I was recently on cymbalta 60mg for fribro & depression. It was not working for either, mobic 15 mg a day for fibro, zanaflex 2mg 3 times day for fibro, restoril 30mg for sleep, adderall 20mg two times a day for adult adhd,klonopin .5 mg 3 times a day as needed for anxiety. I went to an actual psychiatrist & this is the changes she made due to my depression @ this time is not bothering me severely so to say so here goes. Took me off the cymbalta which was for the fibro & depression(it was not working for me, took me off the klonopin, took me off the restoril(it kinda-sorta worked), took me off mobic, she left me on adderall only. I was to taper off cymbalta. That day I was to drop down from 60 to 30 mg cymbalta, just stop taking the klonopin(this was an as needed med, so I didnt take it everyday), just stop taking the restoril(I have horrible sleep issues), stop the mobic & zanaflex. So I was to drop down to the 30mg cymbalta & take for only one week then quit. That was horrible. I had the worst withdrawels from the cymbalta or maybe the mixture of meds she took me off of. The klonopin not being taken regular I dont think really effected me coming off of it, I really think it was all from the cymbalta. I had severe dizziness & bad achy feeling. Anyway she wanted me to only continue on the adderall. So adderral is the only thing i would be on until I went back for my next appointment in a month. During this time I had severe anxiety issues, not sleeping much of any, etc. I went back for my monthly appt & told her of the bad anxiety issues I had began having & the worsened sleeping issues. She then continued my adderall & added elavil, I forgot the dosage it is a tiny green pill, I think the lowest dose it comes in maybe. It has helped some with my sleep. I made a change myself to try 2 of them @ night & this is working awesome. Since starting the elavil I havent been anxious or depressed. So this seems to be a keeper. My only prob now is the fibro pain which has been horrible here lately, mostly my lower back is what bothers me the absolute most. I discussed this with her. I know she is a psychiatrist & they normally wouldnt handle fibro but I was hoping she could help with it all b/c I hate having so many docs to go to. She mentioned pain management but said she didnt want to send me to one & them get me addicted to pain pills. I can understand that but I really need something for this pain. She also said she wasnt sure if a pain dr would "treat" firbo since it is not just one area of the body. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I might discuss with her next week @ appt about tryin for the fibro pain. I am totally against lyrica. I have heard bad things from a few people & do not want to gain all the weight I have heard from people taking it that comes with it.
Fibro help please?
- Posted:
- 28 Mar 2011 by houseofbradford
- Topics:
- adderall, cymbalta, mobic, restoril, zanaflex, insomnia, back pain, fibromyalgia, sleep disorders, sleep
Responses (8)
LaurieShay28 Mar 2011
Hey houseofbradford,
I am glad the Elavil is working for your sleep and depression, but you need to tell the doctor you upped the dose on your own as at least she needs to prescribe more med before you run out early.
As far as the fibro, aside from opiate pain killers and Lyrica, there are a couple other meds to try. Savella is prescribed for fibro and Nuerontin (gabapentin) as well. I have a friend who has fibro and she had good luck with Savella without weight gain and my sister takes Neurontin for her fibro with some relief. The psychiatrist should be fimilair with both of these medications but if not you could talk to a pain management doctor that recognizes fibromyalgia as a real disease, unfortunately some do not.
Hope you get relief soon,
Laurie
Mary63200928 Mar 2011
I just heard that believe it or not, Mucinex helps Fibromyalgia. Couldn't believe it myself, until I typed Mucinex into the search on top of the page. It links you to fibomyalgia. I like you have tried eveything in the book, but a going to the store as soon as it opens to try this. I have allergies so maybe it will do double duty! Hope so. I had never heard of it until another member brought it up. Wouldn't that be a miracle? Good luck to you.
Jfamily29 Mar 2011
I have Fibro. and Cymbalta didn't work for me. Nor did Lyrica. I actually became more depressed and had more anxiety. I am now on Savella and Celebrex. I am also back on the antidepressant I have been on for yrs, Paxil. I am not pain free, but I do know that these meds are helping. I forgot to take a Celebrex one day and the next day, I felt like I was hit by a mac truck.
You need to tell your dr. what works best for you.They don't know how you feel so if you found that increasing the one medicine helped, tell him/her. Also, I went to a pain dr. and he said he couldn't help me. He no longer treats people with fibro. bcuz of how it moves through out the body.
I hope this is some helpful information.
