Explore the medications commonly used to treat Fibromyalgia, including pain relievers, antidepressants, and other options to manage symptoms effectively.
Traditionally, rheumatologists do the testing to find fibromyalgia. That is because originally, nobody knew what fibromyalgia was and they assumed, as it was linked to pain in joints and muscles, that it should fall under the department of rheumatology.
So, in a lot of countries, they are still the ones that do the testing. The way you test to see if you have fibromyalgia is in two stages: the first one is the clinical diagnosis, which includes trigger points on your body, a review of all your symptoms, and sometimes a questionnaire to see how your fatigue and pain affects your daily life.
The second one is an “exclusion diagnosis”, which means that you have to be checked for every disease that presents similar symptoms (MS, Spondylitis, rheumatoid polyarthritis…). So, they will make you take MRIs, blood tests, sleep tests, and a bunch of other stuff that takes ages, just to be sure you don’t have of one those other diseases.
Once you’re “officially diagnosed” with fibromyalgia, you can stay at your rheumatologist, although most have a certain disdain for the disease, or you can seek someone who gives a shit. It can be a neurologist or a physiotherapist. In any case, once the diagnosis is official, you need someone asap that you can trust and feel is in your corner. This is vital. If the doctor you have in front of you is “fibro-skeptic”, run.
Also: there are now tests to objectively “see” fibromyalgia in a patient but they aren’t commonly used. However, if someone says “there is no way to biologically see if you have fibromyalgia”, it’s a lie. We can now see altered responses to pain stimuli in the brain on cat scans, or high levels of nerve capillaries in the hands through a biopsy.
I’ve had it for about 29 years now. In a word—-Pain. Never-ending, constant pain. Your shoulder will suddenly start to hurt, which can last for a few seconds to days. That can happen in any part of your body. When it quits, it will start in some other place, again for only a few seconds to days.
One day I woke up, got up to go to the bathroom, and fell on my knees with horrible pain in both groins. I had to crawl to the bathroom. It felt as though I had sprained or tore both groin muscles, was that way for a week. I couldn’t go to work. All of a sudden it stopped.
It causes brain fog—forgetting things that used to be just automatic, sleep disturbances, your brain just will not shut up. You do stuff like put milk in the cabinet and cereal in the fridge, your wallet in the freezer, Go into the bathroom to pee, and all of a sudden you are standing in the tub, fully clothed with your watch and glasses on, frequently wonder if you have Alzheimer’s or dementia—-you test normal on all tests. The one that needs to be done is called the Stroop test. It actually takes us twice as long as “normals” to process stuff in our brains.
You can frequently get an incredibly intense itch—-anywhere, on me, usually my thumb or any finger or palm of my hand. And I do mean intense, To the point, you are screaming and wanting to run out into the street pulling your hair off and ripping your clothes off.
You need to put immense pressure, to the point of pain on the spot to get a little relief. It can last several very long, excruciating minutes to about 30. It seems days. I’ve put all sorts of stuff on it and taken Benadryl or anything else I can get my hands on. ( still do not know what has worked, if anything.
Your whole body can ache, like the horrible flu. You feel tired—-beyond belief. You feel so tired you are scared to fall asleep because you are too tired to breathe. You feel like you just won’t wake up because you won’t be able to continue breathing in your sleep. There develop tender points on your body. certain areas that when touched are very painful.
My husband would bend over, place his hands on my knees and give me a kiss. Did it for years, all of a sudden, it started hurting, to the point I just wanted to haul off and slap him! He had to stop doing it, even though he was not applying that much pressure. There are more—-flare-ups, you are worthless when they happen. I think this is enough—-in short—-you do not want this!!
Fibromyalgia is a nightmare. I have had it for approximately 25 years. My GP, at a time when it was at its worst, gave me Tramadol. It was a miracle drug for me, but it is very difficult to come off of, so I stopped taking it.
I finally went to a doctor for emotional issues and he recommended Cymbalta. It worked immediately to lessen my pain. I also take Wellbutrin. Between the two I am very functional.
Everything that has been said here is 100% true. I walked around for years unable to enjoy anything in life. Everything hurt constantly. Clothes were horrible to put on and then wear all day.
