how many of you use pain meds?

[mariquita]

I've tried both Cymbalta and Lyrica, and am currently on neither. Cymbalta's side effects going on AND off of them are worse than anything I could describe to you, and the forums floating around the internet about the symptoms are all correct. I have every single one of the side effects, from extreme nausea to fainting to brain zaps/increased fog to muscle weakness. The only helpful thing on that medication was that it helped a bit to alleviate my mood, but the rest just wasn't worth it. Cymbalta made me a walking contradiction, unable to sleep or unable to keep my eyes open. It was a zombie hell. I'll never touch the stuff again.

Lyrica wasn't as bad, and I'm considering giving it another chance, actually. I was actually able to work going on and off it (which I could def not do with Cymbalta), and the leg weakness it started with was lifting, the focus was slowly returning... the kicker for me was that it made me not care. About anything. My job. My home. My cat. My boyfriend. My daughter. And this was not ok.

So here I am, drug-free, and getting worse (not progressive, right). Sure, I'd like to try alternative methods and exercise and diet. But I get home and the only thing I can do is lie on the ground until the nausea and dizziness go away. Then it's my daughter's school routine, fold a clean shirt or two, drag myself to the shower if I can, then bed. I have things to do and alternative methods to try, dammit Fibro!

And my mom is one of those "you're much better off not taking medication, so I really wish you wouldn't" people. As if guilt-trips are a more powerful tool to ward off my fibro symptoms than my meds were. If only the pharmaceuticals could package that, we'd be rich.

 

[Ingalls]

This might sound silly, but what do you say to your doctor to get them to actually prescribe something? I've been diagnosed, and was on
lyrica, which did help some but caused huge weight gains and other effects (blurred vision, trouble concentrating, just basically feeling stupid,
allergy to gold, swelling, etc) I'd like to try a painkiller instead, and see if it helps. But I don't know how to get him to realise it's that serious that
yes, I'm willing to try medication.
Sometimes the pain is so bad I can barely push the blankets off in the morning. And I have three young kids I want to be able to play with easily.

 

[1sweed]

You might want to ask about Neurontin. It is a medication that works well with other drugs and it is not addictive. When I first started using it years ago I was on 100mg, but over the years it was raised to higher mg levels. Some people take even stronger doses like 600 mg. This medication has what they call a short-life. This means to get good results you need to take it on a regular basis, meaning same time everyday. It does cause some weight gain, but over-all that is not a bad side effect compared to other drugs mentioned on the forum.

I use it along with Excedrien Migraine over the counter pills. This will alow you to get your work done or play with your kids with a lot less pain. It is good to learn to pace yourself by not over doing and this in turn lowers your stress level and helps ease pain as well. I hope you get to feeling better soon.

 

[MercyL]

This might sound silly, but what do you say to your doctor to get them to actually prescribe something? I've been diagnosed, and was on
lyrica, which did help some but caused huge weight gains and other effects (blurred vision, trouble concentrating, just basically feeling stupid,
allergy to gold, swelling, etc) I'd like to try a painkiller instead, and see if it helps. But I don't know how to get him to realise it's that serious that
yes, I'm willing to try medication.
Sometimes the pain is so bad I can barely push the blankets off in the morning. And I have three young kids I want to be able to play with easily.

As soon as you ask you raise red flags for drug seeking behaviors, so you have to finesse this. Even with legitimate need, most family doctors don't want to touch you or prescribe anything stronger than fancy aspirin.

The most dramatic way to introduce the topic is to stop putting on the brave face we all use to hide our pain, but most of us have to find a trustworthy, ethical doctor specializing in pain management.

The only problem I see with that is your having a diagnosis of fibromyalgia, already. Fibro is one of my symptoms, but not my primary diagnosis. Doctors can see the source of my pain on an MRI so gaining access to ethical pan management, opioids and all, was appropriate.

Do you have any medical imaging revealing the source of your pain?

Also, I've been dealing with my pain since 1986, didn't switch to Vicodin until 2006, and accessed a pain clinic and started morphine a year ago. It has taken a very long time to get adequate pain relief.

You need to get your medical records and look through everything to see if another diagnosis on your chart and you'll need to track your good and bad days. This way, you have the information available when you discuss medications with your doctor.

After you do everything I listed, and that is not everything that you might need to evaluate before talking with your family doctor, you will still have to wait for your him to offer medications, unless he feels comfortable discussing heavy meds. It is better if you try the medications he suggests.

Your family doctor may send you to a pain management specialist, which would be the ideal outcome. Be sure that specialist provides the type of treatment you are comfortable with.

 

[kenser80]

Hi everyone I'm new to this board and am amazed by how little help there is in the drug community. My mother in law is inflicted with this awful disease and I have done hours of research on it. I have found this drug that is currently in clinical trials that you all could look into. They are actually enrolling now so if you're in the right areas you can probably get accepted for it.

So heres the scoop. It is a low dose formulation of Cyclobenzaprine which is a drug that is currently approved for muscle spasms. Cyclo has been approved by the FDA since 1977 so its been around and has been found safe. The key with this formulation though is that it is a very low dose 2.8mg under the tongue tablet that is taken at bedtime. The purpose of the under the tongue is that it enters the bloodstream much faster and offers patients more restorative sleep. From the last trial the company did, pain was reduced by 26% and with the low dose formulation there is little chance for addiction and grogginess when waking. It looks very promising and I encourage everyone to contact the company to see if you might be able to enter the trial. God Bless..

 

[alisonkcole]

Take the Cymbalta at night, it helps with the sleep. my side affects only lasted about a week so hang in there because relief is around the corner!

my question is this. how do you know if what your feeling is from the fibro or from the meds, especially when the side effects from the cymbalta are very similar to the symptoms of fibro? like for instance, after I take the cymbalta 30mg one a day( always after breakfast) I start feeling those things. my husband suggested I start taking the med at night and see if it makes a difference the next day. I was wondering if anyone else knows the difference.