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Posted 3/7/2015 3:05 PM (GMT 0)
Hi there! I have never done this before, but need a way to speak with others who suffer from the same condition that I suffer from! I don't really have anyone in my life who truly understands what I go through!!
A little bit of my history. I was severely overweight and about 4 years ago (lose to 400 pounds) and I managed to push myself through losing a lot of weight, I brought myself down to 140 pounds.

After getting to what should have been a healthy and happy time in my life, I started suffering from the worst back pain I have ever experienced in my life. I am a mother of 2 amazing little boys. This pain was making it difficult for me to do my motherly duties and making it what felt like impossible to be the mother I know I can! Going to the park and running around with my kids was excruciating! I knew there was something wrong!

I am a third of the woman I was 3 years prior. The doctors told me losing the weight would save my life. I went through doctors appointment after doctors appointment and had no answers. It wasn't until seeing a doctor who was working with my doctor, she said your to young (26 when it started) to be in this much pain all the time. I was averaging an 8/10 for a pain scale daily!!! She says have you ever been tested for FM. I said no I don't even know what that is. She did the pressure point assessment and she hit spots I didn't even know hurt. I have 16 out of the 18 pressure points. She said it is safe to say you have FM.

I was like ok well whats the next step. She didnt really explain to me what it was or what to do other then try this medication. I tried the medication and the first on had adverse effects and instead of allowing me to sleep kept me awake for 7 days straight. After trying multiple medications nothing was working. I then tried lyrica and to my surprise it helped. I have been on that for about 6 weeks and I am not back to extreme pain again! I have been in the hospital twice in the last week due to pain. I have since seen my doctor and her answer is to increase the lyrica dosage and prescribe my toradol. I am not impressed as the toradol is extremely damaging to my stomach and i cannot exceed 7 days of use but for those 7 days I can be taking large amounts of pill which I dont want to do!!! I need some advice. I dont know what to do! I want to minimize my pain so its managable, but I dont wanna be taking upwards of 14 pills a day. PLEASE HELP!! cry cry cry

I put your post with paragraphs. You will get more responses this way.

Sherrine

Post Edited By Moderator (Sherrine) : 3/7/2015 11:02:29 AM (GMT-7)

Posted 3/7/2015 3:30 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Jessica,

Welcome to the fibromyalgia forum. There is a helpful thread at the top of the page called "fibro 101". I think you will find it interesting. So please do check it out.

I hear you with some of the medications. I take Celebrex and another one occasionally called diclofenic, I think... Both of the bother my tummy. So I can't take them much. Sad thing is they do help a lot with arthritis pain which I also have.

I am sorry you are so young and getting fibromyalgia. Being there is no cure, at this time, you need to find things to help with long term pain. I can just imagine your back pain. I have it too. It burns most of the time. But I find stretching that area (If I can) to help relieve it some. I use "Australian Dream" cream. I found it at Walmart. I also have two "bed buddies" that I use. I heat them up in the microwave and wrap them in a towel. Then I can put around my neck and it helps the neck and shoulders so much.

I find walking helps me a lot, and I have not been able to do much outside this winter so I am in pain from that. But I try to do thing inside to make up for it.

I am proud of you for losing so much weight. If you were still that heavy with back pain it would be so much harder. You have done a fantastic thing for yourself. Be proud of that!!! I sure need to lose a lot of weight. I am doing a little at a time. But lately I have been craving carbs so that doesn't help me at all. I get up in the middle of the night and eat... Bad, I know... I haven't done that in a long time...

I am trying to be patient waiting for spring. I live in Michigan and we had a real hard winter. I hope you live in a warmer climate.

I hope you have a good day. Again, welcome to the forum. Keep posting and read threads. You will learn a lot. Also read "fibro 101". It has a lot of awesome information.

Keep hanging in there...

Hugs, Karen...
Posted 3/7/2015 3:39 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks Karen! I live in Ontario Canada so I know how you feel with the cold!!! lol
I will def check out the forum for sure! Most def gonna try the bed buddies too! The sad thing is they say it may have been my dramatic weightloss that triggered the FM which frustrated me for a while and made me disappointed for my weightloss. However it was a huge accomplishment I had to retrain my brain to understand that!! There is times that the pain is so deflating sometimes.

I couldnt imagine trying to do the weightloss portion with the FM I barely have the ability to make it through a days work on my feet never mind hitting the gym after that! Although I really miss it and want to find a way to reincorporate into my life!!

Thank you again for replying to me. I wish you all the best in your FM management and your progress on your weightloss!! Have a great day!!

