Fibr and sore back and sides !!

 Hello, I just found this site.I sure hope it can help.. I have had fibro for about 12 years or more. It has got worse as I have gotten older. In the winter is the worse for me. I have wide spread pain through out my body. The one I am having trouble with now which has been going on for over a year. My back going down both sides are painful and sore. this also makes my sides sore. Very sore... Sleeping is a joke.. I have been sleeping on my right side for ever. left not so much, but by the middle of the night back and sides are in pain. Some nights are worse then others,But I am still very sore the next day. We went out bought a very good mattress. I explain it to my husband like this.. I feel like i have been hit buy baseball bats.. alot !!!  Does anyone elese feel this.. the doctors have checked my heart ect... All checked out.. Thanks...

Hi Dragonfly and welcome to the forum!! We also bought a very good mattress and I still wake up through the night, not every night but often enough.

Honestly I don't see much difference between winter and summer, maybe because I was finally diagnosed in April of last year and haven't put it all together. I think all of us will finally figure this "condition" disease out. Feel free to join in and ask any questions or just vent......we all do.

Dragonfly, I don't post on here very often but I wanted to let you know that you are not alone.  I have had the same symptoms for years but for some reason the only time my back & sides don't hurt is when I am lying down.  Go figure, huh. 

Have you ever seen an orthopedic doctor for your back?  I do have fibro but I am 53 and have osteoarthritis in my spine which has caused alot of osteophytes or bone spurs to develop.  You may have something more going on besides just the fibro.  I've had lumbar & cervical fusion already so my problems may not be the same but years before the surgeries I had the same issues as you.  At that point I had a tear in the annulus (outer lining of the disc) at L/4-5 and that started alot of my problems.  It doesn't take much to give you pain when it comes to your spine.  My hips and sides would hurt at night and wake me up after only 2-3 hours of sleep and I was up.  The doctor put me on muscle relaxers (flexeril).  Not sure if they relaxed the muscles so much but they kinda knocked me out for the night so I could sleep better. 

My fibro and arthritis really flair in the winter months.  I've noticed that before a front moves in the barometer starts dropping and the pain and swelling of the back gets alot worse.  Yes, it feels like someone beat me with a hammer sometimes.  Also, my knees where the fibro tender points are hurt to the point where I am limping.

Let your doctor know what is going on.  Possibly an MRI of your spine may give you an indication of something else going on.  I use a nerve pain medication called neurontin (gabapentin generic) which helps with any nerve impingement pain and also ultram (tramadol generic) for overall pain (this is non-narcotic).  Actually just good old tylenol does help me alot, I can't take any nsaids with my other meds.  These are both very cheap meds so they won't break the bank for you.  Everyone is different though so what helps one person isn't necessarily the right med for all.

Good Luck and let me know if you find anything out.

Hi, Dragon,

Yep. my back and sides feel bruised almost all the time. I explained the pain to my rheumatologist by saying it felt like I had a painful band wrapped around my waist. As for pain, I am doing way better than I was. I'm on Lyrica (50mg 3xday), cymbalta (60mg), mobic (15mg), ambien (10mg), and yaz (bcp). It took a lot of trial and error to discover that this combination worked for me. Including which time to take what..(if that makes sense). I'm lucky in that I've only been diagnosed since August though I've been dealing with symptoms for a couple years. My rheumatologist is pretty awesome. He did give me pain patches too but since I've gotten on this med combo, I haven't needed the patches. But when I was usng them, it was on my lower back and sides. They are lidocaine patches. You can wear them for 12 hours out of the day. I wore them during the day and used the heating pad at night.

Do you have a rheumatologist? If you don't, I'd suggest seeing one. They seem to have a lot more knowledge and options for medication than a regular primary care Dr. Oh, to mention one last thing I use, muscle rub. I use the bengay maximum strength (red tube) but walmart sells it in a generic. Yes, it has the wintergreen smell but it also has ingredients in it that other rubs don't have (ie: icey hot) so for me it works WAY better and doesn't "burn" quite so bad. Give it a try. I rub it all over my waiste.

Hope this helps some. Good luck!!
Pam

Hi, Dragonflylady, and welcome!  Oh, yes.  My back and sided hurt all of the time.  I can only sleep on my right side because of a curved spine.  I put a pillow behind my back so that it gives support and also it allows me to semi-sleep on my back.  I can't lay totally flat on my back at all.   It hurts too much to do that.  So I will go from being totally on my side to leaning into that pillow and that does help some.

I use ibuprofen with food and extra strength Tylenol and that helps me some.  I also take malic acid/magnesium supplements and vitamin D3 supplements and those help me with pain and fatigue, too.

 

Be sure to check out Fibro 101...the first thread on the forum.  There are links to good information about fibro and you can learn a lot there.  There are links about those supplements in Fibro 101, too.

 

I'm glad you found us and joined in.  I'm looking forward to getting to know you.  Hope to hear more from you soon.

 

Sherrine

 I thought I was the only one who described her pain  like that. Thank you for making me feel like I'm not losing my mind. I started out with a memory foam mattress topper in 2003 which helped alot. But now my husband and I bought a sleep by number bed which has been a blessing especially since the pain is so severe. I'm glad we made the decision to buy it. God bless you. The flare ups are murder and take so much out of you emotionally when I saw your post it was like meeting a kindred spirit. I have both fibromalagia and RA. It can be so overwhelming.

I was recently confirmed to have some type of arthritis that typically
Happens in 70+ year olds and I'm 35. I completely feel
Exactly like u say beaten with a bat but all over. My shoulders, back, & hips.
I just started getting these symptoms after my second back surgery 2 months ago. I've had a fusion in my neck & now my lumbar with decompression.
My doctor did blood work that showed high inflammation in my blood & whatever
They check that shows I have disease running through my body. I have to see a Rheumatoligist next month. I went to a hockey game tonight & now I can barely move. All I did was sit & that was hard enough. I just hope to find something to help me get through everyday. Good luck to you & yes there are others like you.

So sorry you have this.

I have it at times.

My ribs tend to feel bruised at times.

Hurts to sit, stand lay down or do anything.

I know it will not last forever. But thank goodness for meds.

We are an understanding group and try to share our experience.

It's good that we all usually find someone who has been or is going through the same thing.