Hi all, I finally had it the other day, the pain in my body was just way too much to handle. My reg. doc is on vacation so I went to the doc that was on call. It makes me so mad that my normal doc couldnt/wouldnt see what was going on. After my son was born I had problems with my hips, and I was blown off, must have pulled something is what I was told. I have been in the docs office about my pain so many times is not funny. As it turns out I DO have fibro. This new doc was able to pick it up with no problem. I went looking into fibro online and the symptoms fit me perfect, I think I have all of them. This doc put me on amitriptline to help me sleep and I am to follow up with my reg doc in Sept. I just wished he would have given me something for the pain, something I could take when I got real bad, he want to try to keep me off pain meds for now.
Why are doctors so blind sometimes, I have ibs, restless legs, pain in all 18 points, the list goes on. At least now I know what is going on and thats a starting point, now to learn to live with it.
Thanks for listening.

Hi, It took you 21 years to get diagnosed, oh my goodness. I was diagnosed about 20 years ago, first with chronic myofascal pain and a year later with Fm. How can Drs. be so blind and ignorant, if they cannot make a determination for pain after a period time, you should be referred somewhere else.

It is relief knowing there is a name for the pain we endure but sure does not help the pain at all. Best of luck to you. Linda

craftlady,

Congrats! :bouncing: Glad you found out what it is. Tho, having Fibromyalgia, is not a wonderful situation. Atleast you can move on now and learn to start living all over again.

aaronon

My life would be differant if I would have known back then. Its a lifestyle change and management that would have been easier to learn and adjust to when I was younger, not saying that this would be easy, just easier.

Im to the point that I really dont like doctors, its like anyone who doesnt have a degree is somekind of total idiot or something.

Hi, Im so sorry the doctors took forever to diagnos you, they did the same to me. I know how bad fibro hurts, there are days i wish it was over. I also have my good days, which means a pain level of about 3 or 4 which is a good day for me. TOlerable.
I do want to emphasize tho, PLEASE BE VERY CAREFUL when it comes to pain meds. If you DO get on them insist on blood work checkups for your liver. I didn't. I just assumed she was doing so when she would do blood work. I tend to be anemic and shed say youre still anemic and everything else is ok. Well, she wasnt checking my liver. Now my liver is swollen and my enzymes are up. It is painful. Ive gone thru several different types of testing, bloodwork plus a sonogram plus one test that lasted one hour with me lying super still straight on my back. My lower back was killing me. I wasnt suppose to take any pain meds that day of the test, so i was almost in tears halfway thru. Now, ive quit my pain pills to help my liver recuperate, that if they dont find something really wrong with it after yesterdays test. Ive been off my pain pills for a few days and i am hurting so very very bad i can barely take it. My feet and hands are swollen because of my liver the doc said. So is my face. Im scared, no , im SCARED STIFF!!! I dont know what is going to happen. The fibro is hurting so bad, my liver is hurting. Im worse than when i started. They still don't know if it was caused my the pain pills, but she said it didnt help at all. I never abused them or took more than what was prescribed but have been on them for two years till i quit. I know pain pills help people cope with fibro, i just wish theyd come up with something ELSE that didnt harm your liver, so im just asking you to please be very careful about what they give you. Ask them to test your liver every so many months. I don't want anyone else having to go thru what im going thru right now. It's a very scary place. THe scans showed the liver enlarged, and the doc says you can even see the swelling on my tummy area when she poked it yesterday. I had gone in to see her cause my tummy in that area was hurting and asked if she had ever done any liver tests. Thats when she said no she hadnt but that she would do bloodwork. Enzymes were high so she sent me out to get several tests done and yesterday is when i got the results about it being enlarged. Took a total of 2 and a half weeks and liver is still enlarged, so, i should get some more results thursday and she said we'll go from there. So just please be informed and take care of yourself, and ask for testing if the doc eventually gives you pain pills.
Jen

