New Here

Hi everyone,

I'm hoping to join a support/discussion group with the same condition as I have so I don't feel so all alone.  I have fibro, pretty much diagnosed it myself from all my symptoms and my Doctor also concurs.  I am in the process of trying to find some relief from the pain with not much success.  I was on some antidepressants for years which helped to mask the fibro (didn't know I had it way back when) but now I am off all meds and am in incredible pain all the time.  My Doctor just put me on amitriptalyne (sp?) but I've only been on it for 1 week and so far no improvement.  My blood tests came back with a high ESR and white blood count.  Going to see a Rheum specialist next week.  Possible going to try lyrica but I'm scared of the side effects. 

I feel that I cannot work a regular job anymore.  I am a secretary and cannot make it through a day.  I am thinking of applying for social security disability but not sure if I will get it.

I will be reading all the posts here to familiarize myself with all of you and hopefully have some of my questions answered before I ask ones that have already been asked and answered.

Great to meet you all!!!!

Hi LBL and welcome to the forum. I am fairly new to this forum as well and dont always post but I do visit this site often to see whats up. Sorry that you are having so much pain, and I hope things go better for you in the future. There is a lot of really good information on here and some very nice people.

Hi, LBL, and welcome to the fibromyalgia forum.  I see you have met several of our great members.  This forum is so neat because everyone really DOES care about each other.  I, too, see you have met our #1 babbler, Kelly.  I am the #2 babbler! 

 

I am one of the lucky ones that takes ibuprofen and Tylenol for pain and malic acid/magnesium supplements for pain and fatigue.  This has given me control of the pain.  I definitely am not pain-free, but I can manage the pain and live a full and enjoyable life. 

 

A rheumatologist may be able to diagnose you.  You may be on the antidepressants again because they seem to help fibromyalgia pain for some.  You, also, may have good luck with the Lyrica.  We have some members that hate it and some members that swear by it.  You will never know unless you try it.

 

Meanwhile, I'm so glad you joined us and I am looking forward to hearing more from you soon.

 

Sherrine

Hi LBL. Those physical symptoms you describe are part and parcel of FMS. You're not alone! Welcome~!

Hello LBL and welcome to our family.  This is a wonderful place for caring and sharing.  I'm so glad I found it about a week after I was dxd. with Fibro. 

 

I too, am thinking more and more about filing for social security disability and don't know where to start.  Someone told me you had to be off from work for a year before you can apply.  Does anyone out there in Fibroland know if this is true or not?

 

LBL, we hope to hear from you often.  When you have questions just ask.

 

God Bless!

Shannon

 YOU ARE SO NOT ALONE, When I first got it , it just kept getting worse and worse and the doc wouldnt beleive me and I had to fight to get any treatment.  Make sure you take the Lyrica , it relaxes you a little and helps with the pain, hopefully that will be all that you need.  I am very alone, I have no friends and no contact with my birth family, which is why the forum is so important to me. So glad to hear you are seeing a rheumy.    Hugs and welcome.   sue2z

Hi LBL and welcome!

I have not worked since the fibro hit me hard 4 months ago. I can relate to the grueling work week- I was having trouble keeping up with it before the fibro! Our bodies are just not the same with this. Hang in there with the anti-depressant. I'm on Zoloft and it took 2 to 3 weeks where I started noticing any changes.  

I just applied for Social Security Disability and I have been fortunate that I have had very "nice" and "helpful" staff guide me through this. I was told that almost "always" you will be turned down the first time through the process.

Good luck with your appt. next week and let us know what they say. GamJill

Hi LBL!

I am new here too. I am in much the same position you are. I have been at my job for almost 6 years and now I am missing so much work that they are basically trying to push me out. I am on FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) so they cannot just fire me, but they are headed towards getting me out. My BF is telling me to pursue SSD and I don't even know where to start or if I would qualify and if I do -- what then?
I am scared. I am an independent person and I am scared I will lose everything. I have bills, rent, student loans, car payment, etc etc etc. But if I cannot make it through one day at work...what choice is there? I have been paying into SSD for about 20 years...so I earned it right? I'm 35 and it just has such a stigma attached to it. I know my Mom would just be so disappointed in me. Well, hell - she already is, so what's the difference. I need to take care of ME for once and not everyone around me, right?

Anyhow, I take vicodin when I have flares or really bad pain days. My rheumy used to give it to me willingly (for the last few years), with 2 refills even. Now just recently he is reluctant to prescribe it and gives me one script and makes me basically beg for more. It takes the edge off my fibro pain and makes me almost sub-human again. It stops me from crying myself to sleep at least. I take it sparingly. I suffer and suffer and then I give in and take one.

So nice to meet you. Keep us updated on your Rheumy appt and how your SSDI interview goes. I am going to start looking into it myself.

Hugs!

Speppy and Karen, you 2 sounds just like me and there is some comfort in knowing that I am not alone with this.  I'm also happy to hear that your are taking a controled substance like viocodin because when I do finally give in and take it I feel guilty like I should be able to take 2 advil and let that do the trick but some nights it is unbearable, the pain throughout my whole body.  Today I'm having a "good" day and probably won't have to take it tonight but that is also because I called in sick so i was able to rest a great deal.

Speppy, I'm sorry that your mother is dissapointed in your and not supportive.  I am very lucky in that my mother is pshing me to go on disability and realizes the pain I am in since she has dealt with Crohns Disease all her life and knows what it's like to have to work when feeling so lousy.  But my mother is not rich and neither am I and it's very scary to quit work, use her savings in the hopes of being able to pay her back when I get on SSDI.  I just know I will be approved, maybe not right away but I will not stop until I get it.

