Please explain this to me

I understand that fibromyalgia pain seems to be caused by nerves that are pretty much overreacting. If this is true, how come when I use Bengay it sometimes lessens my pain?

If the pain is basically false information between nerves, how come putting something on my skin would help?

I'm so confused and maybe I'm just misunderstanding.

Does anyone else use hot/cold muscle creams for their fibro pain? How does it work?

Have you tried something else that works better?

Thank you all for the support

For me, it just burns. Unfortunately.

Debbie

I don't think it matters if the nerves are reacting out of false signals, or something "real" that triggers the off the nerve, the reaction to the muscles and nerves are the same. For me, the constant nerve signals are cause my muscles to knot up and that is what hurts the most, so if I can get those knots out, it really helps to relieve the pain. If I let it go too long, like two months between massage visits, it takes about a visit a week for 3 or 4 weeks to get those knots back out.

I pop advil, tylenol and use bengay on occasion. They all help minimally. Massage therapy helps the most and an occasional visit to the chiropractor. Hot baths are my constant companion especially if it is a full body flare. There is something about the heat of the water that really helps me.

I have limited luck with over-the-counter topical's. I had some terrific results with a prescription topical that I had received from my doctor.

I think that the reasons these work is that we are treating the symptom, not the source. For me a lot of the problem is that the messed up signals that my brain sends leave me with a lot of edema in my muscles. The things that assist with that are capitals, massage therapy, and my TENS/EMS unit.

We just have to do them over and over and over again .

For some of us we also have arthritis and a portion of the pain is from that but I am not sure what the percentage is in me. I am on medication but do not take pain meds. The strongest treatments I get are the nerve blocks in my head and the Doctor does some around my neck.

I do see the massage therapist prior to the nerve blocks. It is not particularly relaxing. He is fixing my tight muscles. It takes a few days to adjust.

I use pain creams. I have tried so many. Currently I use A-535 with capsaicin on my neck and the extra strength (without capsaicin) I use on my elbow pain. I also find the extra strength of benefit when my lower back goes out on me. I have a burning pain in my elbow and the brand with capsaicin makes it worse. I know someone who had a prescription compound from her Doctor that contained lidocaine and the muscle relaxer Cyclobenzaprine. I can't remember the rest of the ingredients but she did find it helpful for her neck.

I am on NSAIDs. I can use Tylenol in between the NSAID doses but it doesn't do anything for me. I stopped using it due to rebound headaches. It was my understanding that you should not mix NSAIDs with Advil but I did find years ago that Advil helped pulled lower back muscles. I really have not found anything to just control symptoms yet in a way that you can still think and act somewhat normal.

Loring

Osteoarthritis in Multiple Joints, Fibromyalgia, Neuralgia, Chronic Daily Headaches, I.B., Hard of Hearing...

Thank you everyone for the replies. I have found that the only thing that does wonders for pain is opiates. My dentist prescribed them to after I had my wisdom teeth removed and I learned that they helped my muscle pain and my bad tension headaches. I'm afraid to ask my do to for Percocet though because I'm afraid he'll think I'm an addict just trying to get drugs.

When I took the percocet I always broke the tablets in half. It killed my pain but didn't give me any side affects besides a little itchiness.

The bengay helps me with the mild pain all over but the severe pain seems to ignore everything I try :(.

Im new here and planned on making a introduction just registered tonight but I have been reading post on a host of topics here for months I use aspercream on all pain works a lot but doesn't last long carry tube in my purse it has been a life saver for me at work I cant use bengay ect.. they burn my skin . I take Percocet for back neck problems just came off a bad flair with fibro and pain med did absolutely nothing for my fibro pain. ive had 2 rounds trigger point injections that seem to have helped me overall once the pain from inj goes away . I have learned so much on here and hope I may help someone also

I have ddd cervical spinal &foraminal stenosis, ddd herniated collapsed lumbar disk, osteoarthritis fibro ,ibs ,gerd ,migrains ,psoriasis,

I just turned 46 and days that life is just a painful struggle to get through, but we have to fight the despair and learn what works and what doesn't never stop trying

I use YL essential oils for my pain. Deep relief works great, and I can apply as often as needed. I smell like wintergreen but its all good. I have Health Anxiety, and so if I am in pain, I am in panic mode as well. I use Peace & Calming essential oil to calm me down too.

I just saw on my tube of Bengay that you shouldn't use it for over a week. I Googled it and found out that you can overdose on the active ingredient in it. Have any of your doctors told you anything about this? I'm seeing my doctor soon and ill ask him if it's safe or not but I'm just wondering if you guys know anything about this.