Jessica
Posted 3/7/2015 3:50 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Jessica , I so want to talk to you !!!! I feel we are in the same boat. I just joined this forum. I'm a mother of 2 young children and I have been suffering with fibro for over 5 years. I deal with alot of guilt when I'm flared and can't take my kids to the park, or library, etc. household chores are difficult because I can't be on my feet for long. My pain is the worse symptom but emotionally as a mother it hurts most that I can't do what I want to do for my kids.

I've tried cymbalta and lyrica and muscle relaxers but they didnt work. I take pain meds during the day and amitriptyline at night so I can sleep. ( pain kept me from sleeping). I don't have the same weight issue as you described but I did gain weight when I was pregnant and that is when my pain first started to flare to extremes. You may or may not want to hear this but I think it's awesome :) that you lost so much weight. You sound like a strong woman and I'm sorry that since then your pain is so bad. Hang in there and please talk with me, lol . I joined this forum because I really want to talk with someone I can relate to and get any ideas or suggestions. Do you notice flare ups at times ( not always) with hormone issues( PMS, eg.).
Posted 3/7/2015 3:58 PM (GMT 0)
If you would like we you can email me and we can find he best means of communication for us both. It would be nice to be able to talk to someone who understand where I am coming from!!



purple_lynx7 said...
Hi Jessica , I so want to talk to you !!!! I feel we are in the same boat. I just joined this forum. I'm a mother of 2 young children and I have been suffering with fibro for over 5 years. I deal with alot of guilt when I'm flared and can't take my kids to the park, or library, etc. household chores are difficult because I can't be on my feet for long. My pain is the worse symptom but emotionally as a mother it hurts most that I can't do what I want to do for my kids.

I've tried cymbalta and lyrica and muscle relaxers but they didnt work. I take pain meds during the day and amitriptyline at night so I can sleep. ( pain kept me from sleeping). I don't have the same weight issue as you described but I did gain weight when I was pregnant and that is when my pain first started to flare to extremes. You may or may not want to hear this but I think it's awesome :) that you lost so much weight. You sound like a strong woman and I'm sorry that since then your pain is so bad. Hang in there and please talk with me, lol . I joined this forum because I really want to talk with someone I can relate to and get any ideas or suggestions. Do you notice flare ups at times ( not always) with hormone issues( PMS, eg.).

I took your email address out of this post. It is for your protection. You can put it in your profile and only HealingWell members will see it.

Sherrine

Post Edited By Moderator (Sherrine) : 3/7/2015 11:04:45 AM (GMT-7)

Posted 3/7/2015 4:03 PM (GMT 0)
Jessica, its me again( purple_lynx), i also wish i could get back to exercising again! do you benefit from deep massage? i ask because i bought a foam roller last month and it helps massage deep pains. i havent been able to do much cardio( walking, jogging, aerobics) but last month i tried pilates and it seemed to help except now i am stuck in a flare up and can't break out of it.

quorthostatic intolerance."ote="Jessica_R_oxo"]Thanks Karen! I live in Ontario Canada so I know how you feel with the cold!!! lol
I will def check out the forum for sure! Most def gonna try the bed buddies too! The sad thing is they say it may have been my dramatic weightloss that triggered the FM which frustrated me for a while and made me disappointed for my weightloss. However it was a huge accomplishment I had to retrain my brain to understand that!! There is times that the pain is so deflating sometimes.

I couldnt imagine trying to do the weightloss portion with the FM I barely have the ability to make it through a days work on my feet never mind hitting the gym after that! Although I really miss it and want to find a way to reincorporate into my life!!

Thank you again for replying to me. I wish you all the best in your FM management and your progress on your weightloss!! Have a great day!!

Jessica

Posted 3/7/2015 4:47 PM (GMT 0)
Jessica, I sent you an email. Thanks.
Posted 3/7/2015 5:57 PM (GMT 0)
Hey Jessica, You might want to remove your email address from your post. We can get them through checking each other's profile. Anybody can see it and it could cause you to get some spam. The other way (profile), only members can see it. Just a little fyi...

I am hoping that the weather breaks so I can walk again soon outside. We are getting a warm up some now. Suppose to be warmer for a bit. I hope you get the same. I have a friend in Ontario and she said the snow was deep. Constant snow I guess. We had cold. We got a lot of snow too, but had some terribly cold nights. -40 twice...

I hope you have a good day. Keep posting, it helps, and you will make some good friends too...

Hugs, Karen...
Posted 3/7/2015 6:12 PM (GMT 0)
Hi and Welcome to HW Fibro forum, you'll find alot of support here from caring people that understand what you are going thru.

I have to Congratulate you on your awesome amount of weight loss, that is remarkable and I'm so proud of you. Can I ask how you did it? I need to lose about 100 pounds but find it impossible, lol.

