have had fibro 40 years. 2 weeks ago My GP threw up his hands and my back Dr. said i can’t help you anymore. GP sent me to a new pain dr., I got 4-5 minutes with him (he did have all the GP files) and then he took me off all my Norco and other meds. Told me to taper off for two weeks, but that irritated the H out of me and I tossed them all when I got home. I did NOT have ANY withdrawal symptoms. So after 7 days clean, I started the new med. it’s LDN low dose naltrexone. check it on the internet please. This is my 5th day… I guess I feel about like I did 40 years ago when I first got fibro. like raw hamburger, but alive. He will increase it in 2 weeks. I have a question and your need your thoughts. A man I knew in the past is now divorced and wants to meet up again. He’s very serious and I really like him. I told him about the fibro and the osteoporosis, but he’s a neurologist and veteran and doesn’t care. There is really no way I can keep up with him. My ex was 20 years younger than me. So is this man. But he doesn’t care. I feel so helpless.
should I sit here and cry thinking of all the good days I could have with someone, Or i can sit here in this small apartment with my cat. I am 75, and otherwise in good health.
Awww, Carolyn.
I believe in “what’s meant to be will be”
So if you want my opinion just go for it and see what happens. You write your own story and edit as you go along. You dont know what this new man can or will handle regarding you & your fibro and OA unless you give him a chance. At least you will know, you won’t have any regrets and you won’t be wondering and asking yourself every day from here on out"what if"
That’s my thought on it. Good luck and you know you gotta keep us up to date with how your story goes:wink:
Thanks. having to be a single parent for 17 years i learned to really look at all angles of a “situation”. Have been totally alone for a long time now and want to go slow – mentally that is, hoping to go FASTER on this new LDN. I am amazed that I don’t have more pain than I do. I am holding at a 5. I relied on those high doses of narcotics for 10 years and also surprised to just go cold turkey with no withdrawals. WebMD and Mayo Clinic sites are what my GP always said I could look at and to stay off odd sites. I have tried hard to stick with his orders.
I have to give this new doc every chance to help me. 
I truly hope you go for it. He will probably make considerations for your condition, since he’s a doctor. He may not be as active as he used to be. There may be things you and he can do to include you in his activities. Your condition could also improve with this new medication. Only time will tell. Good luck 
thanks you gals for encouragement. He’s a neurologist serving in Afghanistan. he had to look up fibro and sent me a list of ways to cope. of course, i already knew the ways, but a brain man didn’t ! LOL - anyway, he’s serving as a medic. Am still on the 1.5 of LDN and next week up it to 3 mg.
Doc will see me AFTER Christmas so i have to call for a refilll.
If you think too much you stop living. Just ask yourself one question. Am I desperate or am I simply looking for companionship hoping it may lead elsewhere?
I am not desperate, have done quite well by myself keeping busy since my 2012 divorce. I appreciate all your thoughts. I am taking it slow, but there is plenty of wishes and adventures left in me in spite of this terrible disease. He did write a list of things I can do to relieve the pain but said “it is not curable”. Heck, I’ve known that for 40 years, but said nothing except Thank you. I hope each of you has a good day tomorrow. THANKS
I am now at the high dose of LDN 4.5 mg at 9 pm. I feel more pain than I did at the dose of 3, but doc says do this til Feb. so i have no choice. All my narcotics and nerve meds are gone, so mornings are really bad. Guy friend is now in Syria and displayed an email temper fit over a very small thing - which is making me re-think everything. i can get short tempered due to pain. he is a medic, so i understand how old and scary that gets, but I am not corresponding right now. i have to take care of ME – also after next Dr. appointment, Doc will decide a date for radio frequency ablation. look it up. had it done before by my ortho and it helped. happy new year to anyone reading this.
nerve ablation will be January 21. In meantime my thyroid is causing swelling that I did not have for months. Pain doc put me on amitryptiline but that can also cause swelling and lots of other stuff. I took one last night and wish I had not.
Is anyone else on the LDN ? he wants me on 4.5 for at least 3 months and its getting really miserable.
Hi Carolyn, I hope things are improving for you. I’m curious why the amitryptiline didn’t agree with you. I’ve been on it since 2007. I take it at night. After being on it for years, I started to think it wasn’t doing anything for me. I did not refill my prescription, and I after a few days I was scrambling to get it refilled! It was doing a lot more for me than I thought. I noticed a lot more pain and since it makes one a bit drowsy, I was either not falling asleep or not STAYING asleep for very long. I think it may cause some side effects for me, but I found life without it intolerable. When I first went on it way back in 2007, I was put on a low dose to start out, and it knocked me out immediately when I took it at bedtime. After building up a tolerance, it no longer helps me fall asleep immediately, but that little bout I had going without it made me realize it was definitely helping with sleep and pain. When I’ve been on a med for a long time, I sometimes forget how I USED to feel without it.