I will be carefull when it comes to pain meds. IF they ever give me any. At this point the amitriptyline is what they gave me for pain, he said it was to help me sleep and for pain, what I dont get is how a antidepressant helps with pain. thanks

what they say is that people with fibro don't get to that deep sleep stage where your body/cells, everything rejuvenates. Thats how our bodies repair themselves, while we are in deep sleep. Fibro people don't get that deep sleep. With amitriptyline (elavil), it gives us that deep sleep. It takes a while for it to kick in and you wont feel quite a difference the first night or so that is. Your body has alot to repair. That's what im on, and yes it does allow one to get a good nights sleep and reach that deeper stage. Still tho, its not enough for the fibro, most people, in fact the majority of people require some type of muscle relaxers plus pain pills in combination to give you some relief. Most are on a muscle relaxer/pain pill combo, mine being lortab (hydrocodone) plus soma (muscle relaxer) plus the amytriptyline. Its the lortab that messes with the liver. Not so much because of the pain stuff but because of the tylenal that it contains in it. So yes amitriptyline is an antidepressant but can also be used to get that deep sleep.

Jen

I got less sleep last night than I have in a long time. I am to take 20mg for 2 more nights them up it to 30mg and stay there till I see my normal doctor, its a bummer that it takes soooooo long for this med to build up in your body.
I wish otc meds worked for some of the discomfort for now, but they dont work on me like they did before. For over a year the doc had me taking 800mg of ibu every 8 hrs and all that ever did was make my stomic sick and mess with my liver, once the doctor realized it had been that long they check my liver and fortunatly there was nothing wrong with it, so I wont be taking ibu like that again. I just wished I had something to cut the pain so I could take care of my house/family/hobby farm the way I need to. I guess I will just have to get by till next appt.

So sorry youre suffering so much hon. I wish i had some good news to give you or encourage you. Ibu destroys the tummy and liver. Theres really no way you can tough it out without the pain meds. People say exercise will help. I can't even walk somedays cause the bottom of my feet, right under the toes area completely swells up and hurts to walk. My next thing is probably riding a bike, that will help with the foot problem, but i really don't have the energy to ride bikes , on top of the pain. Im not overweight or anything but still. Oh one more thing, amytripaline USUALLY makes one gain weight. So be aware of that factor.
Try to keep positive tho, i keep telling myself things could be worse, especially when i see a young child with cancer doomed to die or suffer that way. They don't deserve that. I consider myself extremely lucky and start seeing the good things in my life even tho we suffer thru it, i have lived 50 yrs even if 35 of them have been in extreme pain. I am still able to be with my family. Still able to love and hopefully LIVE long enough to see my grandkids one day lol. (have to hurry up and push my son to find a wife and settle down lol).
Jen

Theres not a day that goes by that I dont Thank God that I am alive. I have had 3 very close calls with death since childhood. I know that fibro is a royal pain (no pun intended). Life is sweet and I dont plan on letting this get me down. Too much to do with my life yet, I cant wait for grandkids.
Janice

Yup good to stay positive even tho its hard at times. But considering what other people are going thru, i suppose we are very lucky arent we??? I need to increase my time with the Lord in meditating and reading. I already do that, but right now i feel its appropriate or needed to increase my time with Him. Wow three kids, bet that kept you pretty busy. lol

Hi ladies,

Sorry you're both going through so much. Thanks for the warning about the liver. I take very small dosages of pain pills but still worth keeping up on. I take like one Tylenol 3 every other day normally because I don't want to become dependent or have it stop working for me.

Crafty I hope the elavil kicks in soon. I took it when I was first diagnosed 14 yrs ago and it did help. Later it gave me too many side effects and made me gain weight so I had to switch to others.

Good luck and feel better you two - Andy

Hey Andy,

Thanks hon. Are you on anything else besides the tylenal 3?? no muscle relaxers or anything? How is the T3 handling your pain? Ive cut down completely on the lortab which contains Tylenal. Using ultram now but ultram really only brings the pain level down to a 5 -6, where as lortab would give me some relief of 3- 5 at different times if only for two hours or so.
Im now taking milk thistle which is suppose to be good for the liver, hope it helps some.
Hope youre having a pain free day too.
Jen :)

Hi Jen,

I also take flexeril, valium, ambien, prozac and a partridge in a pear tree during the holidays..lol. I'm not on anything right now accept one nightly 10mg flexeril because of the baby. That's been the hard part. I only started taking flexeril about two weeks ago though. I took it drug free as long as I could but I was crying almost every day from the muscle spasms, etc. So my doctor said since it's a class B drug it wouldn't hurt the baby to take it and get a little relief.

Hope you are feeling better - Andy