Hi Crystal!
And welcome to our Fibro Family. And as you will soon find out, this truly is a family. I do understand your back pain and it's awful. My worst is shoulder/neck/arms area, then my back comes a close second followed by my legs, feet and the top of my head!...lol Ya, some days brushing my hair gently brings tears from pain.
And yes, I too hate this darn disorder...BUT, we can and WILL have a wonderful life in spite of the pain. There are ways to manage it and get your pain under better control but it does take time to figure out what works best for you.
One of the first things many doctors offer are antidepressants, but in very small doses. They raise the seratonin levels which can help with pain relief. Some of us take a full dose daily for the fibro and for depression. For me, a sign that my antidepressants aren't working is when I find I'm crying all the time, irritated with people and things when normally I wouldn't be. When you commented on your children and how sometimes you snap at them and end in tears I immediately thought of how I've been in the past. Sounds very similar. You might talk to your doctor about
it. I'm not saying you are depressed, although who wouldn't be if you have fibro, but we have some wiring or some substances in our bodies that is out of whack. It's no surprise that our emotional state would be shaky at times. It sounds like you dearly love your children and this mom who snaps at them and then cries is not the woman you are nor want to be. Please talk to your doc about
it. If she's good at fibro she will totally understand..K?
As for other suggestions, if I were you I'd keep a pain diary for a few months. If you read the Fibro 101 thread at the top of page one's listings. In there is information on pain journals and a link to a free journal page to download. Here's the link so you don't have to search right now.
www.painfoundation.org/learn/publications/files/TargetDailyLog.pdf This is posted for free by the American Pain Foundation. Print one page for each day and fill it out the best you can. All questions won't apply to you but what will help is noting the level of pain you have during the day, what you may have taken or done to alleviate it, how your pain level was afterwords, activities, etc. As you slowly build up a journal by doing one page each day you will soon see a pattern to your pain, what makes it worse, and hopefully things you can do to help reduce it.
But the best part, in my opinion, is how much help it will be to your doctor(s). Take your journal with you to every doctor appointment and ask him/her to review it while you wait. This way your doc will get a quick and thorough view of just what you life it like each and every minute of the day...day after day. From this very specific information he can better suggest treatments/medications for you to try. Then after you have tried whatever he suggested you will be able to see the results, or lack of, very clearly and quickly. It makes getting control of the pain much quicker and more precise. The only way a doctor can know if he has given you the correct dose of a certain medication is to look at how you react to it. That's hard to describe when he asks, "how's your pain been". But when it's in your journal in black and white it's much easier for everyone.
Plus having a doctor whom you trust and who trusts you is the most vital part of treatment. If the doctor tells you "it's all in your head" or "you just are too tired and stressed"...then turn and never go back. WE know our bodies and we also know when something is wrong.
As usual I've babbled on way too long but we're here to offer our experiences and thoughts. Always feel free to ask any question you want. It's why we are all here. And before long when some frightened newbie comes to join us you will be the one greeting them and offering ideas and thought to help them live a great life in spite of fibro.
Warm hugs,
Chutzie