I’m really in need of support right now from people that understand how hard it is to deal with fibromyalgia. None of meds are easing my pain. I have constant stabbing pain all over my body daily. And with the pain comes extreme neaseua. I have also noticed that my balance is off and I’m having to catch myself alot from falling. It’s making it hard for me to do my daily routine. Which in return makes me feel guilty as a mom of a five year old. I want to be able to do more for him and with him but everything is a struggle for me lately. I feel like I’m almost to my breaking point. I’m depressed, having these crying spells, and just feeling useless.
Hi, Proudmom0123.
I’m so sorry you’re going through this! Please hang in there, and get to your doctor asap! I don’t know how long you’ve been on your meds, but, if they aren’t helping, maybe your doctor needs to look for something that will. My heart goes out to you. I’m sure you are doing the best that you can for your son. You should not feel guilty, when you know that you are doing all that you can.
The doctor needs to know about your depression, as well as the pain. Caring for a 5-year old is difficult if you are heathy (I know - I raised a very active boy!), but it would be so much harder with FMS to deal with! Saying prayers and sending gentle hugs
Hi Proudmom0123:
I can really imagine how tough it is - like @AussieMom I also had a (hyper)active boy… And his 3yo daughter now isn’t really less, just she can make herself understood (he couldn’t very well for quite a few years), so I don’t usually manage more than 2h there…
Since meds didn’t help me - almost - at all, I’d consider asking for physical therapy instead.
Thanks for the encouragement. I did tell my doctor about the depression and they actually took me out of work for 2 months and I go back on 3/2. I have been going to therapy to learn to cope with dealing with fibromyalgia better. However, it’s still a struggle for me daily. During the pandemic I actually caught covid (late August, early September) and since then none of my previous meds I was taking or new ones they prescribed has helped at all.
Thanks for the suggestion. At this point the pain has become so unbareable that im willing to try anything. Has physical therapy been helpful at all??? Has it reduced your flare ups?
Hi, Proudmom0123.
I believe that your physical therapy question was for @JayCS, as it has helped him quite a bit. I’ve been through a lot of physical therapy before my two neck surgeries, hand surgeries, and also for my lower back, hip, and shoulder issues. I haven’t had physical therapy geared toward the fibromyalgia (other than massages, which became too painful to continue), so I’ll let JayCS answer this one.
Hi Proudmom0123, I’m so sorry for all the pain you are going through, both emotionally and physically. I am unable to work. I’m on social security disability. I’m glad you are taking time off from work. There are several things that trigger a flare up for me and one of them is doing too much at one time. And it doesn’t take much for that to happen. I’m trying to apply pacing to my life. I do a little bit then sit down and rest. This seems to help some. Unfortunately it doesn’t take much for me to have a flare up. Having an active 5 year old must be challenging. Maybe when you spend time with him, it could be doing an activity that allows you to sit, like reading him a book, coloring, watching a movie, making up a game like… what in this room in the color green? What do you see in this room that is shaped like a circle? I don’t have children but, for myself, I would remember quality time with my mom versus how many times I played outside with my mom. I know the drug Cymbalta is an FDA approved med for depression and Fibro. You are NOT a bad mom. A bad mom wouldn’t care about the welfare of their 5 year old child. I’m so glad you reached out and told us you’re having a difficult time. We care and we are here for you!
Yep, in case you meant me, as @AussieMom suggests, this is my take on it: In short - some types of physical therapy / physiotherapy (PT) harmed me, but quite a few have helped a lot and also “reduced flare ups”.
As meds have harmed me a lot and herbs and supps haven’t helped I have tried 60+ forms of treatment, including almost every type
There are a lot of types of PT: various manual therapy and various movement types, warm or cold air or water or solids and more…(e.g. “hydrotherapy” could be either a combination of warm water plus movement as in aquajogging or just applying cold or warm water, so it’s a bit of an unspecific term).
I have to say I’ve been in a continual flare up for 15 months now. That said, PT has got and keeps getting all my pains down to zero, which has considerably improved my sleep to 9.5h/n (plus ±5 breaks). This was in the form of manual therapy: first osteopathy, now TCM/acupressure, massaging with arnica cream myself, short 20’’ stints of back exercises, incl. yoga, very careful stretching, and hand exercises. Aquajogging was also OK, helped others more.
PT has also got/gets my Ache down, in the form of whole body cryotherapy, very short cold showering & cold washing, a breath-holding exercise, plus putting my legs & arms up while resting. Hot or cold hand baths in canola grain was only OK for 3 mins, other fibromites loved it.
PT that harmed by making me cramp, hurt and become nauseous to the point of having to cry, was mainly stretching too long and hard in various forms, something which is often used in normal PT, in stretching classes, in yin yoga, sort of similar I find in the slow movements of qi gong and tai chi. I’ve now learned to keep that very short, 10-20 secs, very few repetitions spread over a longer time, so I just do that stuff in between. It did not help that physiotherapists (or docs which suggested these things) believed to know how fibro works or worked in a rheum./fibro clinic. Best for me is my acupressurist who has fibro and similar things herself.
Applications like acupuncture, hyaluronic acid injections, chiropractic etc. could be helpful for some, and are non-pharmacological, but praps don’t directly belong to physical therapy, so are often named additionally. These may help some, not me up to now, but I’m thinking of trying Chinese-trained acupuncture again.
HTH?