Help with words

I am so sorry you are feeling so rotten. Have you tried any counseling just to have someone to listen to you and to help you feel supported. I don't have many who understand or even try to but I have a counseling session scheduled so I am thinking and hoping that it will be helpful. I have seen on the forums to try hot baths, does that help at all for you? Have you also saught out a different doc to talk to instead of going to the ER. The ER doesn't do anything. You need a Rhuemy.

Hi, Headhunter, and welcome!  You have been through a lot, haven't you!  I'm so sorry you are having such difficulty.  Pain, usually all over pain, is the hallmark of fibro but there really are things  you can do about this!  I don't take many meds.  I try to use more alternative things to handle fibro and it is working.  I'm trying a new thing right now and it does seem to be working.  When I know for sure, I'll be posting about it.  I've become the forum guinea pig! 

 

I used to use ibuprofen with food but had to stop because of bleeding ulcers.  I still use extra strength Tylenol but no more than 4,000 mg a day.  That's the highest "safe" amount.  I also use malic acid/magnesium supplements and vitamin D3 supplements to help with pain and fatigue.  Many with fibro are deficient in these vitamins and nutrients.  Malic acid, by the way, is found in apples but you would have to eat a bushel to get what I get in the supplements.  I do have Vicodin for breakthrough pain but only take 1/2 a pill at a time.  I find that I rarely need these now and that is a blessing. 

 

Also, if you sit or lay too much, you will be stiff as a board and have more pain.  You really do need to keep moving, resting, moving.  I do gentle stretching exercises daily and I also have a daily exercise that I do...for about 30 minutes.  I walk or swim as my exercise.  Yoga is another good one for fibro.  I don't usually want to exercise but I do it anyway and I always feel better and have more energy when I get back home.  If you live in a snowy climate, there are some great walking-in-place videos you can get and get the exercise without freezing your tush off!     I have a good one by Leslie Sansone.  You don't want a ton of aerobics but the easier movements are good. 

 

Be sure to read Fibro 101...the second thread on the forum.  There are links to good info about fibro and you will learn a lot there.  Good starting links are called Symptoms and A Thorough Explanation of Fibromyalgia.  There are also links about the vitamin and nutrients I mentioned above and also the gentle stretching exercises can be found there, too. 

 

I find that having a positive outlook on life has helped me more than anything.  If I look at the problems in life, I'm miserable and make everyone around me miserable, too.  But, I have learned to look at the many blessings instead.  We all have far more blessings than negative things in life.  Living with chronic pain is not picnic but your life is far more than pain.  There is a good article giving the ten steps to positive thinking in Fibro 101.  I hope you enjoy that as much as I do.  This really does help.

 

I'm looking forward to getting to know you better.  Don't hesitate to ask questions because we are here to help you.  Hope to hear more from you soon.

 

Sherrine

Headhunter,

I'm fighting C. Difficile with Fibro myself, however I have not suffered nearly as much as you:( I had been having constipation one day, the next day I would have a normal movement, and not even an hour later, I'd have diarrhea. The cramps would cause me to sweat, and get dizzy. I wasn't put on quarantine though which I am a little shocked about, but I also didn't go to the hospital. I'm on antibiotics right now and I'm hopeful that this will help my gut so I can start absorbing vitamins, minerals, and nutrients properly. I'm actually suspecting that this started 5 years ago, but because I've been eating yogurt and probiotic supplements, I've been able to keep the bacteria at bay. Why it acted up suddenly is still a mystery.

The stupid antibiotics are making my stomach hurt though, but it's like setting off a bomb so you can eradicate the foreign invaders. I'm also beyond tired because my sleep schedule is so messed up.

