Pain Management - Fibromyalgia Message Board

bcs · 09-03-2008, 08:16 PM

Just recently my company wanted me to talk to "their" nurse to help me with my medical issues. When I mentioned that I have FM she said she will work with me on pain management.

The pain management I have heard about is bio-feed back(whatever??) yoga (maybe for some) exercise (I ran 5k races and lifted weights a year ago now I walk on my good days, and still use light weights and it doesnt take the pain away) and counseling.

Are there any other things to pain management? Is anyone doing biofeed back or counseling...is this because they don't think the pain is real?

Maybe I am stupid, but other than the exercise, do these things work? I got the feeling the nurse doesn't believe in FM, and we are crazy people. There is no way I would wish this on my worst enemy. How can doctors say it is not real? Why the skeptisism? Just because they can't put their finger on it, doesnt mean it doesnt exist.

I am new at this...any ideas??

kathy4399 · 09-06-2008, 11:11 AM

I do pain management. It consists of physical therapy, (stretching, learning how to do things differently, yes, exercise and pool therapy), trigger point injections and using the least amount of medication (particularly narcotics) to make you experience less pain but not make you a doped up zombie. Basically, since fibromyalgia is incurable, you have to learn how to manage the pain in other ways beside medications. Medications help, don't get me wrong, but a lot has to do with your own pain threshold and desire to not let the beast take control. At least that is what I was taught. I still have very bad days but the good days are more and more frequent and I don't let the bad get me down. I just do what I can to get through the worst of it and go on. Attitude is everything.
Take care

Glojer · 09-06-2008, 09:15 PM

bcs, there are lots of things you can do to help with your fibro. Kathy mentioned most of them. Exercise is great, but you have to start small and work your way up to something that is comfortable for you and does you some good. Of course I am a BIG believer in Attitude and for me taking the least amount of meds.

The company nurse may have your best interest at heart, but I always mistrust anything from the company. I always felt sorry for the employees that thought that human resources was there to help them. They didn't get the fact that it was the companies dept. and anything they told them would be carried back to the company. That said, anything she puts in your file would be general info for your company management and of course anything she writes would be her interpretation of how you are doing.

I have never tried biofeedback, but I have had it suggested by a doc if I ever wanted to try it. Some people love yoga for fibro, it is not my thing. I just love plain old exercise. I don't get the counseling thing, counsel you in what!

Glojer

poppy7 · 09-06-2008, 09:35 PM

hi bcs, as far as the counselling options goes, I think what you get out of it depends on your attitude to actually having fibro is ! My gp sent me to see a counsellor when I was first diagnosed with the idea that talking about it would actually help me to accept that I had it- like the constant pain, sleepless nights and all the other woof that goes with it wasn't enough to convince me ! Though having said that, I have spoken to a few people who did feel that they needed help with adjusting to having to change their lifestyle after being dx and they did find it helped them. I guess some people find the pain easier to deal with knowing that it's a physical problem rather than a psychological one. Apparently a lot of work that they covered was "broadening the mind" to accept pain and work with it rather than try to fight it.
Having said that, the counsellor I spoke to was more concerned with how I felt about my dx and focused on ways of expressing my thoughts and feelings about it, so I guess it did help to some degree- can now moan about it on bad days without feeling guilty !
Hope that helps a bit

Poppy

ps according to mum I'm a moaning swine on the best of days so didn't need many sessions there

bluelakelady · 09-07-2008, 08:55 AM

i spent 9 years in councelling. priceless for me. i learned new coping skills to go with my new body. i went thru the mourning process with someone to listen to me. i discovered my worth had not lessened and that i did not have to settle for less than what truly gifts me with joy. i am happy. i do not resent fibro or any of the other goodies that play in my body.
i went to a shrink to prevent myself from going insane. i was headed in that direction, all due to illness and the changes it wrought in my personal life. i needed a life raft and gary was mine. it has been years since i last saw him. yet the lessons are now a part of my life. a good life. i'm happy no matter what comes raining down. be it medical or emotional. for me being happy is a choice i make, every moment of every day. i like it better than the alternatives. i tried that and it scared me.
i do meditation. especially when stresses enter my reality. it helps me keep my b.p. down.
i am also having nerve blocks and steroids injected the end of this month. for me it is a happy medium between eastern and western medical philosophies.
i always suggest a shrink. simply because we need a place to really let go, knowing it is safe to do so.
peace,
blue