Lily, Got to love those insurance companies meddling in your life. What you are experiencing is very common. A lot of insurance companies now require their members to "step up" to more expensive medication gradually. They want you to try cheaper meds first. And, that is not to say that the cheaper meds won't work. We are all on different cocktails of medication.

Gabapentin is for nerve pain which is what Fibromyalgia is all about. I take it myself. A higher dose might be just the ticket for you. It takes on average about 6 months for each Fibromyalgia patient to find a medication regimen that works for them.

As for energy, you should try to maintain a schedule, pace, eat smaller high protein meals more often and respect your limits. Drinking caffeine drinks and eating chocolate is not helpful. You crash twice as hard when your blood sugar tanks. Recovery is much, much harder.

B12 with folic acid is helpful for energy. I use sublingual tablets which I keep in my bedside table. It helps me get up and get going. The folic acid is very important. It helps you absorb the B12. You can find these tablets at a good health food store. They need to be used in a specific manner. No eating, drinking, smoking or toothbrushing for a half an hour before AND after use. You let the tablet dissolve under your tongue. B12 is expelled in your urine. If I am having a busy day, I may use several of these tablets throughout the day.

So happy that you got a job! Congrats!

Ditto above, and yay on the job! Excess B vitamins are awesome for being readily expelled so it's very difficult to "OD" on them (unlike many others).
I can't say a word about chocolate, sinc eit's my go-to comfort, but I agree that caffeine can be pretty rotten for us.
Diet is difficult to judge. I find that seeds and nuts do fine for me as protein sources (I am vegetarian and have been since I was a toddler), and that avoiding *processed* foods is key for my energy. Tater tots taste great, till the Yuck kicks in. Then I just want to eat raw celery for a day to purgemy system. Not worth it, blech. So that's *my* diet thing. Ev eryone ends up tweaking their own to suit. SOm epeople have no need for extra XYZ, others do, etc., so it's worth trying anything that doesn't involve a health risk. (E.g., the "drink only lemon juice for three weeks and eat nothing" regimen that may "reset" your metabolism, but not in a good way!)

Good luck:-)

Hi Meraz. Ditto everyone above. You may want to get checked for anemia and a vitamin d deficiency as well because both can contribute to fatigue. I have anemia and a vitamin d deficiency and when I don't supplement it makes my fibromyalgia symptoms worse. I also take a regular multi-vitamin, vitamin b-12, vitamin C to help with energy; as well as a supplement called liposomal glutathione. Liposomal glutathione helps repair mitochondrial damage and helps me with energy. I also drink a minimum of 2 green drinks a day that I put in a nutri-bullet with dark leafy vegetable, assorted fruits, and a powder called spirulina. The body should have the proper nutrients to help with energy production. Also, one thing that is key to managing my fibromyalgia and energy productions is my diet. I follow the paleo diet and it has helped me tremendously. You can find tons of information on it on the internet. Also, some books that I've found helpful in my journey are: The Wahls Protocol (Dr. Terry Wahls) and The Fibromyalgia Health, Diet Guide and Cookbook. I hope you feel better soon.

Hi Lily, I'm new to the group and I have to be honest I love how normal all of you are it makes it easy to talk to people who have the same daily struggles. I'm sorry you're having trouble with your fatigue getting up in the morning can be rough sometimes I swear sometimes I wake up (most of the time) and I feel like I'm walking like Frankenstein. I agree with everyone above you should talk to your doctor about getting your vitamin D checked I got my checked a while back and it was extremely low as where my B vitamins. I live with CFS as well as a slew of other things so the deficiencies really weren't helping. My doc recommended a high dose of vitamin D and after some testing we found out that I'm a non-methylator. Basically methylation is the process that your body uses to break down your folate and B vitamins in a way that your body can use them my body doesn't do this and apparently a lot of people's bodies don't do this, we do methylate just not adequately usually it's only at about 40 to 60% of what it should be so my doctor put me on a medication called Deplin, which wouldn't you know insurance refused to cover luckily it's not too expensive. Deplin is basically the active form of folate it's called L-methylfolate for people who have problems with methylation taking a regular folate supplement won't work because your body will still have to break it down and if I can't do that well it's basically getting flushed out. I also take B 12 vitamins that have been methylated it basically is just taking that step out and giving the body something that it can already use. I also recently started getting IV infusion therapy of methylated b vitamins as well as a few other things that my body can use. I hope you feeling better soon.

Fantod
I'm going to try the Gabapentin tomorrow because when I tried it the first time it made me super sleepy, since its Friday and I had class today, I didn't want it to affect by driving and such. My doctor wants me to try 100mg 3 capsules a day for one next, 100 mg 4 capsules a day the next week, and finally the third week take 6 capsules of 100 mg a day. So will see how this gos...

As for the energy I do try my hardest to keep a similar pace each day. But between friends, family, and school my schedule kind varies from day to day. I'll try my best to try to not make my days so wonky.

I do take B12 vitamin but not with the folic acid. I'll go to CVS and pick that up and see if it helps better. Thanks hon, for congratulating with my new job, super thrilled.


Leo
Thanks Leo for the congratulations hon :) As for the caffeine I rarely drink it, I mean I am guilty of going to Starbucks but I just get the teas they are delicious! Has anyone tried the Strawberry Acai Refresher with Mango? It's so good, but now since Mango is out of season I get the Strawberry Acai with lemonade; again super good. Okay I'm done promoting Starbucks lol sorry. Anyway I'm starting to get on a good diet because I need to lose weight anyway and I imagine staying away, very far away for McDonald's isn't such a bad thing.

Cocoa1
Next time I have an appointment I'll be sure to ask my doctor to check for anemia and vitamin D deficiency, thanks :) I do also take supplements, I take B12 but I'm going to try Fantod's suggestion of B12 with folic acid to see if that makes a difference, Vitamin C, Mult-Vitamin, and Vitamin D. I don't really intake a lot on green drinks I mostly stick to green tea and that helps me, so perhaps I should try taking some green drinks in between.

Minimight
Hello dear! Welcome to the group! I totally understand how you feel about how normal it is to be here. For me hearing that I was not alone with what I was dealing with really helps me not to be sad when I have a flare up. I'm super happy I found DS, it's made my life a much happier place and I'm super happy you found us too :) I'm glad that you're doing better with all the treatments you’re doing. I hope you have a wonderful day love bug, hope to talk to you more :)


Sending loving huggies too all... xo Lily