Relationships are very personal and only you can decide what’s right for you, of course…if he loves you, he’ll deal with you not being able to do as much as someone who doesn’t have Fibro. If he isn’t caring, he’ll most likely be insensitive to your needs. I’d take things slowly and find those things out if I were you.
Personally, I have so far found relationships to just not be worth it. I was divorced before ever being diagnosed with Fibro, so that was not an issue in my marriage, but I have NO doubt my ex would have been a huge detriment and NO help at all. My family has expressed the same feelings. I can’t count how many times my mother said, before she passed away, “Thank GOD you got rid of him before you found out you have this! He would have been awful to you.”
Dating since getting Fibro has been a nightmare for me. I’m 45 right now and I’m completely prepared to live the rest of my life as a single woman. Everyone I’ve dated has not understood my condition and been very selfish - but I’m a jerk magnet. I’ve never found anyone but selfish jerks, Fibro or not. The difference for me is, I guess, these relationships cause me stress. I’ve always sought peace and serenity in my life, but it’s even more important to me now that I have Fibro. Stress causes me physical pain now, not just mental pain. For me it’s just not worth it.
That’s certainly not the case for everyone, though. My brother is a caring, wonderful man and his wife was diagnosed with Fibro many years before I was. Their marriage continued on in the same fashion, they had more children…she has great support from him. But I do think that my brother is a remarkable man, he is much like my late father. She’s very lucky to have him for a husband. These guys don’t just grow on trees, they are rare, in my experience. But they exist.
The ones I’ve dated? Not in the same class of people as my dad and brother. Personally, I cannot listen to a guy whine for weeks that I had to break a date to go to a baseball game he really wanted to go to. Go by yourself, I’m not stopping you! After having him bring it up over and over again, refusing to understand that it’s painful some days for me to sit in my own comfy recliner or lay in my bed, let alone sit in a stadium, I just said this crap isn’t worth it. I have enough to deal with, I don’t need some baby complaining about how I broke ONE date.
There are a lot of events I’d love to go to that don’t end up happening…some people can’t get it that we don’t know when Fibro will strike. So I guess my thoughts on that are, if you can’t or are not willing to understand that, get out of my life. I don’t need the extra stress.
Take the time for your own peace of mind to find out which type of guy he is…if he’s like my brother, he’s a rare catch! Those kind of guys are for sure worth it. Others are not. For me, I can feel the physical effect of mental stress right away, and I just don’t need the drama.
Hi, I tried LDN for a month and it didn’t help me. I hope it helps you and I’ve read that it has helped many people with fibromyalgia. Good Luck!
JADE - the relationship is over. He lied to me several times, but the deal-breaker was he thought I look OK, so how could I possibly hurt ! That told me he would not help me if I got really sick, so its over. Cannot tolerate bald-faced liars. The cauterization did not help. if anything i am worse. in 2016 I had both sides of spine done by a different doc who has moved. This was one side only, with the other side to be done in 2 weeks. I have cancelled the second one. Since i moved LDN from 3 mg to 4.5 mg I have had continuous ringing in my ears. Seeing doc on valentine’s day for a conference. I have thought things over carefully and I don’t need a boyfriend or husband. I had thought it would feel nice to have a partner. But I am not a shy person I can go to a restaurant, movie, or travel to bird watching places alone. I can move at my pace, eat or rest when I want, and strike up any conversations I want to.
Right now I have not yet healed from the procedure and am actually grateful I don’t have to deal with a man. I thank everyone for their suggestions, but he killed this himself. I will keep you posted what doc come up with next as I have no more narcotics, cortisone, pain killers, or sleeping aid --just the LDN. p.s. I had a dad and a brother that were wonderful, just like you, we are lucky to have had them in our lives.