Please don't give up. I am on 3 different meds for my Fibro; Cymbalta, Lyrica, and Cesamet. I also have weekly-bi-weekly injections of Marcaine into my back and neck. I tried the alternative routes, but none of them helped me, but you are the judge of what your body wants/needs. Ultimately, if you need a med, you should not feel guilty for it. Not even a drop! I am not able to function 100% on these drugs/injection but living has definitely improved. Seek out a Rheumy ASAP, and if you don't like them, keep looking for one you do. I love my Rhemy/Internalist because he is such a sweet doctor and sees people in pain on a daily basis. So he knows and understands. Please don't give up:(

I don't have words to thank everyone for thier responses. I've always heard of the internet, blogs, and such but never believed that theycould be real and that real people respond.

My finance thinks I'm a "drug addict" if I take any medicine prescribed to me and so I don't. The C. Diff destroyed me as I had it too long and they had to call in Infectious Diseases and quarantine me in the hospital for weeks while the Flagelle antibiotics they typically treat it with didn't work on me. I refused all pain medication except for ibuprofane and tylenol. I bled out on the tylenol and so just took the tylenol.

I'm tired now, and can feel my fight is over. I wake up everyday to more pain, I have a great dr. (gp) and i'm supposed to go weekly for counselling but I don't have the strength physically to get there. The only blessing is that my b/f makes enough so that i can be so useless.

Prior to this "uselessness" llife of mine, I ran a self-employed business on my own and was an alpha female. Now, I am just grateful for every breath god gives me and am surprised each day that my eyes open up again.

I don't know if i should take the meds, once you do you are on for life. Right now I don't.

I am a physicial vegetable, everything is too difficult for me. I have no strength left and am just looking for encouraging words. I live in Southern Ontario, and yes, there is snow on the ground and very cold and dark most of the time. So going outside is not an option. So until it gets warm, I stare at these 4 walls and am hopeful I can go outside one day or just make friends who understand and we can encourage one another. Whoever said they would pray for me, thank you, please if you are a person who prays, let it be known to me, I am one who prays as well.

headhunter,

I feel for you, I've had C-diff in the past and had my colon removed a year ago because of my ulcerative colitis. You are experiencing real pain, the kind of pain that pain medication is needed for. I get upset at people telling others not to take pain medication because they don't want them to get addicted. You get addicted if you take the medication to get high, take a larger dose than prescribed. I would not be here today if I'd had to go through everything I have without pain medication.

I know they mean well but they have no clue the pain you are in. You need to take pain medication so you can get out of the house and to theraphy. It's a chore to do that, I know. I go to weekly theraphy and it is a big production for me to get there.

So please reconsider taking the pain medication as you'll never feel like moving or doing anything as long as you are in pain.

I'm praying for you too. I was a business professional and owned one business and half of another one. The last 15 years have been hell for me but I am determined not to let this beat me down. I have not fought so hard to give up now. I don't expect to ever go back to that busy life but I'd like to get rid of my constant pain. Yes I take pain medication but still have pain, it is just more tollerable with the medication.

It might be good to go to a pain management doctor who will monitor your medications to keep you from getting another problem.

I don't know if you are on any medications but hopefully you are taking an anti-depressant too. All of this illness makes us situationally depressed which does not mean we are mentally ill.

God Bless you

This reply is to "toughenough"'.

Thankyou for your words, you made me cry No you are , I am in a state of muscle mortis, and cannot move because i don't take any of my medication as I am labelled an addict if I do by all family and friends. I'm afraid to go on them again, but you are right, life was at least tolerable at that time....I'm scared of getting my body addcated again...I will think about it.

It sounds like you really know what I am going through, please email me again. Thank you all, I am beyond words grateful for your time. Tricia

Headhunter,

I'm just in Ajax. Where in South Ontario are you if you don't mind me asking:D?

