Well another doctors appointment today. After 9 years with fibro, I still haven't found a doctor who understands (believes) in fibro.. It is so discouraging to continue to go, and share your symtoms knowing that they think you are a complete nut case. I have had a terrible time with pain during this winter, and being so cold I hurt. I also have been having a problem with my vision, and migrain head aches. Today I'm going for that reason. I have to really prepare myself every time I go to the doctors for the lack of compation, and the rude comments they can make at times. I wish just once I would go in, and have one of them just acknowledge that they believe what I am telling them. I know there is no cure, but it would be nice to at least be respected enough to be believed. Well just venting this morning as I am new to the site.
hi dakota.. i understand how you feel.. I have been disabled from cfids ( aka cfs/me) , fm . Any docs i go to the first thing i ask them is if they understand and treat those conditions. Otherwise i feel it does not pay to go and be mistreated. I hope you can find your arsenal of docs.I have a medical doc, neurologist and rheumatologist that treats these conditions. all the best to you. huggggggggggggggggs
Thanks suzie, just got back from doctors. I'm so sick of having antidepressants shoved down my throat. Every one I have taken make me feel off the hook. They say thats all they can do for me. So this time she says it's not an antidepressant, but is to help with Fibro. I go pick it up and of course it is. Now when I go back and say I didn't try it, cause I don't like the way they make me feel she will start with the additude. I am sick of it.
hi Avenk,
I was given promethazine for my migraines. My problem is that I do not tolerate antidepressants, I just get increased anxiety, heart palpatations, and just a really bad feeling. Today I was told this is a new drug used for fibro, and insomnia. She said it's not an antidepressant. She goes on to say that every body has pain, and we have to learn to deal with it. I go get the med. and of course another antidepressant. I don't feel I'm not trying to help myself, I feel that some people can tolerate some med's and some can't. They make you feel like you want to be in pain every day, or that we aren't doing anything to help our selves. I'm so tired of it. Why don't they just admit that they don't know how to treat or cure us and leave it at that. I have enough to do dealing with this without being given some thing that makes me feel worse. Sorry I don't know if I am venting to much, just having a bad day today.
Here, give them this the next time you go in. This is real research, the leading thoughts on fibro:
Doctors Confirm Fibromyalgia Is Not Imaginary
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online
Doctors have been able to determine the source of pain in the skin of patients who suffer from fibromyalgia.
Fibromyalgia, a widespread deep tissue pain, affects about ten million people in the US. The condition causes tenderness in the hands and feet, fatigue, sleep disorders and cognitive decline. For years, the disorder was believed to be imaginary and often even attributed to patients making up the illness. The latest research not only proves its existence, but it has also pinpointed the source.
“Instead of being in the brain, the pathology consists of excessive sensory nerve fibers around specialized blood vessel structures located in the palms of the hands,” said Dr. Rice, President of Intidyn and the senior researcher on the study published in the journal American Academy of Pain Medicine. “This discovery provides concrete evidence of a fibromyalgia-specific pathology which can now be used for diagnosing the disease, and as a novel starting point for developing more effective therapeutics.”
The team analyzed the skin of one patient who lacked all the numerous varieties of sensory nerve endings in the skin that supposedly accounted for highly sensitive and a richly-nuanced sense of touch. This patient had normal function in day-to-day tasks, but the only sensory endings the team detected were those around the blood vessels.
“We previously thought that these nerve endings were only involved in regulating blood flow at a subconscious level, yet here we had evidences that the blood vessel endings could also contribute to our conscious sense of touch“¦ and also pain,” Rice said.
The team used a unique microscopic technology to study small skin biopsies collected from the palms of fibromyalgia patients who were being diagnosed and treated. They found an enormous increase in sensory nerve fibers at specific sites within the blood vessels of the skin. These critical sites are tiny muscular valves known as arteriole-venule (AV) shunts.
“The AV shunts in the hand are unique in that they create a bypass of the capillary bed for the major purpose of regulating body temperature,” Rice explained.
These shunts are unique to the palms of hands and soles of feet, working like a radiator in a car. Under warm conditions, the shunts close down to force blood into the capillaries at the surface of the skin in order to radiate heat from the body, while in cold conditions the shunts open wide to allow blood to bypass the capillaries in order to conserve heat.
Dr. Phillip J. Albrecht, another researcher on the project, said the excess sensory innervation might explain why fibromyalgia patients have especially tender and painful hands.
“But, in addition, since the sensory fibers are responsible for opening the shunts, they would become particularly active under cold conditions, which are generally very bothersome to fibromyalgia patients,” Albrecht said.
Rice added that the hands and feet act as a reservoir from which blood flow can be diverted to other tissues in the body, such as muscles when we begin to exercise.
“Therefore, the pathology discovered among these shunts in the hands could be interfering with blood flow to the muscles throughout the body,” the researcher said.
This discovery of a distinct tissue pathology demonstrates that fibromyalgia is not imaginary, which helps to change the clinical opinion of the disease and guide future approaches for better treatments.
“Wow crazy how spot on they were it has affected me cognitively as well as sleep issues! Mine is brought on by especially cold temperatures,” Amy P, who suffers from fibromyalgia, told redOrbit. “Also my handwriting has greatly suffered. But I believe that’s because I may have tendinitis of some sort.”
Dutch researchers reported a study earlier this month contradicting these findings, saying that weather conditions do not affect fibromyalgia pain or fatigue.
“Our analyses provide more evidence against, than in support of, the daily influence of weather on fibromyalgia pain and fatigue,” said Ercolie Bossema, Ph.D. from Utrecht University in the Netherlands. “This study is the first to investigate the impact of weather on fibromyalgia symptoms in a large cohort, and our findings show no association between specific fibromyalgia patient characteristics and weather sensitivity.”
However, researchers from the recent study point to the blood flow as proof the weather does actually have an effect on fibromyalgia patients.
“This mismanaged blood flow could be the source of muscular pain and achiness, and the sense of fatigue which are thought to be due to a build-up of lactic acid and low levels of inflammation fibromyalgia patients. This, in turn, could contribute to the hyperactivity in the brain,” Rice said.
-----------------------
There are still some doctors who will refuse to believe because they refuse to come into the 21st century to change their mindset. But hopefully your doctors will be open-minded about this legitimate research on fibro.
Sorry that I can't write more but I'm so very tired and my hands will barely type anymore. I also apologize to anyone whom I may have left hanging on friend requests or personal notes lately. My fibro has been awful.
Hugs,
Petunia
I agree with your approach, Suzie! In fact, I'd ask the receptionist at the time of booking the 1st appointment, so you can get a feel for what's to come.
Topamax is a preventative it also helps neuropathic pain and helps with weightloss, I suffer with migraines which really knock me around the best drug I have found is cafegot, tablets or suppositories or you used to be able to get it in Injection form as dihgotmine they were discontinued here in Australia so I get them from India. The only other answer for me is morphine, largactil, and stemetil Injections which work well but I am Morphine already for my fibro and my pain specialist doesn't like me to use more then I have to. Try some of these they all work well I've tried everything on the market both old and new meds and these are the best ones.