I have just joined your group :D xx
Cool, Mike! Thanks for joining!
It is hard and usually takes a very long time before a proper diagnosis can be made. Since the start of my medication (Cymbalta, Seroquel, Amytripltyline and more recently Lyrica) i have gained 30kgs. The medical practitioners don’t mention this. I am exhausted all the time. I try gymming but sometimes the pain is just too unbearble. These meds do not treat the pain! It sends signals to the brain making one think there is no pain when the pain is actually very real indeed. A friend of mine has lost his job due to the illness and went through a serious depression, just as i have. I still battle with depression daily as it is linked to FM. These are things that I have learnt by research. Only yesterday I seen a Chiropractor for my back, and here i discovered something very interesting. People with FM should visit a Chiro at least 3 times a year because the contraction of the muscles due to FM leads to skeletal problems. WOW! now for 5 years with this illness I have never known this. Also medical aids do not recognise FM as a chronic illness in SA. My medical expenses are astronomical. All I can say is take it step by step. It’s hard but try to read inspirational books, it helps getting the mind in the right place. I try not to focus on the pain so much but rather the good things around me and my family, etc. Good Luck and take care
I just like to say how brave it was for you to be so honest about how you over eat. So many people like to blame it on other things than just what it is, over eating. I also have gained a lot of weight over the last 10 years..part of why is due to stress, some due to medication but mainly i just stress eat. I also thought about GB surgery but i also know for me..that exercise and eating healthy is the real answer plus i will feel better. But that is what is true for me...you must do what is right for you. I have been eating much better for last few years and the weight has been coming off ...so i am sure you will do it once your life calms down a bit and you get use to the fibro. Biggest mistake i made, when i first was diagnosed with SLE...i thought every time i got sick it was tied into it. Took me about 2 years to calm down and realize that i just get sick like 'normal healthier' people.
It sounds like you might have some good doctors finally in your life. Try not to be too made at them...they are just people like you and me. They constantly keep learning new things about the body. The good ones keep up on all the changes so just the fact that he said it had changed could be a excellent sign that he is going to be a good doctor...one that really cares.
No do not stop taking antidepressants!! the brain moss..i call brain freezes...you feeling that electrical shock treatment every few minutes or so shooting through your brain? It kind of really feels like something is very wrong with your brain too.
Also you can be allergic to some antidepressant drugs. I was with one...and it was like my brain was closing in..got extremely suicidal and there was no reason. I am by nature a very up beat optimistic person. I have experienced depression from a huge loss and trauma event in my life so i know the difference. So if you get worse...let your doctor know asap. You might have to go back on another antidepressant to stop the brain feeling then work your way off very, very slowly. I just do not want you to suffer any more...so just keep it in mind if you do feel worse instead of slowly getting better with brain feelings.
But seriously..to be so courageous to just be so honest to bunch of strangers I really think your road ahead is going to be a lot better than it has been. Anyone with ability to be that honest about oneself..well you sure deserve it! Also...do you happen to have thyroiditis? Very curious...i have had it but from what i was told years ago..it is very rare. Though so was Lupus and fibro back than lol!. Anyways...i just been thinking about how brave you were to put yourself out there...i sincerely hope this doctor does help you, or finds one that can!
BRAVO! Congrats on finally admitting that you are chronically ill! Took me years too! I was diagnosed "officially" in 2000 and its been one hell of a roller coaster ride ever since. It has taken me years (literally) to find a great doctor....who I have right now. It is very uncomfortable to try and explain an illness no one can see...and something you can barely get your head around as well. I basically describe it as nerve damage that makes my body go haywire and everything I feel nerve-wise feels like pain! I too have been on pain killers up the wazoo as well. Now I am on a cocktail of drugs that I have been on in the past, but not in the same way in the ways. At my last count, I was on and on up to 75 medications since 2000!!!
You don't want to quit and I can understand that! Admitting you are ill, is NOT giving up! It is actually coming out of denial and seeing your life for the first time with fresh eyes. Accepting yourself for you as is, is difficult, no matter how "perfect" you want to be. Coming here and talking it out is a great start.
Lee pen
Thank you for telling your amazing story. Welcome to the group. I haven’t been a group member for long myself an I 'm from Oz so a lot of the meds have different names here, and some are not yet available to us. I have read all the replies here, and don’t think that there is much that I can say except, you will find that you need to become as informed as possible about this condition so that you can get some control over what is happening to you. I guess that’s why you’re here. I have just started LYrica and I am hoping that it works for me. But as someone else said everyone is different. I guess you have worked out that most of us have had a terrible history in getting diagnosed and dealing with doctors. Whenever I speak to a new person with this condition the first question they ask me is do you know a good doctor and by that they often mean not someone who can cure them but someone who believes them so you are walking a well trodden path. I hope that you get a good doctor and that you get good care. Take care I have found that this is a wonderful group and will always be there for you. Barb