Diagnosed with Fibro today :(

Cymbalta (and any med) affect us all differently. It definitely made me wide awake as I didn't sleep for almost three days. Didn't really change my pain either good or bad in the week I was on it, I had to stop due to the nausea, but more so because the blurred vision and headaches.

You should be able to get better, you just have to find out what works for you and what doesn't. If you don't get well off the cymbalta they will give you something else, and that cycle keeps going until you find something. Read the Fibro 101 thread to see what other steps you can take and what to look out for, lots of information there.

Welcome! I'm another newbie. :) I was dxed officially in August, but getting PM treatment since January 2013.

I havent tried Cymbalta (was prescribed but decided not to mess with my brain because i am not a fan of SSRIs . I recently added Lyrica and I love it. I get these horrible aches in my feet that feel like I have been walking around for hours on blocks of ice. Lyrica really helped with that. I use either Xanax or Valium for anxiety (I have GAD and panic disorder) and don't really mess with muscle relaxers since they are the same as my anxiety meds. Otherwise I use opiates and NSAIDs for pain (oxy/fent patch).

I recently had to redo my diet based on my Rheumie's treatment plan. Exuding gluten, sugar and adding probiotics and coconut oil has really helped. I am on day 9. I miss sugar SO much, but it's been amazing to be able to have good concentration. Coconut oil is incredible for its antifungal properties and ENERGY. Look into that if you haven't yet. I have an app called iPeriod that tracks my cycles for me. It's pretty interesting to look back and realize just how irregular I am! Lol

Feel free to PM me anytime! Now that you're dxed you can get a game plan going. It's nice to have a name for it...but I go through periods of devastation still that my life has completely changed. But all is not lost -- we just have to work harder for the same things. And the positive is that if we ever feel bad for things taking longer, remind yourself that you're working twice as hard to meet your goals. We are hard workers, not the other way around. :)

Good luck! Oh, and check out the other forums on HW. I go to GERD and Chronic Pain a lot and there is great info that doesn't necessarily get brought up here.

Surprisingly, no! I have always been short on 'free' time (at least that is my excuse, ha!) but I do plan on tryin it at some point. Lyrica is kind of like cymbalta in that its not something that you can just take and 30 minutes later you're pain free. It works on nerve pain only but truly is the only thing that helps my feet. Oh! And it's also Ard for anxiety, although I haven't found that it works like that for me. /-:

Hi Jazeraca,

Welcome to the fibromyalgia forum... Lyrica is like neurontin and is for nerve pain. Some people find it very helpful. Depending on how long you have been on cymbalta though, give it a good eight weeks before you give up on it. It takes eight weeks for it to reach full potential. The sleepiness should go away in a couple of weeks. Should... Medications work differently on all of us.

Do check out the first thread on the forum titled "fibro 101". It is a very good thread with a lot of good information. There is a list of symptoms that you would not believe...

Sounds like you fit right in here. I hope that you feel better soon. Keep posting and reading.

Don't forget fibro 101...

Hugs, Karen...

Hello Everyone...
I have never been a part of forums or chats. I am looking to learn from the experience of others and share my own with regard to fibromyalgia. I know we are all different with our symptoms, diagnosis, medications, and side effects of medications. But in some way I guess I am looking for someone to tell me it's going to be alright. And since I am trying my best to not let this beat me I want to be able to tell others the same.
Here's my story... I am a 47 year old female, I teach at a juvenile correctional facility, I use to be very active (camping, hiking, skiing, gardening, traveling, etc...) Since the fall 2012 I have had a string of health issues (gall bladder removed, angioplasty, nuclear bone scan, colonoscopy; (two large polyps removed). Hospitalized twice with stomach and intestinal issues. Three ambulance rides to the hospital, once for a possible stroke (which turned out to be a cluster of ocular and traditional migraines) the other two times for severe chest pains. And most recently I was in the emergency room because the doctor thought my appenidix was going to burst, but test determined an ovarian cyst burst and further tests show I have large cysts on both of my ovaries. I go back to my GYN in two weeks to determine if they need to be removed. Additionally I suffer(ed) from depression and anxiety (heck with all that going on who wouldn't - sucks to feel like crap every day; as all of you know).
My current health issues: chronic migraines ( I take 60mg of Inderal daily), depression and anxiety (I was taking Klonopin for a year but stopped this past fall, and stopped seeing my depression and anxiety counselor as well; it's under control for now), osteoarthritis ( I was taking Plaquenil up until October, but after a year and a half of it, I couldn't take the nausea any more ). I take nocor and zofran as needed for the pain from the ovarian cysts. And just yesterday my rheumatologist put me on Gabapentin because now he thinks my issue all along has been fibromyalgia. Something I suspected a year ago, but was told it was in my head.
I am sorry if I am rambling but I guess I just needed to vent. And I am also nervous about taking the Gabapentin, I want it to work and get my life back. I started taking it last night and experienced dry mouth, light headedness, and annoying pain in both sides of my jaw that I have never had before. I assumed my usual spot on the couch watching TV and the faces of people were wavy not blurry. I fell asleep on the couch for 3 hours (which isn't unusual) and when I woke up I felt like I was drunk. I know it take the body time to adjust to medication, and if this is all I experience I can deal with it. However, not sure how I am supposed to drive :(
Again sorry to anyone who reads this if I rambled too much. Hoping to hear positive feedback...

