I was diagnosed with fibro about a month ago, I’m pretty sure I’ve had it for at least three years though. I grew up thinking that pain was just a part of life, I always thought the aches were just part of being human but things slowly got worse after I had my third kid. I have a high pain tolerance and the pains in my legs almost brought me to tears (I never cry from physical pain) so I went to the ER and the doctors gave me a shot of toridol and the doctor said all blood tests were fine and xrays so it must be something like “fibromyalgia”, she actually did air quotes with her fingers and rolled her eyes, gave me some Tramadol to take home and said to see my regular doctor to follow up, the pain had started in my legs but I ended up hurting everywhere, just being touched by someone would send a wave of pain through my body almost like their touch burned me but internally and it spread… So I saw my doctors partner doctor at our clinic because I needed help asap and my doc is booked out three months. Her partner wanted to put me on amitryptaline but I said no because it’s also used for depression and I can’t take any mood altering drugs because of borderline personality disorder, she said I had to talk to my therapist to get the go ahead for gabapentin, therapist said yes to gab and agreed with what I had said about amitryptaline… Anyway, been on 300mg gabapentin 3x/day and it does seem to help the pain.
This fatigue though! And the random bouts of depression. They make me want to just lay in bed all day, three kids, I can’t do that so I push on anyway… What can I do about this fatigue? What works for you? I’m also taking acelytl l carnitine (spelling??) for brain support, a womens vitamin, and hydroxycut (not just to lose weight but the caffeine/coffee extract gives me some boost during the day.) I play with my kids on my good days but they notice the bad days and it makes me sad because all I can do is sit with them while they play…
I want to play too!!
Anyone, please, any remedy for the fatigue, I’m always tired… I’m starting to feel useless…
Also, I live with my mom, my kids too, I’m a single parent, I do the cooking, shopping, cleaning, etc. The only thing I don’t do is the dishes because mom does them. I do everything because my mom has cancer and her back hurts if she stands for too long, I get it… But I wish people around me understood my pain and the many struggles fibro brings, and BPD on top of it.
You have a lot on you, and I’m sorry. I recently tried d-Ribose, which helped muscle fatigue and related spasming and pain. It seemed also to increase my energy and well-being, but not like rocket fuel.
Thank you for your reply Lynne. I think I’m going to talk with my doctor and see if she can recommend anything for the constant exhaustion I feel.
On a good note, I woke up this morning actually feeling pretty decent but for some reason my body thinks it’s fully rested after only four hours of sleep… I know I will be exhausted again in just a couple hours but I’m holding on to this moment.
Blessed be!
I do understand your story and all the pain you are going through too. I have had FM for 10 yrs and Chronic Fatigue as well along with a spine disease. Some days like you said are OK but not completely pain free and I also had cancer too. My complete body had taken me down bad roads of depression and crying until I felt there were no more tears to cry. Thinking very bad thought of “that for sure I was dying”. But here I am 10 or so years later still in pain but have moved to a better place with thought and how I think about myself.
I was and have always been an over achiever in my life doing things that more people have never tried or wanted too. But I think this has become a gift of life “even if that sounds stupid” but it has touch me to change the way I think about myself.
I have tried most of the meds out there and most of the time I reject them because people with FM usually suffer sensitivity to drugs. I have seen doctor from one end to the other and many years ago it was call “psycho semantic” a word in the medical profession used to describe woman who were not handling life.
So what is different for me know is I live “one day at a time” I had to train my brain to pay attention to that phrase. Be mindful of what that really means to me and to live it as well as knowing that when we have bad thoughts “they are true”. Knowing when to say "its ok that I don’t feel well “stopped feeling less” so much more I could share but don’t want to bore you.
I love to play when I don’t feel good but I pay the price later and learning each day is different then the last day sometimes.
Keep talking about FM and don’t ever let anyone tell you that its in your head or you will get over it. People are stupid and I feel sorry for those who are not connect to the really world.
I don’t know if this helped you but let me know and I will keep in touch if you like.
I’m struggling with the exhaustion, too. I haven’t found a solution for it, either. Even on my good days, I need a nap. On my bad days, I just want to stay in bed all day.
My current experiment is focusing on eliminating sugary stuff from my diet to see if that helps with both pain and exhaustion. Bread is a weakness for me, but I can see that it’s also a pain trigger food for me. At some point, I may also try eliminating or at least substantially cutting black tea from my diet. I drink a lot of that all day.
Yeah, old thread, I know. But I was caught by the title: Despite 2 years of fibro I asked my wife a few weeks ago for the first time if she doesn’t always have pain of some kind? Or at least most of the time? Or at least pretty often? She laughed at me, like you’re not being serious are you?
I’ve also had pain, probably often severe, as long as I can remember, so I also thought it was normal.
Reason I came was looking for ALC, and seeing here Acetyl-L-Carnitine is a women’s vitamin!? Well sorry, I’ve been taking ALC too.
Looked up and found this study about help from it for … female infertlity from 2018, so later than above thread, concluding “While both LC and ALC have their applications in improving female fertility, ALC is preferred for its better antioxidant properties and LC for amelioration of energy supply to the cells.” - interesting as I’d heard ALC is better for alertness… now I’m questioning the acetyl after all…
Also I was interested in seeing names “of old” I hadn’t yet come across… Meeting earlier ‘generations’… Intriguing how the web allows immediate reactions and yet freezes/photographs them for later ‘generations’.
I think I’m going to talk with my doctor and see if she can recommend anything for the constant exhaustion I feel.