New here....freshly diagnosed

Hi Jade,
Welcome to the Forum. Make sure to check out Fibro 101 at the top of the forum. It has tons of useful information and links. I'm 29 and my hubby understands it the best he can, but it is hard when you don't feel it, especially in the beginning. I don't think my husband really got it until the next time he had the flu and I said...that's it, that's how I feel minus the nose and cough symptoms. Once he could feel it, it made it a little easier, but he still gets aggravated. He's taken on more than his fair share of everything and does most of the care for our son when he is home. The difference now is that he can tell when my body is going to give out and what is too much for me.
I didn't really have any issues with Lyrica and I started it the same time as Cymbalta, so if I had I wouldn't know which caused the problems anyways. I'm at the top dosage on each of them now. I know that I can't miss either by one day without having issues. If I miss the Lyrica, the next day I feel like I'm walking into spiderwebs all day. If I miss Cymbalta, I'm weepy the next day.
Your body goes under a lot of stress when you give birth, so Fibro can definitely come out then. During my pregnancy, I went into a remission and 3 most postpartum my Fibro flared. Unfortunately, I ignored it for a couple more months because I was in denial.

The best thing you can do for your family is to start a light stretching program, write down the things that make your Fibro worse, try to get adequate rest (I know it's hard with a 7 month old), and keep a healthy weight. I can tell you from experience that loosing the baby weight only to gain it all back plus 60 lbs is the worse. I'm still not back to the weight that I was when I had my son 4 years ago. Lyrica will cause you to gain weight, but I know you can loose weight while on it because I've done that. I was only following the diabetic diet and lost 30 lbs. Eating a healthy diet is also so important. I have taken my body to complete malnourishment and now I have to drink medical shakes to try and get my vitamin stores back where they should be.
Just remember you can do this and this is a wonderful group of knowledge and more importantly support.
Take Care,
PugMomma

Hi Jade,

I was Dx with fibro in March so I am slightly new also, although the fibro 101 and researching the internet I can see where my symptoms happened a lot earlier. A lot of the "pinched nerve" symptoms I had went away with fibro meds, which tell me it wasn't a pinched nerve.

I had the choice of lyrics,cymbalta, savella, and gapatropin (sp?) I chose the savella because the others had weight gain as a side affect I was already fighting the weight due to hurting and not doing a lot. So I haven't tried it, I have seen after a year or so some ppl complain about issues.

The savella had loss of appetite and weight so figured how can that be a bad thing lololol. I do get dizzy! And before the fibro dx and an awesome fibro dr I was told it was my middle ear, but how I know it is fibro.

The main thing my Dr said was whatever meds you choose to try, don't quit within the first two weeks due to side affects, she said your body is adjusting you are going to have them initially. With the savella I did the first two weeks, and each time it has been increased I did but they didn't stay. I don't know about lyrics, but savella you have to gradually increase your dose over time.

So I now take 150 mg savella, 100 mg tramadol, muscle relaxers when needed, 800 mg of magnesium, 25 mg of DHEA a day. I have started taking a MR before bed and it has helped my sleep. And I can have 3-4 good days in a row some weeks.

Hi, Jade, and welcome!  Nope!  It's not all in your head.  The very first thread is called Fibro 101.  There are links to good info about fibro and you AND your husband will learn a lot there.  Good starting links are called Symptoms and A Thorough Explanation of Fibromyalgia.  You AND your husband will see you there.  Also, a great link for you AND your husband to read is called Doctors Respond To New York Times Article.  In this, you will see many learned doctors explaining this illness and not one of them says it's all in our heads. 

 

You know, there are doctors out there that try to tell us that same thing even though fibromyalgia is recognized as a true illness by the American Medical Association, the American College of Rheumatology, the National Institutes of Health, and the World Health Organization...just to name a few.  So, anyone that implies that this is all in your head is not well-informed.

 

I don't take the "fibromyalgia" meds.  I use ibuprofen, Tylenol, malic acid/magnesium and vitamin D3 supplements, an alternative pain product called Curamin, and a muscle relaxer called Robaxin to help control my pain and fatigue.  There are links about the supplements in Fibro 101 and how these work in your body.  Many on this forum have had relief using these things.  BUT what works for one doesn't necessarily work for another.  It's trial and error with fibro.  We are all so different.  But, once you find what helps you control the pain, you can have a full and enjoyable life in spite of this illness.  I've had fibro for 25 years and have had a good life so far and done many things I didn't think were possible!

 

You do need to keep moving with fibro.  If you sit or lay too long, you will be stiff as a board and have more pain.  I do daily gentle stretching exercises, a daily gentle exercise like walking, swimming or yoga, and pacing myself when doing things.  All of this combined the the above "meds" keep the pain under control, too.

 

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

Hi Jade! Welcome to the forum! I was diagnosed more than 10 years ago, but am newer to this forum. There's a lot of caring, good people here. Hope you have a good evening!