I am a 73 year old man who met his soul mate seven years ago. Within the first week we told one another what our physical weaknesses are and mine are numerous. My Lady told me hers and told me straight out what she didn’t want to have to put up with mentally and personally (Because her dead husband, kindly put, wasn’t nice when he was alive.) and, “If you can’t handle that then there’s the door.” I have nursed my Lady through a fixer-upper abdominal surgery and a shoulder repair. She has nursed me through two separate knee replacement surgeries and arthritic surgery on both feet (From which I am 2 months into recovery right now.) My Lady is my soul mate and life with her is beautiful no matter what pain either of us is in at the moment. Both of are independent and between us are seven children and eleven grandchildren. Believe me, those are some interesting personalities. Anyway, what I am trying to get to, the long way around is this; when you find the right partner they are greater than anything conceivable and will be a loving comfort the rest of your life. Enjoy dating but also maintain your independence. Don’t settle. I am so sorry to hear these stories as to how partners can be so cold and selfish. Life is for the living so live and God bless.
Good for you! I am truly happy for both of you. Right now, my Cat is my comfort, but possibly down the road that could change. I have no big regrets in my life, what is IS.
hopefully I can stay out of assisted living. I try hard to keep moving. Again, thanks for sharing a wonderful hopeful story.
Life is suffering. Misery is optional. My philosophy is LIVE.
My thought is for you to spend more time with this man.
hi - if you read my posts, you’ll see he is short-tempered, selfish and lied to me. all within 3 months. It’s over.
Pain doctor took me off LDN and put me back on the original Norco. I had to sign a Pain Contract. Nebraska passed a law in 2018 that narcotic RX need a pain control contract. I had a UA at the office. after it cleared, he faxed the Norco RX to pharmacy. I have to go in once a month for a UA or a blood test and take all the remaining Norco with me. The test has to match up with the amount of pills taken. This is a 50 mile round trip for me every month, but there is no way out of it. I states that I cannot use any other doctor, and if I used CBD oil or Marijuana I will be reported to the Police. The doctor will ALSO give me RANDOM tests, and I will have 24 hours to report to him, in addition to the monthly visits. I retired from Corrections and yesterday made me feel Like I am the convict. I was on LDN for 3 months, plus lots of ibuprofen. Last week I had a TIA, “woke up” with my mouth full of food, plate on lap, sitting in my chair. I don’t know how long I was out. NSAIDS can cause strokes and a TIA is a fast stroke. I dont know how to move forward, but I have one daughter and several grandkids, so somehow I have to.
Actually, Nebraska didn’t do that. The state did pass several laws about naroctics but they impact prescribers, not really users. The official information is here:
https://www.nebmed.org/about/news/new-nebraska-laws-regarding-opiates-prescribing-and-continuing-ed
There’s addtional information here:
http://dhhs.ne.gov/publichealth/PDMP/Pages/Home.aspx
Now, does the provider have the right to have you sign a pain contract? Sure. It’s not law, though. It’s that office or clinic. I’ve signed those repeatedly over the years. I’m not even sure they’re fundamentally legal or would hold up in court, I’ve never bothered to question them to that extent but I have my doubts.
Do they have the right to demand testing? That’s a grey area. Testing costs money - why are you being tested regularly unless there’s a concern? Who’s paying for the test that has no apparent medical foundation? You? Your insurance? Doesn’t that cross into medical fraud? Not to mention the waste of your time, gas money, and all that.
If I were you I’d start shopping for another doctor. Or, if like this doctor, go with the office demands for a few months to establish a solid history then have a discussion about how you’re not going to do testing that has no medical foundation. If they really think you’re abuse the medication why are they prescribing to you? Don’t let them treat you like a criminal when you aren’t.
And be aware, in Nebraske ALL medications you fill go into a database. ALL OF THEM.
As a legitmate doctor, the one you’re seeing should have access to it. If they’re really that concerned about you they could look you up instead of making you jump through random, invasive hoops.
Oh – and don’t fret about CBD oil, right now it’s still legal under the law in your state, whether the doctor likes it or not.
azurelle
Actually, I go to a Pain Institute (clinic, as GP wont RX narcotics anymore) Most pain clinics in Nebraska require that you sign a contract. this is part of an article from 2016 , woman with MANY chronic pain conditions “In Nebraska, Medicaid patients like Ms. Kubicka-Welander, 56, may face limits this year that have been recommended by a state drug review board.” So I also am on Medicare and Medicaid. We have no choice. Most GP’s wont prescribe anymore, and My Ortho said he prefers not to, and i was sent to the pain institute and started on the LDN. This makes it VERY difficult as I have a 50 mile round trip whenever they want. But I am left without any choices. Even if its not “the law”, doctors are making it the law. 
my contract will check for marijuana, CBD oil, and other drugs. CBD made me vomit anyway.