I'm so grateful to all of you. I live in Boltn ontario and cannot stop crying. You are right, correct, they call diabetics drug addicts. When my partner came home from work i brought it up agian, me taking meds and he called me a drug addict again. I am so torn. I wil be homeless if I leave him, and don't take anything and have no quality of life or I will be okay if I take the meds and have some quality of life. I can't stop crying. You are all too kind and I cannot believe I have found such good people here on a websie. It overwhelms me. I cannot tell you the last time I cried. I don't know what tod do. I am so sad and so distraught and just wish to god that my heart would stop. Instead of him inflicting children with cancer i gladly give up my life. I cannot live iwth this pain anymore. I used to be strong, and optimistic and a go getter. Now I am surprised if i can breathe the next breath. I don't know what to do. I though about getting one of those lighte. I get so depressed in this darkness. He told me that he wished I would just die so I wouldn't be a burden on him anymore. I made the buld of the money over the years and that is why we have what we have. Now I would trade it all for my health again. Please, I beg you keep emailing me. It keeps me going. Crying or not, it keeps me going. I love you all. Tricia

Tricia,
It sounds like he is being abusive to you. He wishes you would die but denies you pain medication. If he doesn't care enough to want you to live why should he care about the pain medication? I agree with Amber, you need to get away from him and his abuse. If you keep doig the same thing nothing is going to change. Please go to a friend, shelter, hospital and don't do anything to harm yourself, You can and will get better but you just can't will yourself there - you need help not abuse.

Worried about you girl!
Paulette

Great idea daisy...tricia, my heart just ached for you as I read these posts...these comments are made of sheer ignorance and the fact they come from someon who should want the best for you only makes it worse. I take narcotics for quality of life and I do take a week holiday off them after weaning down. that is just me to prove I can and also helps me not build too high a tolerance to them.

You need medication, you deserve a life, you are a precious gift and if he cannot see that, kick it to the curb!!! Sorry, he makes me mad!!

Post on depression anytime, we love new faces and no judgments, good hearts and even a few laughs

I will keep you in my prayers tricia

Maggie

Headhunter....I am so sorry your husband said those things to you. I have to agree with Paulette, Amber and Maggie, he is being abusive, you need support and love not abuse. You have to start looking out for you...that would be the day the my husband would deny me medication it's my body. I wish you luck and I hope you find a good pain doctor. Wouldn't your husband want you to have some quality of life?

I will keep you in my prayers

Take care, Amy


Chronic pain(nerve), fibro and mild depression and a few others

Thank you everyone for replying.

Untilse one vocallizes what is being said, it doesn't seem real.

The answer is "NO", I left home when i was young and built a life for myself. He and I have been together for one third of my life. I have no where to go and no one to go to.

I am trapped. Truly trapped.

My dream has always been to go and live in Florida for the rest of my life. I'm only 38. Other than cry with my pain everyday, and stay in the vegetable state that I am in, I have no options. If I leave I end up literally on the streets,

Here's a funny one for every one: i'm the most giving, generous person I know and my mom has 6 sisters. The youngest on was very poor raising her 2 children on her own, but very poor. So because I did well financially for the last 15 years I paid her mortgage, bought her groceries and constandly gave her money to help her live. Did I mention she won LOtto 649 last year october ? 21.5 million. She gave me some money (50K), and told me clearly that she is paying me back.

I know or guess to know that people aren't selfish and self-centered. I have NEVER met anyone including my mom, sisters, brother, aunt, etc. they are the most selfish people I know. So, this leaves me with no one. I'm used to no one.

When I started getting sick in started with Pneumonia, then C. Diff all coupled with Fibro the C. Diff killed most people. Now in retrospect I don't know why I was begging God for my life as I almost died with it. I wish I hadn't and I can get it back at anytime.

As for the spouse: I don't know what to do. I don't abuse my meds, and I mentally cannot take any more abuse from him regarding this matter or from any so called family.

So, my life is in limbo,, and all I have now is the words you speak to me hear.

Thank you all and I will keep you posted. I am seriously considering takin my meds based on the posts I've received. I'm due in a few weeks and will start them again them., despite who likes it or now.

Lots of Love, Tricia