Hello everyone,

I have been suffering from fibro and chronic daily head pain for four and a half years. I have had quite a bad spell recently and have not had much quality of life. I have never tried message boards as I thought it would be a lot of people whining about their lot in life. I have been browsing through the threads and have found a wealth of experiences and knowledge. Because of this, I wanted to post a message and introduce myself. I have found it hard to keep my head up lately. I have had withdrawl from pain meds, spikes in pain, and lack of understanding from those around me. Currently, I'm struggling with being able to work. I work about 15 hours per week at a department store. This is about the max. hours I can work. However, this is a low-paying job, and not something that is easy on the fibro. I'm wondering what some other fibro-sufferers do for work. I have a wonderful husband that works full time and am on SSDI. However, I really want to contribute more financially (we are newly married and have debt). It has been tough to find something that I can do, which will not make the fibro or the head pain worse (basically the head pain is a 24/7 migraine that I have yet to find meds to relieve). Any thoughts or suggestions?

Second issue weighing on my mind. I would like to have children someday, but cannot imagine taking care of a baby with my two illnesses. My head pain is easily influenced by hormones. Also, I would have to go off many of my meds (pain meds and anti-depressants) for the duration of pregnancy Any thoughts from those of you that are mothers?

I know these are very general issues, but any thoughts would be welcome.

Hi there! I hope you find some answers. I am in a similar situation, newly married, some debt, except I'm not on SSDI and not being able to really contribute financially has also begun taking its toll on my self-esteem. I posted a similar question just recently about types of work, but that was specific to not getting benefits. Have you looked into if your state's SS office does vocational rehabilitation? My state does, and they'll hook you up with a job working from home, either doing customer service or medical transcription or other types of work, and I think the pay is not terrible. Something to look into, if you haven't already!
Oh, and I feel your stress on the baby issue. I'm 33 and want children badly, but I can't imagine being able to, just energy-wise, aside from all the other issues. I wish I knew what to tell you, but I just keep hoping I'll feel better and be able to manage my symptoms better and have a child one day.
I hope you get some good feedback here. Good luck!

My pain doctor injected the muscles around my neck and between the shoulder blades with botox. The botox paralyzes the muscles so they cannot twist and tighten. This treatment needs to be done about every 3-4 months and it can be difficult finding a physician who will do this. If your migraines are caused by tightening in the muscles in your neck and back, you may benefit from this type of therapy. A teaching hospital might be the first place to check for a pain clinic doctor who uses this type of medication.

Blessings,
Kirstee

Thank you desperate1. I will check into the SS jobs. That would be great to find something working from home. I can completely understand when you say that not being able to contribute financially really effects your self-esteem. I constantly struggle with my self worth in the relationship and my self-esteem. Luckily I have a great husband who tries his best to understand and tell me that I don't need to feel that way. However, it stinks that I need that reassurance...it certainly wasn't the way I was before the pain hit.

I guess as far as babies go...hopefully things will improve in the future as you said. It seems so unlikely at this point, but we never know what may happen.