At home, I put on the loosest pair of pants and shirt I could find and just tried to sleep. I think the foggy brain was the worst of it. I just wanted to be laying on my bed all the time. Sometimes I even would sleep on the living room floor. For some reason it made me feel better.
Anyone who has never had this condition can never know how dreadful it can be. I worry constantly that my daughter is developing it. She has many of the same physical symptoms I had in the beginning.
I firmly believe that it began after I had a serious bout of the flu. The flu attacks your muscles. I couldn’t move for one week. I developed fibro approximately 1 month after I got well.
Anyway, I am now 69 years old and more functional than I was at 50, but I totally empathize with everyone here. It’s a horror that I wouldn’t want anyone to develop. My recommendation to everyone is to see if their doctor will give them Cymbalta if they can take it. It’s worth a try.
Post Exertional Malaise is my most annoying symptom. I had to stop exercising during a flare 4 months ago, and trying to get myself where I can go for a swim again is highly frustrating, because even a 50m swim will use up all my energy for the day, so I need my husband to do everything else for me. Almost impossible to coordinate. Everything else I can mostly sort out on my own.
Pacing, aka counting spoons. Rest little and often in between bouts of activity, and you will be able to do more. If you stop overdoing, you will start to heal and feel better.
Learn to say NO!
Exercise, even if it hurts during. If you hurt more afterwards, you did too much – reduce by half next time. If you are more tired the next day, you did too much – reduce by half next time. Start small and increase only very gradually. Try and do some every day, unless overtired. D-ribose may protect you a bit from overdoing. Deconditioning is what causes disability IMHO
Keep a journal of symptoms and treatment, so you know what works and what doesn’t for the future.
Treat the symptoms. If one particular joint hurts, you probably injured it, see a doc. If it’s generalized pain, it’s probably fibro.
Sleeping shouldn’t hurt (much). If it hurts to lie in bed, you need something softer like a memory foam topper.
Massage is wonderful… If you have the right therapist. If it hurts much, get a new one. A good one can take apart your trigger points, reducing pain.
When pain is driving you nuts, have a hot bath with 1 cup (or more) Epsom salts. Keep in mind heat is tiring, so this is best done before bed.
When overwhelmed, go find a dark and quiet spot to rest. TV is not real rest! Nor is having a conversation
Eating sugar will make you tired, guaranteed.
Caffeine energy is fake. Don’t, you’ll feel worse.
If you are stressed out or depressed go see a therapist. No, I am not suggesting this is all in your head, but your head can help or hinder.
Meditate! Or do yoga, or other mind-body techniques. Your body will start to relax. You have no idea how tense you are until you feel yourself relaxing. Tension causes fibro pain.
Don’t rely on your doctor to solve this. The best way to cope is take control. The changes that make the biggest difference are all about lifestyle… all the drugs these days just treat the symptoms and give crappy side effects.
Supplements can be almost as powerful as drugs, if you get someone really good to prescribe. Go find the best in your city. One day I’ll write a list of what works for me, but it’s really really long! In the meantime, here’s a good spot to start.
She can barely get out of bed some days. One day it’s her foot, another it’s her hip. She’s sad and tired and feels like my and my sister I’s lives aren’t what they could be because of her. How do I help her?
Your mother isn’t making things up. She’s not lying; she’s not exaggerating.
One of the hardest things for “norms” (people without invisible illness) to understand is the erratic nature of this disease. Just because I could do this thing yesterday doesn’t mean I can do it today.
She’s likely struggling in three areas; pain, fatigue, and what’s referred to as “brain fog”.
It never ends. There isn’t a moment (unless strong drugs are involved) that your mom is pain-free. It isn’t mild pain. It’s pain that’s severe enough that it cannot be ignored, even for a little while. It’s there, weighing her down, every minute of every day. And like you noted, it wanders.
Today it’s in the hips, tomorrow in her hands. It’s worse in the morning, but it never goes away and gets worse with exertion. She will probably need help with simple things, like opening jars, or vacuuming.
