[doorsmorr]

For about the past year, I've been having BAD lower back pain, 4-5 migraine like headaches a week, leg and hip pain, and just an all over achy feeling. I've been to my PCP and for the headaches he sent me for an MRI and to a Neurologist just to make sure that nothing was going on up there. He was a joke, treated me as a drug seeker. I've tried countless medications for the migraines and a bunch of different stuff for the other pain. I can't get no relief. I decided to give a chiropractor a try since our insurance covers it. When I have treatments from her, about an hour later, my backs hurts worse than it did before I started there. The next appointment she is going to test me for Fibromyalgia. What exactly is it, and what can they do to treat it? I'm really hoping that I don't have it. But she said since I'm having all of this pain and nothing really wrong causing it, other than my back way out of line, that it may be the culprit. With every doctor I've been to, I've went along with whatever treatments they have started but none have helped thus far. So if anyone who has this, can you please give me some insight into what I can expect, what all they will do, etc etc. My insurance will only pay for so many visits to the chiropractor, then I'm done, so whatever she decides to do, will be short-term. Thanks!!

[melinda7.5]

Hi Doorsmorr
I have fibro. I see a specialist on my first visit We Talked for about an hour and I told him all of the weird things that would happen to me...then he did a pressure point diagnosis, witch he will push on certain parts of your body and if you have fibro you will drop to the floor in pain when he pushes on those spots.
There is allot of meds out there , but none of them worked for me...I think all of the meds for fibro are a load of cr@p ...sorry, but they will have you carrying around a suit case of meds if they have there way...
The best thing that I have found is exercise
and my diet...

I put up some symptoms to see if you match up with them I have all of them but no migraines...thank the Lord...
Let us know what he says...
Melinda

Symptoms of Fibromyalgia
What Are the Symptoms of Fibromyalgia?
Symptoms of fibromyalgia include:

Chronic muscle pain, muscle spasms or tightness, and leg cramps
Moderate or severe fatigue and decreased energy
Insomnia or waking up feeling just as tired as when you went to sleep
Stiffness upon waking or after staying in one position for too long
Difficulty remembering, concentrating, and performing simple mental tasks
Abdominal pain, bloating, nausea, and constipation alternating with diarrhea (irritable bowel syndrome)
Tension or migraine headaches
Jaw and facial tenderness
Sensitivity to one or more of the following: odors, noise, bright lights, medications, certain foods, and cold
Feeling anxious or depressed

Numbness or tingling in the face, arms, hands, legs, or feet
Increase in urinary urgency or frequency (irritable bladder)
Reduced tolerance for exercise and muscle pain after exercise
A feeling of swelling (without actual swelling) in the hands and feet
Painful menstrual periods
Dizziness
Fibromyalgia symptoms may intensify depending on the time of day -- morning, late afternoon, and evening tend to be the worst times, while 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. tends to be the best time. They may also get worse with fatigue, tension, inactivity, changes in the weather, cold or drafty conditions, overexertion, hormonal fluctuations (such as just before your period or during menopause), stress, depression, or other emotional factors.

If the condition is not diagnosed and treated early, symptoms can go on indefinitely, or they may disappear for months and then recur

[normajean210]

Fibromyalgia is nothing good to have but migraines can only make it worse. There is a new treatment for fibro its Savella. Forrest Pharmaceuticals make it, they say its good but our office has not gotten any feedback yet. There also is Cymbalta and Lyrica that is used to treat it. Some physicains did a study where they did lumbar punctures on fibro patients and they found that the serotonin leels were lower in those patients with fibro. Savella is used to treat that part of it. Lyrica is a pain med and cymbalta works a little like Savella but I'm not sure how. My mom has had fibro for 15 years and unfortunately none of the meds that I mentioned have helped her. She takes Lorcet, Xanax, and Soma for her pain and that pretty much manages it, except when she has a bad flair up.

For the migraines you need a prevention med and a triptan (if you don't have high blood pressure) For prevention you can do Topamax, Amitriptyline, or Depakote. Topamax will help with weight loss also. Amitriptyline (Elavil) helps with sleep also but tends to cause weight gain. Depakote has completely different problems it made my hair fall out but it stopped the headaches and also caused weightgain. One of these will Help reduce the number of migraines you have. A triptan (maxalt, imitrex, treximet) will stop the migraine when it starts.


Hope this helps.

PS I work for a neurologist.

[emjaye]

Hi there

I'm new to this forum, although I have been reading posts for a while now. I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia in sept 08. I've been on so many different drugs, I could seriously open my own pharmacy. At present I am taking 30 mg ms contin 2x/day, percocet for breakthrough pain up to 4x/day. I take 5-HTP 100mg 3x/day as well. And I am still in pain. My doctor will not up my dose of ms contin, but she did refer me to a pain clinic (1 year wait). I haven't been to work for almost a year, I was a welder but just couldnt cut it (weld it?) any more.

I am desperate for relief! Doc says no more morphine because I will just keep building up a tolerance. I say, who cares? When I first started the ms contin, I was so happy! I could walk up the stairs, vaccuum, cook, etc. It was wonderful; but short-lived. 2 months later it was like I was taking T3's. No relief.

I am going back to school starting next week, and I am so worried I won't be able to cut it. Sitting for any length of time is pure agony without sufficient pain medication. Doc wants me to go on Savella, I am seriously considering it. My biggest worry is weight gain. As it stands, I have put on 25 lbs in the past year. Caused by a combination of emotional eating, various antidepressants (gabapentin, lyrica, ampitryptiline), and inactivity. What am I missing?! What do I need to do? I'm walking an hour a day, can''t sleep more than 3 or 4 hours at a time, and am completely miserable! I am so friggin pissed off at god. And at the whole medical field in general. I just can't believe that in the year 2009 a person should feel this kind of pain and be told that there is nothing to be done about it!!

A neighbour who also has fibromyalgia says she got relief by going to Doctor Bernstein (a diet doctor). He gives injections of various vitamins, and she swears by the B-12 injections. And for $400/month, I too, can receive this treatment.

Sorry to be such a whiner. I'm really really frustrated. I want relief! I NEED relief! Any ideas?

[NikNak1]

Hi there, sorry that you are having such a hard time. I was diagnosed with Fibro a while back and believe me I know how frustrating it is. It took me a while to work it out but in the end a large proportion of the pain I was feeling was actually down to the pain killers I was taking. I am not saying that this is the case with you but be careful, too many pain killers will actually cause you more pain in the end. I was in so much pain so much of the time, I was convinced I was dying from some undetected illness. I had Vit D injections as my levels were low, not suprising really as I spent most of my time at home complaining about the pain I was in and how little energy I had. It was a nightmare. I knew I had become dependant on pain killers, I tried to stop taking them but the pain was unbearable and so I always caved in. Then I found out about Subutex and taking it helped me realise that a lot of the pain I had been in was actually caused by the pain killers. I also found that it was so much easier controlling the pain that I did have with a clear head. I saw a life coach who claimed to have helped people recover from Fibro, I thought he was nuts at first but I came to realise that the Fibro and irritable bowel that I had suffered with for years was just the way my body dealt with a lot of other ******** that was going on in my life. I am not saying that this is the case for you or for anyone else who might be reading this and has Fibro, this is just how it was for me and I thought I'd share it. I still get some pain but it is nothing compared to before and the irritable bowel has completely disappeared. I am on a very low dose of Subutex and with the help of a member here I am planning on stopping it completely soon. Please be careful with the pain killers. Good luck