I have one food group that increases my pain (citrus). When and if my finances improve, I would like to look at my diet more. I do take both Advil and Tylenol. Advil helps me for pain, but is hard on my stomach.
I find homeopathy helpful for me. In trying to explain it to folks here, I'm realizing that it does take a fair amount of knowledge or a knowledgeable person to guide people. Interestingly, one of my first homeopaths was a MD.
After years of doing pretty well with my fibo, I'm having more problems. I hope I'll be doing as well as you are in the future.
Cymbalta works great for you, but I simply can't take any of the SNRI's. They all made me so very agitated. That's where doctors have such a hard time, I guess. The FDA has put these 3 drugs out there, touted as fibro drugs, yet so many of us are unable to take them. So what are we to do? We do the best we can and try to alleviate symptoms as much as possible.
Again, I'm very happy for you. I just wish I could walk a step without my feet hurting me so much.
Since I have epilepsy, I can't take a lot of what you can, and I've been dealing with this sucker since 1995, so I know---what works for one may work for others, or not. I find avoiding processed foods alone is crucial for me, but for others, no problem. So all input is valuable even if it's "negative result"----most of medicine is ruling things *out*, it seems!
I take meloxicam but it doesn't do anything for my Fibro pain, only my arthritis pain. I took Cymbalta for six days, until my vision was so threatened my doctor made me stop. The only dietary change that's ever done anything for me is eliminating processed foods. For those of on opiates of any dosage, we cannot take ldn because it actually blocks the opioid receptors. As hydrocodone is the only thing that reduces my pain, I'm not willing to trade it in at this point.
We are all very different, which must be one of the things that drives our doctors crazy.
I truly am happy to hear good results and glad you're doing so well.
I wanted to add, for anyone newer here reading this thread, it's okay if this *doesn't* work for you----our biochemistry is wildly individual, and we all of us have our little quirks, or a pre-existing that limits meds, or allergies, etc.---so if this doesn't work for you, don't panic. I say that b/c when I was first dx'd and the "magic drug" of the day made me wretched, I was distraught thinking it was The End Of All Hope. Of course it wasn't---I had 8 years of near-FM-free life!
:-)
Leo, we need your science knowledge here.
I have heard from someone with an addiction that ultracet was used for ppl to come off narc addiction.. I don't know. I know it is not helping me these days.
Whatever you get that works, keep getting doing it! :D
The good effects of LDN have been a pretty dramatic reduction in some MS like symptoms like leg weakness, tingling and numbness, along with more energy,and less brain fog--although not today, and somewhat better sleep.
One thing that worried me about taking LDN was what would happen if I had some really bad pain episode. Would I just be out of luck. Apparently if that happened the would just have to give you a higher dose of opiates to compensate.