went to doctor.....

Good idea, Julie!!
I'm glad your doctor's appt went well. I hope you start feeling better soon.
Sounds like you have a good doctor.
Hugs,,

Sounds like your Dr. knows about fibro and it went well Julie. I voted on your survey and put I flare more often than not. I think the winter/cold played a big part in that and now with the fluctuating weather. I hope that changes with milder temps once spring and summer get here.

I too hope you start feeling better soon and good luck with the malic acid/mag-

GamJill

I answered more often then not because I never have what I would call a good day. I pretty much go from feeling lousy and force myself to do everything, to a state of wanting the situation to totaly leave me alone and I just cycle through every week like that. But I don't think I am treating myself well either. The pain killers, anti-anxiety meds, anti-nerve pain drugs drag me down so much, I end up cycleing Nicotene and coffee to function on them. I would probably do allot better treating myself with Malic Acid and Magnesium, slowly scaleing up my excercise and stamina, and getting more doesn't do harm treatment like heat therapy and massage, and making myself rest instead of grabbing another cup of coffee and sucking on a Nicotene lozenge to make my body and brain able to function for a brief period of time. So my body probably is completely confused when I am tossing contradictory things at it everyday.

So I am probably my worst enemy on this issue, but you gotta do what you gotta do unless you have the capacity to change your circumstances and few can. Not directly what you were asking, but yes, as soon as I change my circumstances here in another week or so, taking Malic Acid and Magnesium and scaleing it up to where it should be is definitly on my list.

Edit: I wanted to mention on this that I did find in my experiment for about a month that I could absolutely make a very strong impact on the issues of chronic fatigue, mental fog, and a certain amount of the pain by tossing very large amounts of certain over the counter supplements. In my case I was useing per day, all the Vitamin C in asborbic acid form my stomach would tolerate, about 10,000 milligrams in devided dosages, about 600 to 800 milligrams of COQ10, D-Ribose at 15,000 to 20,000 milligrams, L-Carnetine at 1000 milligrams, Acetyl-L Carnitine at 1000 milligrams, and all the Magnesium I could tolerate by taking powered form in water to break it down in the stomach before it had a chance to get to the intestines and cause diahrea.

Doing all of this made me feel quite a bit better. Also probably cost about $300 dollars a month to do it. End of experiment since there is no way I could support that cost. So, I am going to try slowly ramping the Malic Acid/Magnesium thing since its addressing allot of the same issues my over the counter high priced cocktail was.

It's good to see so many responses to the poll. I think that we are all so different, so it is good to try and see where we are coming from. I wanted to say one thing about my doctor. He's my second rheumatologist and I have been seeing him for over a year now. My first rheumatologist didn't want to believe that headaches were part of fibromyalgia. WHAT??!! I just didn't care for her anyway, so I found my present doctor. When I called the office to make an appointment, I asked the receptionist if Dr. Ali treated very many people with fibro. She said that he did. So, when I had the appointment, I specifically asked the doctor what he thought about this illness and he told me that he definitely believes that it is an legitimate illness. I then asked what he thought about the nay-sayers that think this thing is all in our heads. He said the EXACT same thing that I think--those people should have this illness for one day and they would change their minds!! I don't think it would even take a whole day for them to be a believer!!

Having a great doctor is an absolute MUST. I have always believed in going to the best doctor that you can find. It's a partnership. If you are uneasy with your doctor or just aren't satisfied with his treatment, by all means--go to another doctor. We have to be our own best advocate.

Thanks,
Julie

Wow, I don't know what I would do if my pain never let up. When I have a flare my pain may come and go. It is a radianting pain that may last a couple of weeks (give or take). Along with all of the other symptoms, i.e. sleep, digestion, fatiuge & headaches. Oddly enough I have never had pain in the summer months. It has always been from November to now April. At first I thought it had to do with the cold weather, but I don't think that is the case. I just moved from Louisiana to Canada a year ago and the cold did not increase the flares. My most recent one, which is still going, has been my worst of all. That can't be caused by the cold because we are having warm weather.

I don't think I will ever understand this!

K9 Thank you so very much for your post.  I am sorry that like me you're in pain 24/7.  What do you think caused you to have fibromyalgia?

Take care and a very gentle hug!