This symptom is part of a vicious circle of pain. Pain uses up a whole lot of her energy. Think of it like bandwidth on computers. Pain hogs most of it, so everything else has very little energy.
When she’s feeling bad, she may be as exhausted as a marathon runner with the flu. When fibro is flaring, I sometimes sleep up to twenty hours a day, for several days in a row, and still feel exhausted. This can make it dangerous to do tasks most of us take for granted, such as driving.
This one is hard to explain. It’s almost a physical sensation. It feels like my head is stuffed with cotton. My memory is completely shot. I have trouble communicating because I can’t remember the words for things.
My kids have become experts at figuring out what I mean when I ask them to go get me the “thing for the thing” (usually accompanied by a vague hand gesture). I mean the broom but cannot remember that word for the life of me. Simple conversations become nearly impossible to follow.
Watching TV is impossible because I can’t understand what’s happening. Remembering appointments, or what you said to me five minutes ago are as unattainable as the peak of Mount Everest. I’m not stupid. I’m just “busy” being exhausted and in pain.
Your mom will likely be struggling with the guilt that she can’t be the kind of mom we see on TV. Remind her that you love her no matter what. Take responsibility for any of the household chores that you can manage. Nagging you probably takes more energy and mental effort than she has.
Every bit of physical effort you do for her frees up a bit of energy she can spend on you. Forgive her when she cannot do things for you like help you with your homework, or when she has to cancel attending your events, and remember it kills her to have to do that. Write things down for her, instead of expecting her to simply remember.
Remind her of events a few times in advance. She loves you. It’s just that her body fails her more often than she’d like. Tell her you to love her. Knowing her kids are OK is very important. I’m not recommending you lie, but when it’s true, remind her of it. Worry is a huge energy sink.
If you’re lucky, you will end up as compassionate and self-sufficient as my kids have. Their childhood wasn’t typical, but I think they’ve come through it OK.
NB: I’m having a bad flare day, so hopefully this makes sense. I’ve spent quite a while editing. I Will have to come back when I’m feeling better and rework it, I’m sure.
There are several issues in here, I’ll chop them into physical and mental issues just so I can tackle them separately.
Fibromyalgia is a serious illness. The pain goes on and you don’t know why or where. A friend of mine describes it as “you are in pain, that is all you know”. Treatment is scarce, sometimes what helps may cause the patient to lose other senses like they can’t smell anymore.
Living with someone with fibromyalgia means being sensitive to their pain. Pain is something that can be seen by another person but after a while, you get frustrated when you can’t help. Accepting your limit and not excepting your spouse to function normally is key.
Major depression is another issue. While depression can be treated or at least managed, in many cases the patient does not cooperate in treatment or the illness is severe. Living with a depressed person means you will have to understand that their mood may not have anything to do with you or anyone or anything at all. A lot of patience and the ability to be vigilant about your spouse’s mood changes will be required.
Quick to anger is a possible symptom of depression, so see above. Note additionally that a good plan for safety is required. Don’t aggravate your spouse in anger, it will further damage them and may put you or others in danger as well.
Never accepting responsibility is a very serious concern, which led me to this question: how do you know that someone never accepts responsibility? This is a behavior trait that can only be accurately stated with an extended period of observation with neutrality.
If you love or hate or have any preconceived emotion about this person, then your characterization may not be accurate. What really matters is: if you are considering marriage or are married to this person, this is not a condition that happens, it’s something willful. Are you willing to accept this willful behavior? It’s selfish and will be extremely damaging to the relationship.
One can fight depression and fibromyalgia with their spouse, people face illnesses together. But, this behavior trait, if true, will most likely be the deal-breaker or the ship sinker. The only thing you can do is to accept that everything in the relationship is your responsibility.
Please note that all of this is based on the assumption that all of the above is true. I’ve seen people in marriage with depression, anger issues, fibromyalgia, all of the above, some of the above, and their marriages are just fine. The lack of responsibility is something totally different.
Lastly, just because someone has a mental health problem does not mean they have terrible behavior traits. Look closely and know the exact detail before you proceed or advise someone.
