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.
Altho I am not 'new' to Fibro,I am just REALLY getting ready to deal with it. I'm the type of person who stays quiet with pain for a very long time before I 'cry out' and get help. It's been well over fifteen yrs since my first diagnosis. Back then it wasn't taken very seriously and I had Drs even laugh when I said I had it. I was perscribed Ultram but never really had any guideance on how to take it. I'm also the type of person who DOES NOT like pills...I'm at a point where i feel like I can't function any longer and I take care of children for a living,but that is getting too hard. I never make it thru a grocery shop w/o breaking down midway,crying in pain and losing my cool in my car,writhing in pain. I have recently gone to a Rhuematologist and she tested me for RA and Lupus and took over 25xrays. I will get the results March 9. She said that my Scoliosis and Fibro was really in bad shape tho:( I had ALL the sensitive points. She perscribed me Mobic and Cymbalta. But since I had bad experiences with Psych drugs previously...I am VERY hesitant to take them. I did go ahead and got my script filled. She wanted to start me at 20mg and work me up to 60mg. Make a long story short,my pharmacist ended up talking me into starting with 60mg and I stayed up ALL night,heart pounding,sweating,eyes fully dialted and so on...It took 2 days to come out of the effects and at this point I decided that I WOULD NOT ever take psych meds of any kind again. After having talked to many friends with a variety of opinions and reading into Fibro and Cymbalta...I now DO NOT know what to do because when you are in pain...EXTREME pain,you'll almost do anything to help yourself. At this moment my aunt wants me to wait and take her to my next appt,see my test results and ask the Dr ques we both have.
I want to do what is best for my health and I need to know what is the best for Fibro. Your input is welcome. Let me add that my main concerns for taking a psych med is that I have a tendency to experience sexual dysf and I never want to experience withdrawal from another drug again.
When a friend got sick with cancer around 1997,I ended up unable to deal with depression. After seeing a pshyc Dr,my road to psych meds began and exploded into a huge variety of this and that drug to help this and that symptom caused by this and that drug...I experienced this horrible nightmare until 2005 when I weaned myself off all meds and swore I'd never go back.
I want to do what is best for my health and I need to know what is the best for Fibro. Your input is welcome. Let me add that my main concerns for taking a psych med is that I have a tendency to experience sexual dysf and I never want to experience withdrawal from another drug again.
When a friend got sick with cancer around 1997,I ended up unable to deal with depression. After seeing a pshyc Dr,my road to psych meds began and exploded into a huge variety of this and that drug to help this and that symptom caused by this and that drug...I experienced this horrible nightmare until 2005 when I weaned myself off all meds and swore I'd never go back.
I am so sorry that your pain is so bad and that you are having problems with the meds.
I can totally relate to your hesitation about anti-depressants. I was the same way, I was very scared to try them. I really did not have major side effects, but they didn't work for me. Well, I am on Savella now and in Europe it is used as an anti-depressent, here just used for fibro.
I'm glad that the rehumy you went to see seems to be taking you seriously and trying to help you. Sometimes pharmacist can be helpful, but I guess, in your case he wasn't. I think working your way up in dosage is better than just jumping into it. I know that having to take meds is no fun, and like you and many people on this site, I hate meds, but I also hate pain and being unable to function.
I hope that things work out for you, and you get treatment that works.
Take care
I was diagnosed three years ago and have tried various things. Not all drugs work for me and seeing my Rhumy every three months works with the checking it and keeping all my history in one spot! I recently decided to see a pain specialist because I just wanted to see what their thoughts would be on my pain. He prescribed Nucynta and I like it. It takes all the pain away, not just enough to be bearable. Yes it is a Narcotic and I have to see him every month but if it makes me feel better and works, I'm going to do it!!!
Please take this slowly and trust yourself and your Doctor! I hope you can find something to help even if it takes trying all of them one at a time until you do find something. Also the weather and stress makes a difference with me so start writting down how you feel each day and what occured. You might see a pattern and it will be helpful to your Doctor! Good Luck and keep us updated!