Jfamily
29 Mar 2011
I just wanted to mention even tho' you are totally against taking Lyrica, not eveyone reacts to it! It would be worth a try. So what if you gain a few pounds. Wouldn't it be worth it if you were out of your pain? I took it & felt like a different person. I would still be taking it, but my ankles started selling really bad. That's not to say yours will tho' I think you shouldn't go by what others have told you about reactions. Everyone is different, & reacts differently. Good luck to you & let us know how you come out...
29 Mar 2011
Hi houseofbradford,
I also have fibromyalgia (FM) and have found that the Internal Medicine specialty has doctors who are willing and able to treat FM.
Another specialty is Rheumatology, a field that has published many studies on FM. My rheumatologist is willing to treat me for FM pain (and arthritis), but not so much for other symptoms.
The types of pain medications that work for me have changed over the 18 years I have had FM. Currently, prescription naproxen works as well as anything else, with no noticable side effects. (The brand name for OTC naproxen is Aleve.)
I feel for you and hope this helps.
Karen
29 Mar 2011
Hi houseof bradford,
Just in case it will help, here's more feedback in the form of what I have tried.
You mentioned that lower back pain is hurting you most right now. The specific type of lower back pain may make a difference in what will help.
For sciatica pain, it helps me to sit in a dining chair and do forward leg lifts, slowly, as if I were using a strength training weight machine (i.e., bringing my feet up by straightening my legs at the knees), gently stretching those back muscles. I do it from 2 to 10 times, depending on how I feel. It may take a day or two to work the first time.
houseofbradford
30 Mar 2011
thanks so much for the comments everyone, what mg is the recommended for magnesium for fibro? or I guess in general. I actually bought some magnesium but have not started taking yet, didnt know if there was a higher recommended dose for fibro than just taking it in general.
5 Apr 2012
I suggest trying Fibro Malic made by Trask. You can buy it a health food store. I, too, have fibromyalgia and it is helping me cut down on the pain and increase my energy level. It is an added bonus that it is over the counter and natural.
I have also heard that Mucinex 400-600 mg has helped others.
If you type in "Fibromyalgia" in the searchbox on this site it will show all the medications that people have tried as well as their reviews. Hope that helps! Good Luck!
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Oh yeah I am def gonna tell her about me taking more elavil so she can, well will hopefully up the dose for me. I have taken opiate pain killers for horrible period cramps and they seem to work somewhat for the fibro too, but I know I cant just tell my doc to give me those and thay happen. I mentioned savella to her b/c I had read up on it & she wouldnt put me on it. I am running out of options for pych drs b/c alot of them now will not take insurance but you file yourself just have to pay at visit. I found one of the few that will file for me and not have to pay at visit. Another thing with the dr is I have to to go to University Medical Center pych which in Ms that is like a state thing, but it is not the health dept. I am not racist in anyway, so I do not want someone to read this and take it the wrong way, but the dr I see is a foreign dr & I think maybe she is not as open to some of the meds I suggest. I could be wrong though.
Expand this post...
With this particular clinic you see the intern I think it is, but she is far enough along in school that she can write scripts & then the actual dr comes in with her. It kinda works like this, I see the intern and talk about what all is going on and then she leaves room to discuss with dr what they think would work best for me & then both come in to talk with me. The actual dr as I am calling her seems to be a little more open to my suggestions.I am just so tired of being in pain,which I am sure we all are who are suffering from pain. Thanks everyone for your comments. I have heard of celebrex and actually have a friend who has tried that and it works for her. Maybe that is something I will discuss with her @ my appt next week. I hope by me commenting on your comment that everyone will get my reply that commented. As for neurontin I have tried it before and it didnt work much for me, but that was a longggg time ago. Maybe it would work for me now, I dont know.
Hey houseofbradford,
The Elavil might just be enough but the addtion of Celebrex for pain may help too. I take it for athritis and it works for me. Not so sure the psychaitrist is the one to prescribe such a drug though. Do you have a pain management doctor or a general practitioner? You might also consider Cymbalta, an antidepressant, that also helps with pain. Don't think you can take it with the Elavil though. Have to discuss with the doctor.
Good luck and keep in touch,
Laurie
ooops, I just reread your post and see that you tried Cymbalta so scratch that suggestion, sorry.
I am on 200 mg of Savella and it really helps. It just came out last year, and is the first drug made specifically for fibermyalgia. I feel much better. I still have some aches, but I am 63 and it goes with the territory. I have lost a lot of weight since I have been able to be active again, so I know it doesn't cause weight gain.
The doctor gave prescribed a topical pain medicine, voltargen, which helped a lot, but I haven't had to use it for a long time. I only use it when it hurts really bad, and haven't had to use it in a long time, so I think the Savella is working very well.