New to Fibromyalgia and I don't think my doctor is really helping me - Fibromyalgia Message Board

jebralco · 06-13-2008, 07:27 PM

I was diagnosed a year ago but have had the pain for a little over 2 1/2 years. I was diagnosed by three different doctors. (Primary, Rheum., and an orthopedic surgeon) I have four kids and don't like takign pills because they make me feel "off" I do take flexeril, trazadone and as much ibuprophin as my stomach can take to try and help with the pain and sleep. I've been doing physical therapy for the past six months and that hasn't help with reagaining any strength. I haven't been able to work for the past 1 1/2 years and I've been fighting with the lovely SSA for benefits. At least I have masshealth so I can go to the doctors. I have heard that you can get cortisone shots in my hip when they are flaring so I can walk. I'm so overloaded with conflicting info that my head hurts. lol Now my doctor just told me she's leaving the state and I have to find a new doctor by the end of the month. It took me a year to find her! no doctor o talk to wants to treat a fibro patient.

What do I do?

Glojer · 06-13-2008, 09:46 PM

First let me say welcome to the board. I don't know what to say about your doc. It seems that is happening to a lot of people these days. My doc has two children and I worry she is going to want to give up her practice to be with her children more. I have been fortunate that I haven't had to make the search through doc after doc to find a good one. I will say though don't give up your search, you have to be your own best advocate. You could do a search on docs in your area through the internet or try calling the local hospitals, they usual have a physician referral number and you can ask them about docs that treat fibro.

Trying to find the right medication protocol can be daunting. It is a lot trial and error. I try to take the least amount of medicine I can and I use exercise and vitamins to help. The thing that is most important for me to keep going is sleep, I have to take an ambienCR at night and muscle relaxers to sleep. If I can get 8hrs. of good quality sleep then I can manage fairly well with my other meds. I take prednisone and diclofenac for joint pain of CTD and Cytomel for thyroid problems. It takes a while to get to the right meds.

I have had the cortisone shot in my shoulder when I had a frozen shoulder and it was wonderful. It may help you. I think there are others on the boards that have had them. Just remember always to take a few minutes to stop and take some deep breaths. We get in so much pain we start breathing shallow breaths and that just sometimes makes it worse.

There will be others with some great advice that can be of more help than me. Remember fibro is what you have not who you are......attitude is everything.

Glojer

Grapedy · 06-14-2008, 04:48 PM

If you're taking lots of ibuprofen you need to be taking Prilosec too. Ibuprofen can destroy your stomach. I can't take it anymore, even with Prilosec.

Paddy55 · 06-14-2008, 06:01 PM

I agree with you Grapedy. When I was taking NSAIDS - long ago it was Naproxen -- then more recently Ibuprofen -- I always took something to protect my stomach. I'm not sure of the early brand names. But the point is, after taking them off and on for 25 years, my stomach is still okay. So if the nsaids work for you, taking Prilosec is critical. In Canada, it is a prescription called Losec (Pri-losec/Losec - get it?

) and each pill costs $1.25.
As a matter of fact, I don't take nsaids now, just once in a while, and I still take Losec, maybe every 3 days. I think it helps even though the meds I take for pain are not nsaids. Pile any large amount of meds in your stomach and it has to react, right?
The cortisone shots? I had a few, but honestly, I think any relief I felt was because of the "freezing" put in my hip before the cortisone. Soon as it wore off, pain is back.
Jebrelco - has your rheumie considered any other treatment protocol for your hip? Is there inflammation there, or is it treated as "just fibromyalgia"?
Keep in touch with the board - we will try to help.
Wishing you peace and comfort,
Paddy

moetwins · 06-17-2008, 10:16 AM

jebralco, I'm sorry that you're having so much pain, I am going through the same thing. I feel like I have tried so many different medications and they just don't seem to help. Have you ever tried message therapy? That seems to help me better than physical therapy so maybe you could try that. I haven't worked in a long time either (since 2004) but I haven't tried to applied for disabilities yet, I hear that it is very hard to get. Have you heard back form them at all, I just don't know how people like us are expected to hold a job? I also wanted to ask you out of all the doctors that you've seen which one has helped you the most? I have not seen a rheumatologist yet for some reason they sent me to a neurologist for treatment, do you think that seeing the rheumatologist helped you? I wish I could help you more, I hope you're having a pain free day today.