can depression cause this much pain?

Hi Krista,

Yes some types of depression can cause a lot of pain, but what is often wondered is 'did depression cause fibromyalgia, or did the fibromyalgia cause the depression', Kind of like the chicken and the egg. So it could be either that is causing you so much pain.

Being that your blood test ruled out everything else, I suspect that you may have fibromyalgia. Usually everything else has to be ruled out. It can be a long process. But there are no blood tests for fibromyalgia, usually that is determined by a tenderpoint test.

I hope that you find out soon what is your problem so you know how to deal with it. In the meantime we are here for you.

Hugs, Karen

Welcome Krista,  I take Lyrica and Flexeril both and have seen a change since I started them.  My pain isn't hardly as bad and I do sleep better.  I'm trying to get my insurance co. to pay for the Cymbalta but so far they won't.  I think the Cymbalta helped me more than anything, but I just took it for a month because my rheumy gave me a sample of it.  I think it did help my depression although I don't really feel depressed all the time. 

 

My dad suffered a lot from depression and he complained about pain constantly, so depression may cause pain.  I don't really know. 

 

I hope you can get help and start feeling better.  This is a good place to come.  So many good friends here to talk to.

 

God Bless!

Shannon

hi all,
thank you thanks for the great input. i suffer from major depression, anxiety, and basically PTSD is my official label these days, i am 33 and have been on medication since i was 15 for depression. i just never felt this horrible ever.i really did not understand what my sister has been going through all these years. she was diagnosed with fibro 10 years ago and told she has celiacs disease 2 years ago. wow. and you all wow. i have alot to learn and i am so glad to find a place where people understand. i am currently on 300 mg of zoloft. i have tapered down on clonazepam to .5 mg 3x/day and 200 mg of trazodone for sleep. oh and i have a hypothyroid issue......levothyroxine 150 mcg/day. guess its going to rest on my therapist and myself and my psychiatrist and my pcp. goodness....i need a social worker to set this all up cause i too freaking tired!!!! LOL
thanks for reading
krista

Wow,

That is interesting to know. about fifteen years ago I was dealing with ptsd too. I guess the stress from that alone could send you down the fibromyalgia road.

Thanks for the info Donnaeil. Like I said, that is really interesting.

Hugs, karen

We are predisposed to certain illnesses cause of our genetic makeup and for some of us we do not handle stress well. I am one of those and the older I get the less stress I can handle.

 

Krista I will be on anti-depressants and xanax the rest of my life. I hate being on these meds but they give me quality of life.

 

There are many on here that suffer from PTSD. So you will feel right at home here.

 

luv and hugs

Marlee

last time i saw my doc she kept asking me questions to see if i am depressed.....every answer i gave was directly related to the pain and fatigue i have....

when your not able to function like you used to it is terribly upsetting....studies show that most people with fibro are type A personalities....we will push ourselves even tho we feel like s**t....

so, eventually we become saddened by the fact that our lives are so incredibly difficult.....my doc sad i fit all the criteria for depression.....i said "i'm not depressed"....just because i cannot get my chores done or i cannot concentrate at work does not mean i'm depressed!!!

well, she put me on zoloft.....i took it for a few days and started having the weirdest symptoms, so i am now weaning....i'd much rather take st.john's wort....at least there's no side affects with it....

sorry for the rant, i just get so frustrated with how people and doctors percieve those with fibromyalgia....

krista,

i love what you said about the fact that if it is possible for your mind to cause pain then it is possible for it to make you happy and pain free...something the doctors don't really consider.....the kind of pain we are in is difficult to control....

i suppose that because they do not understand it, they have to evaluate the symptoms and treat in a multifaceted way.....it is just a crapty feeling for a doctor to tell you that an antidepressant will help you feel better because we all know that is not the cause of the pain...bleh.

Sue2z said...
It is not just depression, most of the depression comes from the pain,

Sue2z,
You just said a mouthful!!! The depression is the result of the pain using up all of our serotonin which we need to keep our mood on an even keel. THIS is why treating the depression with meds also relieves some of the pain. It enables the brain to have enough serotonin to use for pain coping, sleep and mood. When the serotonin levels drop all we want to do is sleep and eat carbs to build up the serotonin levels again. I wish some of the docs would explain this to the fibros.

Pain, depression and interrupted sleep cycles all stem from the same problem, low serotonin levels.

Krista, I found this article that is geared towards ADD but many of us with fibro seem to have developed ADD it may explain the brain chemicals to you. Fibro is mentioned in this article. I take 100 mg of amitriptyline a day and 40 mg of celexa which are both ADs and I know I'm still lacking in serotonin and it's time for a change in my meds. Yes, I think they can stop working after you have been on them for a long time. There are a lot of things mentioned that we can do for ourselves to increase the brain chemicals. Even the way we think can have an affect on them. I was one that was born without enough receptors or something.

 

If your doc thinks your just depressed and doesn't recognize fibro than you have a problem and need a new doc but if your doc recognizes that you have both problems that is a good thing. I am fortunate to have the same doc for 15 yrs. He has seen me at my worst and he has seen me at my best and this was before fibro. I will see him on the 27th and I'm going to tell him I need a change in ADs. He will say than try the cymbalta I've been trying to get you to take for the past year.

 

http://borntoexplore.org/neurochem.htm

 

luv and hugs

Marlee

Hello all,

I just subscribed today, and it's really nice to have other people to relate to. I was involved in a minor car accident in June 2005, after which I began to experience muscle pain, which got worse by the day, it seemed. At the time, I had a job I enjoyed, a beautiful daughter, and was engaged to the love of my life. I would hardly have called myself depressed. After several emergency room and doctor's office visits, I described my symptoms to my mother, who also suffers from fibromyalgia, and she suggested I see a rheumatologist. I nagged my doctor until he referred me. I told the rheumatologist what i suspected, and he began testing me, but stopped at the 3rd pressure point (or whatever you call them) because I was already in tears when he squeezed my elbow. I was put on Cymbalta, which completely floored me for 5 weeks (I was unable to leave my bed and slept most of the time except for bathroom visits). After that, it worked for a while, but I started feeling depressed all the time and even having suicidal thoughts (which I hadn't previously had) and the medicine lost its effectiveness, so I took myself off of it. My mood improved, but the pain got the better of me, and I eventually lost my job, and my relationship with my fiance fell apart. I have been unable to keep a job since the time I was diagnosed (although I've tried my hardest and will keep trying). Am I depressed now? You better believe it. Living with constant pain has taken its toll on me. Although I keep trying to get myself out of this slump, I can only hold my chin up for so long before a really bad day comes along and kicks me in the butt, starting the process all over again. I take Lyrica once a day most days, along with Xanax at night to sleep. I try to stay off the Lyrica when I can because it gives me a sort of drunken feeling, and I definitely don't take it when I have to drive, but it's the only thing that's really helped so far. Sometimes (rarely), I also take 1/2 a Vicodin (which my doctor will not prescribe to me, but my dentist did some time ago for a couple of root canals), but that's only on the worst days. I think fibromyalgia --> depression in my case. To me, it just seems obvious that anyone who has to live with pain like this with no real known cause or solution isn't going to be positively chipper all the time. I'm not saying that there's not a possible mind-body connection in all of this, but in my situation, and to the best of my knowledge, the pain came first, the depression later.