Has anyone found that eating or not eating certain foods can make the Fibro better?  I read that carbs are bad for Fibro and to follow a diet similar to that of someone that is hypoglycemic (sp?) is the way to go.  Also, yoga is supposed to be very good for fibro and my Dr keeps telling me to try and exercise but I just can't I'm in too much pain.

Post Edited (LBL) : 8/21/2008 8:18:36 PM (GMT-6)

Hi and welcome LBL. One of the things that I noticed in your posts earlier is that you seem to have the same embarrassment/stigma/shame that a lot of people have about having to take any kind of narcotics. Please don't. It's been said over and over again in these threads and I will repeat it again. Everyone's pain experience is different. Some are able to get by with just OTC medications and dietary supplements, some require low level narcotics, some require mid-level narcotics, and some require heavy narcotics. Just because you may need narcotic pain medications to feel better and be more functional physically, this does not make you a bad person. Our society has a stigma for those that use pain meds. Especially in some of the older generations. But there shouldn't be. If you are taking medication to improve your quality of life and/or to be able to function like "normal" people - why should there have to be any shame.

I am one of those people that are at mid range narcotics. I am on 2 of the 20mg Oxycontins per day with up to 3 of the 5mg percocets for breakthrough pain. These are what allow me to be able to work. I have been on pain meds before and am able to be off of them for a while when the weather warms up. During the winter especially, if it weren't for the pain meds, I would miss a lot of work - or if I was at work I"d be miserable and not nearly as productive and accurate in what I do. For me, it improves my quality of living and allows me to be able to still contribute to society by paying taxes via payroll from my company, it allows me to still provide the services to my employers and the clients, to be able to get out and do things. I'm much more active and am able to exercise and spend time doing things with friends - instead of being home, in pain, miserable, and feeling like I have to live vicariously through other people. There is no reason to have to be ashamed of using a medication.

Abusing it is another story. If you're out selling your pills on a corner or acting like a junkie and crushing pills so that you can shoot them up...then yes, that is something wrong and inappropriate. Those are the people that our society seems to think that pain patients are, but we are not. And you aren't either if you are using them as medication and not doing it just for a high.



Wow. I'm sorry. That kind of turned into a rant (just a little). But it's exactly where my heart is. I've seen people who flat out ABUSE their pain meds and it makes me angry because it causes the types of feelings that you've been having about taking controlled substances. And, it makes me sad that we end up feeling guilty or ashamed because someone might look at us the way that they look at the bum on the corner unkempt and loaded outta their mind on dope. I hope you understand that it's OKAY to use pain medications if you need them.

Hi LBL,

Welcome. I am also a newbie about a week now maybe and these folks are the best!

I am on disability after my Doctorr told me that I just couldnt keep on trying to work. I filed on my own and was turned down. My Doctor then gave me the name of a really sweet attorney, who also just happened to be a nun. She started doing all the paperwork the right way and we had an an apoinment to see a judge for a hearing. Approximately 13? days  (YES, I said DAYS) before seeing the judge I had a heart attack. I had 2 stents placed and was sent home within a few dyas. No big deal nowadays i guess. But I kept my appointment with the judge even tho i was totally washed out, family member drove me. He asked me if i was up to the appointment and I told him yes, that I just wanted to get it over. I was still so loopy from the heart attack and alll the meds and procedures. Anyway, he approved me within 1 one month(I could tell he was really aggravated at the system himself) Anyway, I do tend to make a short story long also, anyway my advice to anyone is regardless of anything else.GO FILE AT THE SOCIAL SECURITY OFFICE asap! sorry for the caps.The reason i say this is when you are finally approved it is retro. I had first filed in October of 2000 and got approved in september of 2002. But it retroed back to my very first filing that I had done on my own! matter of fact the judge was so kind that he actually retroed it back to January 2000 because thats when things started going downnhill for me and I couldnt work full time! Good luck! take care and again welcome!

Remember anyone wanting to file....just get that paperwork in and dated!

Breath!

I was able to get disability with no attorney.  My husband had died and I was on COBRA for two years.  After one year I decided that I needed to find other health insurance.  I started looking and no one would insure me with several chronic illnesses.  I was so upset and spoke with my doctor about it.  He said that people like me were the reason disability insurance was created. 

 

I interviewed with my local social security office and followed their directions to a "T".  They wanted all the health records from all of my doctors and I saw that they were provided that.  I filled out all of their forms.  Then they sent me to their choice of doctors.  That was a joke, since my doctors were far superior.  But I went anyway.  I waited a few more months and then opened my bank statement one day and there were thousands of extra dollars in it.  They never contacted me.  They just deposited the money and it was retroactive to the day my husband died!

 

I do have Crohn's disease and a major hearing impairment so I know that played into it, too.  I think they are starting to realize how hard it is to work when you have fibro.  I wish you luck!

 

Sherrine 

Breath, thanks for your story, it wasn't long at all.  I am 45 and also have worked since 7th grade, 1978.  I know that social security is not a gov't handout...like you said it is something I worked for and have earned and is mine but the SS administration just wants to give it to me (us) later.  I honestly have no doubt that I will get it.  It might take a little persistance but I have fibro, and arthritis and I simply cannot work a full time job and then take care of my son.  I hate the idea that my child will remember his mother always saying, "I can't right now I don't feel good" or "don't, my body hurts" or when he sees me cry in bed at night because the pain is so bad and I just break down.