Are you living any better with fibro since your dx?

Personally, I think the Savella and muscle relaxers has helped some with the pain...taking supplements, a good multi vitamin and added vitamin D3 and B12 has helped too. Learning to distract pain with my hobbies has helped also. Keeping my stress level down is huge!

With time, trial and error, I have found what type of exercise works best for me...walking and gentle stretching. Learning to pace myself is an ongoing thing...still think I'm able to do more than I should. The experiance of having fibro has taught me both how strong I can be and also how strong I'm not.

Changing my thoughts to more positive ones has helped me deal with fibro...I've come to the point where I know my life can't be exactly what it was before but it still can be good.

Are you living any better with your fibro since your dx?

Hugs, Robin

Absolutely better since my diagnosis back in 1995.

I eat all Organic now, drink 12-14 cups of water each day, I sleep well, exercise each day, keep stress down, use a muscle relaxer when needed. And yes..pacing myself is very important.

And I definitely agree Robin...a positive attitude is crucial to me. On the few "pity party" days I allow myself to have each year...I start to feel so much worse when I'm emotionally not in a good place.

The more I can do to focus my day not on myself and how I am feeling...the better it is.

For me, getting a good night's sleep has been the biggest change in my overall health. I don't even get colds/flu except maybe every few years...

And since most of us have many other health issues on top of the Fibro....it is really not something that I even think about much anymore...I consider myself in a remission of sorts...(Dont' know how else to describe it)...But I really only have a few days a year that I think are due to Fibro.

Debbie..I couldn't have explained that any better about when I finally got diagnosed!!! Especially for those of us back when it was not a well known illness....I had so many strange symptoms back then from the sensitivity to light...to the overwhelming fatigue....

I remember a guy I was dating was so nice to help me put blankets over the blinds in my apartment as the light was just too much for me!!

As you said...once you know what is going on....you can go at it head on....I look at it is as Let Go, Let God...I do everything I can do and give up the rest:)

Definitely better! I was so sick and in so much pain when i was diagnosed. There has been a lot of trial and error in the 16 months since then. I've learned that Savella helps, but so do Malic Acid and D-Ribose. I've gotten so much help for my tight sore muscles from acupuncture. I've learned how much exercise helps and how much I will regret doing later. I've learned that I can't do everything on the weekends and hope to work a forty hour week. Through all of this trial and error my pain levels are definitely better than they were at first and I can live something close to a normal life.

Joy

I'm doing much, much better. Fluoxetine has proven to be an absolute lifesaver. I've only needed pain meds a handful of times in the last six weeks. I was off of the gabapentin for a few weeks due to a refill issue and I found out just how much the gabapentin helps to control the pain. Since starting back on it, I actually spend most of my time at a pain scale 1-2 (except for my feet, which tend to be a 4-5 a few times a day). I still have a lot of weakness and if I have pain it's usually in my legs/knees/feet. Sleep continues to be a big issue, though. My doctor prescribed me Ambien after trying a slew of other meds. The first dose didn't help much, but I actually got some good sleep last night for the first time in months and actually feel awake this morning. We'll see how I am this afternoon.

Hmmmm. Well, night and day better*

 

But the thing is, I'm really not so sure if my dx had much, if anything to do with this. As was mentioned above, it was certainly nice to know that I was not just freaking crazy, and that I was not in this boat alone !

After my dx, my Dr. had me try a couple different classes of drugs {man-made stuff ! Yikes !} and those did not work at all. One whacked me out so bad, mentally, that I felt like somebody else. The other would not allow me to sleep more than 1 or 2 hours a night. After a week, I was halucinating due to lack of sleep ! No bueno

So skip forward 4 years, and like I say, I am a new person.... or, the same person, in a new body... or something like that ;) LOL

However, I'm certain that this ^ has everything to do with some, or all, of the things I do with my extreme diet and exercise regime, and not my Fibro / IBS DX....

Peace,

Fish

 

Looks like we are all dealing with fibro...One day at a time

No matter how supportive your family may or may not be, it is always great to be able to come to this forum and get that "understanding nod." It also helps to have others going through similiar situations tell their stories of what has worked for them....there is always hope.

Hugs, Robin