Hello Logylove,
Are you still on the Gabapentin? If not how long did you take it? My Rheumatologist is more knowledgeable and compassionate than my PCP. My PCP is the one that told me my symptoms these past few years are related to stress and/or mostly in my head. He's not the only one with that attitude.
My Best Friend gives me such a hard time lately about not feeling well, she's always making comments about how unhappy I am and how when I don't feel well I make it worse by giving into it. What I can't get her to understand is that when I don't feel well and I push myself to do things, I not only feel worse but I get depressed that I can't or don't feel like doing things I use to do. She has been wanting to go skiing, something I use to do often, but for a few years haven't felt like doing because of the daily pain, and I fear I will get hurt; not to mention the fact that if I push myself to do it I know I will feel 10 times more miserable for days after. It is so hard for me to plan activities since I have no idea what I will feel like each day. Some days I just want to relax and do nothing it's tiring just pushing myself to get up and go to work five days a week, she has a go go go attitude (something I use to have) and lately I just can't keep up.
I woke up this morning (just started the Gabapentin yesterday) and it is the first time in a long time that I didn't have to talk myself out of bed. about an hour after taking the med this morning I was talking to my Dad and noticed I was slurring my words and realized I felt really happy ( I was actually laughing at various thoughts in my head - can't remember the last time I felt like that ) I did feel like I was drunk and a little foggier than usual. Driving to spend the day with my 6 year old niece was quite interesting (had to really focus). I rode this feeling all day, even my niece commented on the fact that I looked happier today. I should have known she is perceptive enough to see through me pretending to feel well when I actually feel like crying and laying in the fetal position on the couch.
So any way, I rode this feeling all day. Well at least until it wore off and I felt like I got smacked in the neck with a baseball bat, then the cramping in my knees and hips returned. I forgot to bring my pills with me for the next dose. When I arrived home I took my pills right away and within the hour was feeling pretty good again. However, I was completely unmotivated to do anything around my house so I forced myself to do a load of laundry, plugged in the electric blanket and resumed my position on the couch in front of the TV where I fell asleep for a few hours. I'm thinking I should try the magnesium you mentioned. My todo list is very long but I keep putting things off until "tomorrow" because I am either in too much pain or too tired.
I'm not sure if I feel worse or better with the diagnosis of fibromyalgia. Before the diagnosis I always thought the doctor(s) would figure out what was wrong and it would be fixed, I kept looking forward to the "fix" so to speak. But the fact that there really isn't a fix for this scares the heck out of me. And having to manage it with medication for the rest of my life aggravates me.

Logylove
Thanks for replying
My dosage of Gabapentin is 2 100mg pills 3 times a day. Today is day 4 and the dry mouth, slurring my words and drunk feeling are still there but seem to be milder. My mood does seem to be better, still forgetful and foggy (and that's normal for me) and it still boggles my mind how I start to feel more pain and fatigue when it is getting close to taking the next dosage. I guess that is a sign the Gabapentin is working. When and how many times a day do you take the mag/malic? Do you take Vitamin D. My rheumatologist told me to start taking it again, I stopped taking it in the fall, after a nurse told me to (I can't remember why). I read the spoon explanation in Fibro 101 yesterday, found it very interesting, not sure my friend will get it. But I will I will give it a try. She still thinks this is all in my head, and I can control it but I chose to give into it. I'm glad you are feeling better and have found relief. Good luck at work. I have to go now and get ready for work, hoping I don't slur my words in front of my students today.

Hi Logylove,
Hope you are doing well. Thanks again for replying :) It's been a crazy week; especially with getting use to the gabapentin. The worst symptom is my short term memory is really bad; I find I have to write things down a lot more than usual. I finally had time last night to pick up the magnesium, need to still go get the malic acid. I am going to give it a try. I have to admit I feel really good on the gabapentin, at least until it starts to wear off. I have browsed a few other threads and saw some horror stories about gabapentin. But I also noticed that most of the people with the horror stories are also taking a lot of other meds. I think I have come to the conclusion that gabapentin isn't compatible with a variety of meds. We are all different and medications effect each of us differently, and combinations of meds add another variable to the mix. My students have been commenting on what a good mood I have been in lately; most of them know I haven't been feeling well for months (high school kids are very observant). And I have to admit I am having fun in the classroom again. I don't think I told you but I teach at a juvenile prison and these boys aren't the easiest to teach but once they are reeled in it's smooth sailing. I teach Algebra, Geometry, Consumer Ed, Earth Science, Psychology, and believe it or not Criminology. You mentioned that you teach on Monday nights, do you mind me asking what you teach?