Tina

It's not giving in! It's doing what you need to do to get the job done.
What's the job????Taking care of yourself so that you can be there for the great husband and children.

It's a different way of living your life. A huge adjustment but you can make that adjustment!!

I didn't want to take medication, tried the whole alternative treatment stuff but in the end the medications are what is helping me live my life again.

I take lyrica, sevella, tramadol, muscle relaxers and sleeping pills(I know it sounds like a lot). Of course the lyrica and sevella are on a schedule but my doc wanted to schedule pain medications also. This is supposed to keep the pain controlled at a certain level for me a 4-5 is a great day for me.

I think we all come to the point of this will not control my life I will control my life and then we do what we have done for years as strong women. We meet the challenge!

I hope you find a level of understanding for you.

May you have an easy day.

Tina, a very wise nurse told me that foregoing meds because it makes you feel like a failure can be very counterproductive. Pain affects more than just your body, it affects your mind and emotions too. Pain causes anxiety, anxiety causes more pain, and the circle continues.

I would suggest this: Try taking your pain meds at the lowest possible dose, but a dose that still improves how you feel. Use your "lower pain" time to get some gentle exercise (yoga stretches, walks, etc.), and perhaps to get more rest too. Then as these natural things start to produce results by lowering the severity of your overall pain, cut the pain meds down even more, and hopefully you'll get to a point where you rarely or don't need them.

But I suggest to keep those meds handy for bad flare days.

This would not be 'giving in'. This would be you taking control and moving forward to a 'no-meds' path to mangaging your fibro. My fibro is severe; always level 9 to 10 in the morning and rarely ever below 7, so it's what I am doing.

Now, all of that being said, please feel free to tell me to go jump in a lake, lol. Just understand that it's a suggestion. You know your body better than anyone. : )

*gentle hugs*

Thank you everyone for your kind words and encouragement. My morning pain is usually a 6-7 on the pain scale but yesterday it was 10++. It did ease off to my usual 4-5 after about an hour and I made it through the day without pain meds. I am not on any regularly scheduled meds but I have Tramadol and Baclofen that I can take as needed.

I agree with the others. To me giving in is not doing the things I want to do or need to do because I am in too much pain. I take a small amount of medicine in the morning on bad days (for me 50mg of tramadol just that once gets me moving, large doses make me nauseous and loopy anyway) with other remedies like heat or stretching or a good book to distract me. You aren't weak; you are human.

I don't think that taking Meds is being weak at all. I think it is caring about yourself and taking care of yourself. There is nothing weak about Fibro or taking Meds. I think that there is such a negative stigma attached to taking Meds. But think about it this way...What if you had a Heart condition or Diabetes or High Blood Pressure you would have to take Meds for that and that would not make you weak. It would keep you alive. Just my opinion and something to think about.
Also give the pills the evil eye like Angel says...LOL
That is just too funny! :)