What treatment has helped your Fibromyalgia the most? What has been 'good'?
Ultram and Nucynta are good pain meds. The topical cream helps really painful areas. Back injection help as well.
Has anyone tried the cymbalta? I have a friend that is being taken off it (I believe for weight gain) it has been very hard in her…I am afraid to try it plus for me it is cost prohebatative. My hips and shoulders are killing me and I can’t get into my doc till Friday.
I have been going to Acupuncture and my fibro pain has never been better! Now if only I could get my stomach pain to follow suit I would be super fabulous
I have been on both Cymbalta and Lyrica. Both are considered popular treatments. The Cymbalta was very helpful, more from the emotional standpoint than the pain standpoint. The Lyrica did not help me at all, and it caused me to sleep all day long. I decided since it wasn't helping the pain, I wanted my life back, so I discontinued it on my own. Beware, though, that these drugs cannot be discontinued cold turkey. Be sure to consult with your doctor and follow their instructions. There are some decided side effects to going off too abruptly.
This year my insurance made the cost of Cymbalta out of reach for me, so I was switched to a generic medicine called escitalopram (Lexapro's generic). It isn't quite as good as Cymbalta, and I have had some side effects (tremors) taking it, but I have had more trouble dealing with the emotional end of chronic pain, and it deals with that fairly effectively.
Oxycodone is not an option for me. It gives me very frightening hallucinations.
To be honest, the most effective "treatment" for my pain is to get up and move. The other piece of that equation was accepting that it wasn't going away and that I needed to find a way to accept it. I'm in that stage right now -- I've accepted the nature of the illness and am working on learning to live my life with as much normalcy as possible.
Where to begin? I've tried all the meds and after a nasty bout was taken off everything to try and stablize my condition. So many side effects. I now live on a bit of land, nearest neighbours are 2 acres away. I eat organic. I shop only the outside aisle at the grocery store, veggies, meat and some (limited) dairy. Nothing canned, boxed, packaged, processed. It's really hard! That means no sweets, chips or anything. It works for me. It's taken over 15 years to get here but I would NEVER go back. I sleep when I need to, walk every day no matter what, putter in my garden (no matter what) feed my chickens (range free). I never go out in the evening, don't do movies, television, pubs or ANYTHING with lots of people as it sets my stress off and then I'm in a bout of Fibro. The weather can be a bother in spring and fall when it's really changable and rainy. I work harder at my exercises then. I also read a lot, it helps distract me from my pain and keeps me focussed on something other than myself. I do see a physiotherapist when I need to for my neck, it seems to lock up when I get stressed - other than that, no conventional therapies have worked for me. Lifestyle change has been the best thing EVER!. Good luck to all out there who are on their own paths.:)
I am on both Lyrica and Cymbalta... My weight.. I hate to say it is gradually creeping up... I dont know if it is the medicine.. or just opening my mouth.. hehehe... Sometimes I wonder if it is working... because I have both Fibro and Psoriatric Arthritis.. so I dont know what is causing what kind of pain... I also take Enbrel, naproxen, for the symptoms.... I would say my best days are Pain Level of 5 out of 10.. I have learned to deal with it...
Wow... I would love to get off all my meds.. but am sooo afraid....
Monthly chiropractic adjustments are essential for my muscles to stay loose. I too have tried different medications, but they made me nauseous and gave me headaches all the time. At first medications were effective but the effectiveness does not last without upping the meds, which then created more side effects. So, I take ibuprofen in the evening before bedtime to just settle the achiness down so I can sleep. The only other med I take is Ritalin for my ADD. I went off that for a few months, but could not get anything done at all! I am also trying to cut out processed foods, but have not been successful with that yet. Ginny seems to have good ideas in her post.
What is a TPI?
The one thing that has helped most with reducing and relieving my pain is drinking barley grass juice. It is amazing!! It works better than any pain med I have tried and the only side effects are that it is really really healthy for you!! It's loaded with vitamins and antioxidants. I also eat a very healthy diet--lots of fruit and fresh and frozen veggies, fatty fish like salmon and tuna, very little red meat and very few sweets. I can really tell if I indulge in sweets--the next day I feel terrible.
With the barley grass juice and the healthy diet the only pain med I take is ibuprophen, and not a lot of that.
If anyone is interested in trying it, this is the most cost effective place I have found to purchase barley grass juice powder: http://www.sunburstsuperfoods.com/organic-barley-grass-juice-powder/
Hi SK,
Only butrans patches has helped a little so far as that’s as much help as I can get.
Other than that, love n hugs is definitely the best by far. Next, hot baths and as little stress as possible.
Also, using crystals have been very helpful! I will have to put a post up to tell you guys which ones i recommend and which crystals are good for each of the symptoms.
What works best for you
I don't know about you but I get nausea very easily. So I started with Neurotin, Lyrica, Cymbalta, then Savella. They all me sick to my stomach. BUT now I'm on Amitriptyline it doesn't make me sick but I have gained 12lbs since I started it (2 months ago) So I'm not sure if I will keep taking it or try something different.
I also have every topical cream known to man and sometimes they help for a hour or two but mostly they don't. Good Luck
It just recently got a new PCP who is a D.O. which means she does manipulations kind of like a chiropractor but much more gentler. She also very well versed about Fibromyalgia and told me to start taking Magnesium so I did. What you do is start out with a low dose and every 3 days ad another pill until your stool is loose or until you get diarrhea then you take away a pill every day if necessary until your stool is no longer loose. It has been helping me a lot but it is definitely something to think about. Good Luck.
Morphine
Oh, yeah!!! That always makes things better!!!!
Kimberly :)
I have a herbal book. From it I have learned that ginger has certain compounds that work on nerve endings & pain. I drink decaf green tea from 12N on. In it I will add sliced ginger root, 'bout 5 slices (the same size as carrot slices). Sweet basil adds a sweetness to the tea w/out adding sugar, marjarim in the summer time keeps mosquitos from biting. When I get muscle cramps, I will put in 1/2 of a leaf from a dandilion, it is a dieretic & it has potassium. BUT one has to be careful of how much potassium you take in. I was 1 point over the normal for 2wks & my Primary was VERY worried. I have told my Primary of what I add to my teas, so he is up to date on what I am doing. I even have my Dad making himself fresh ginger tea. He had Shingles 5 yrs ago & is STILL experiencing pain. M
I've heard good things about Nucynta! Glad it's working for you, Connie!
Glad you are getting some relief! I have taken Fentanyl, in the lolipop form Actiq. When my Dr sent me to Hopkins for a consult that PM Doc hit the ceiling, yelled at me, called my Doc, yelled at him telling him it was ONLY EVER to be used as an 'end of life drug'. Tell you what, not sure if it took the pain away, or I just did not care about it, but glad I have a strong heart! The patches are different, they are for exactly what you are taking them for! I tried them but they did not give me anything for break through pain, so my GP then put me on Opana, it finally went generic, big savings! I always take Phenergan 30-60 minutes before the pain pill, and I EAT with it, that helps too, cuz, I have a weak stomach when it comes to this stuff!
You have a lot you are dealing with, but you deal well. I am SO glad you responded, it's been a while since I heard from you. I wish you the very best, and hope to hear from you more often!
I think the fear of going off of them is worse than going off them. My opinion. My doctor is constantly surprised that I'm only on 1 scrip but I refused to do more. Some docs will say 1 at a time, others will say come off all of them, step down fashion, and go back from there.
What all are you on, if I may ask? . I've lived with Fibro since 1994, before it had a name.
God bless!