I was diagnosed with Fibro about 2 years ago, but I believe I've had it for at least 10 years. I'm still wrapping my head around it and alot of days were the pain isn't so bad, I fight with the diagnoses just to have a day of nothing but pain where I start to accept it again. It's a never ending cycle for me. Luckily my kids are all grown now, although I believe I had this when they were teenagers, I didn't have it when they were young. I can't imange how hard it is to raise little ones. I have a 5 year old grandson that runs circles around me, and I only have him for a day or two every other week, I couldn't do it everyday.

Again, welcome, you've come to the right place. I look forward to getting to know you better.
Posted 3/7/2015 6:20 PM (GMT 0)
Hi, Jessica, and welcome! I don't think your losing weight caused this problem. Fibro affects muscles, tendons, and ligaments so losing the weight put less stress on these. I lost 85 pounds after developing fibro and feel much better for doing that. I think it was more of a coincidence.

Was any other testing done? Fibro shares many of it's symptoms with other illnesses like lupus and Lyme disease. These should be ruled out first because there is no real good test for fibro. We had a member a few years back who was diagnosed with fibro, kept getting worse, got a second opinion and discovered she really had Lyme disease! She was put on antibiotics and is doing so much better. She is a Canadian, too.

I have fibro and a disease of my spine called ankylosing spondylitis. That causes extreme back pain, too, so maybe you have something like this or other things going on. I found out about AS because I was getting worse and worse and fibro isn't considered a progressive illness. So I saw a rheumatologist who did a lot of testing an x-rays and this was discovered. (I also have the tender points like you do.) I was put on ibuprofen with food and a muscle relaxer. I know you say a muscle relaxer didn't help you but you might try a different one. It might help. The one I use is called Robaxin and I only take half of what was prescribed so I don't have the side effects from it.

I also use Tylenol, vitamin D3, and magnesium malate to help with fibro pain. I walk daily, do stretching exercises and pace myself, too. All of the above have helped me be in control of my pain.

Be sure to read Fibro 101...the first thread on the forum. There are links to good info about fibro and you will learn a lot there. Good starting links would Be Symptoms, What Else Could It Be, and A Thorough Explanation of Fibromyalgia. You just might see yourself there. There are links about the supplements I mentioned and how they work in the body. All of Fibro 101 is good so do check it out.

I did put your first post in paragraphs. It's difficult to read a post that is one long paragraph and some won't bother to read it. So this hopefully will give you more responses.

I also took your email address out of your post. This is for your protection. Anyone throughout the world can get it from your post! But, you can put your email address in your profile and only HealingWell members will be ablet to see it.

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
Posted 3/7/2015 6:29 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Jessice, I'm sorry to hear you are having so much pain. Sadly I have found your sort of story is typical with those of us suffering from fibro. Try to stay as calm as you can about your situation, stress tends to make us a lot worse and fibro is very stressful even though it's not life threatening. A lot of people are also very sensitive to medication with fibo. You should try to see a Rheumetologist as soon as you can and maybe get some xrays or scans of your back to be on the safe side.

It's so amazing and inspiring that you were able to lose that much weight if you are able to do that trust me you are able to handle this pain and the often difficult process of going to specialists to get the best care. We will be here to help you through that process too! It sucks to have to be part of the chronic pain family, but on the bright side you get to meet some really amazing people. It always amazes me how people come on here as I first did freaking out and afraid...usually by the third or fourth post they are helping others by sharing their similar stories and offering support. So don't give up fibro is a fight you can win :-)
Posted 3/8/2015 2:22 AM (GMT 0)
Hi,
I hope I can help you. First of all, just take a deep breath and when you exhale let all of the stress go. I've had fibro for 15 yrs. First, is that you need to have a doctor you trust. Second, it may take multiple meds to help you with your pain, fatigue, sleep problems, anxiety and other symptoms. Your doctor will help you find the combo that works best for you. Don't let anyone make you feel bad about taking medication. This is a REAL medical condition. There will be side effects but some, usually the worst go away after time. Third, pace yourself. When you have good days don't over do it!!! Feeling overwhelmed is common with anyone who suffers with an illness. So, be patient with yourself. Fourth, deep restorative sleep is one of the most important things you need to achieve. When I sleep good I have much better days. Fifth,
The biggest lesson I've learned from this illness (and I am still learning) is how to say "no" to loved ones if your not feeling good.
I sure hope you find relief soon. Hugs
Posted 3/8/2015 2:31 AM (GMT 0)
I'm so impressed with your weight loss.
I need to lose 150. It's a constant battle to lose weight for me.

One of the ladies mentioned relaxation. I love using videos on YouTube by David Fairweather. He's a hypnotist and has several great videos. I use Progressive Relaxation (fall asleep version) the most. Knocks me right out.
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