I recently read an article online that stated that Fibro pain is similar to MS pain. Does anyone know this to be a fact? Any opinions?
Now that the weather is changing here in good ole NJ, I am beginning to feel it even more and my SAD is slowing creeping in. My pain at night is worse and although I try different things each night such as Tramadol, muscle relaxers, Valium, MMJ....nothing seems to take the pain away. I was also officially diagnosed with Interstitial Cystitis this year and my doctor refuses to give me Elmiron because my liver enzymes elevate, so here I am dealing with yet another painful condition. *sigh*
Hope everyone is doing as well as can be expected. I am dreading the holiday season coming, I don't have the energy to shop and put up with family bull****. lol
Hi Linda, I get a lot of nerve pain like the burning and zapping. I was tested for MS and luckily was negative. The just say it is Fibro and Neuropathy. So I do my best to manage symptoms and thrive! Hugs!
It seems like there are two answers to your questions about the MS pain. First, MS pain is caused by the demyelination of nerves and as a result the nerves don’t pass messages as they’re supposed to and that causes all sorts of negative symptoms including pain. Second, yes, some of the pain that people with FMS experience is similar in the way it feels to some types of MS pain. It’s not caused exactly the same way, but the pins and needles sensations are similar. MS pain is progressive whereas FMS pain isn’t found to be so far.
Is that clear at all? I hope I didn’t muddy the waters there.
I’m sorry you’re feeling so cruddy… Do you change or increase your antidepressant during the fall/ winter? It might be something that you can ask your doc. You shouldn’t have to deal with this for months.
Hi Linda! I took Elmiron for IC for about 6 months before my urologist took me off of it-it was not helping me at all. In fact, it only works for about 50% of those who try it. I was diagnosed with this in 2004. Multiple procedures, etc-you know. Doc put me on hyoscyamine which has helped me with the painful bladder spasms. At one point, I was also taking the subliminal form to get into my bloodstream quicker but I have not had to take those for several years now-just taking the regular tabs & it helps a lot. Just thought I’d pass that on–hope you feel better soon. HUGS!
I take that medication for IBS! Hyoscyamine. I did not know it was also for bladder spasms. When I get the bad pain from my lovely bladder, I take an Oxycodone and lay down with my heating pad and it generally passes. The condition is so annoying though because in addition to pain it is the urgency also!! I can't go anywhere without checking out where the bathrooms are! I had a cystoscopy back in March and he dilated my urethra and bladder and I was good for about three weeks when the pain started again. One day at a time. Hugs back at ya!! Thanks
I cannot take any antidepressants because they all give me migraines! I just stay inside and fire up my heating pad and turn up my heat!! I don't have pins and needles sensations but very deep ache and pain and spasms in my legs along with pain in the trigger points. You need so much patience with these conditions. I wish they would hurry up and find a cure!!!
Another symptom I have is side effects to ALOT of medications. I tried all three meds for Fibro and had side effects. I am also overweight and will not take a med that puts on weight. I have also tried Naltrexone for about 3 months and it did not do much but when I tried increasing it (doctor orders) to 2.5 mg...I became severely nauseous and heaving so I stopped it. I recently started MMJ..which relaxes me but does nothing for the pain.
We need to take one day at a time and try to do our best. When we are tired we need to rest. Fatigue is also a very big issue! Fun huh?
Sorry to hear you are having such a hard time. Big hugs.
I suffer from burning and tingling feet, soles and the tops. At first I thought it was diabetic neuropathy but I have been told it is not my diabetic team. I am on gabapentin for fibro and find it helps with the burning in my feet but the tingling is still there and some nights are worse than others, and I don't know the reason. I do also massage my feet with cream every night to boost circulation. I have not been tested for MS, yet, my maternal grandmother had it and my maternal grandfather had ALS, great gene pool!! As the weather is getting cooler I find an increase in my symptoms, so I think this year I am going to crank the heat, and wear lots of warm clothes, the heck with fashion, lol.
I noted you said you are dreading the holiday season with shopping and such. I thought I would share that I do almost all my holiday shopping on line. Even shops in my city I would rather pay delivery charges than have to deal with crowds, in and out of shops, and the cold. If this isn't something you have tried before, you might want to consider. My stress level during the holiday season dropped considerably with on line shopping. I hope the seasonal transition is gentle for you and sending you lots of hugs as you find answers along this journey with fibro. Thanks for sharing a great post.
For the longest time my Dr's thought I had MS because of many of the symptoms are the same. I also had Optical Neuritis a few years ago which is mostly related to MS.
Depending on the form of MS it can sure seem like you have it. Relapse Remit is simliar to our fibro flares. I about die during hot and humid weather. I am light sensitive. I even have a few lesions on the brain, just a few , nothing bad. Plus MS starts around the same age as FMS. I was 31 when it hit me like a brick wall. Had clues before then but just wrote it off to working too much, excercising too much etc.
I know several people with MS and out pain and symptoms overlap probably about 80%.
Plus I feel FMS is auto-immune; which MS is. Sometimes I wish it was relapse remit MS and I would have a better treatment plan and would have a community that understands me more. But times are changing and FMS is getting more and more known to the medical and general community. Still a long way to go for FMS/CFIDS sufferers but it's a start.
I was only diagnosed with Fibro last week by my PCP. My neuro ran the complete gamut of tests including the LP because of multiple spots on my brain MRI when I went to him for chronic migraines and the ER doctor told me he thought all my symptoms were from complicated or complex migraines. My neuro sent me to an MS specialist for a second opinion just to make sure he wasn't missing anything and to completely rule out MS. According to PCP, there is such an overlap in symptoms that he wouldn't even diagnose it until he ran complete panels for RA and Lupus just to make sure. When there were no other tests to run to rule out other causes for my pain and other symptoms, then he felt comfortable diagnosing FM.