I’m not telling you what not to do, but a way to get to the point where you can do things. Avoiding things with fibromyalgia is a slippery slope. It reinforces how disabled you are. You need to be active, but very slowly increasing what you’re doing
Go to a physiotherapist and tell them you want to start SLOWLY you are able to move your knee fives. Do it. Tomorrow do six times, and soon. Each day add one muscle group with the same gradual increase. Start doing very short walks just half a block a day for a week, then ¾ block a day for a week. People will say that’s not going to help. Of course, initially, you won’t notice a difference, but after a few weeks, you’ll find you can do a surprising amount.
Tai chi is a very gentle exercise and if you go for only 10 minutes initially and gradually increase You will feel better mentally too. Get input from a physio as to the best muscle groups and how to exercise them.
One of the things that fibromyalgia patients often do his nap during the day. However hard it is, don’t nap. Go to bed at the same time every day and get up at the same time (set an alarm if necessary) Saturday and Sunday too. Getting back into a regular sleep pattern.- patients always said it was impossible.
I’d say if you went to Japan, within a week your sleep pattern would change. So you can do it! It takes determination, but it does help. Sleep disturbance is a major problem with fibromyalgia and it’s not helped by napping. If you wake up in the middle of the night get up for a few minutes have a drink of warm milk or a small snack and go back to bed. If you’re in pain use a hot pack or whatever works for you while you’re having your drink.
Eat meals at regular times. Remember how miserable young children get when they don’t get food on time. Get massages, go swimming in a warm pool ( most Ys have an evening when a small pool is warmed for very young children. Try an aquatic exercise class and remember to start slowly (5–10 ) minutes to start increasing by 10 minutes a week.
One of the big keys to improving fibromyalgia is to consciously get your body back into a routine. Another thing I saw over and over was someone in the early strange of working this program was they’d go out and mow the lawn or spend two hours at the grocery store and lifting heavy bags. Tell everyone when you start what you are doing and that you are working very slowly.
Initially, you need to get lots of help, but after a month you will find you can do a little more. Buy prepared meals or get delivery. Get family members to load the dishwasher, do the laundry for the first few weeks. That’s all exercise. Do not lie around in bed. Read, play music, etc get friends over for tea or coffee go to the movies.
Gradually increase the amount you do as your physical fitness improves. And it will. Can you wiggle your foot five times? Of course, you can. You won’t feel bad tomorrow when you wiggle it 6 times. You can increase daily or alternate days. If you work and sit all day, get up stretch and go for a short walk down a corridor or to the washroom. Sitting in one place really stiffens you
Depression makes management of pain more difficult, so if you are depressed go and see your doctor and get help. Pain clinics and acupuncture can sometimes help. Meditation, relaxation creative imagery with a therapist can help
I have helped many people with fibromyalgia and they usually do very well. The key is to go slowly. If you overdo it you’ll get discouraged. One of my family does sweet nothing for days and then vacuums the house from top to bottom. He then lies in bed for a few days moaning and groaning and feeling martyred. He sabotages any recovery.
Doing things slowly may be frustrating. The house may be in a mess, you may be living on take-out, frozen pizza, etc. But it’s not forever and your family and friends should understand if you explain.
If prescribed take antidepressants, and pain medication. I advise fibromyalgia patients not to get on tranquilizers like Valium Type drugs. They really don’t help fibromyalgia and it’s easy to become dependent. Also, they mess up sleep patterns. A nonaddictive medication for sleep that works quite well with no hangover is Melatonin with L theanine. Just check with your pharmacist that it won’t interfere with any of your other medications
Ask your pharmacist. I know Costco has it So do many stores selling healthy foods, vitamins, etc.
Good luck. If you really commit to this I guarantee you will improve your quality of life. This is not about what to avoid? It’s about getting going and taking control of your illness.
Fibromyalgia has a bad reputation because many members of the medical community doubted that it was a real disorder until the last several years. Even with the change in perception of the disorder, there are still a number of medical personnel who do not believe in it.
Fibro is one of those things that cannot be proven by standard medical testing. As a result of this, many who are relatively naive about it still think it is all in our heads.
It isn’t.
The perception is slowly changing. Recognition by the CDC over the past several years has helped this. Having Social Security add it as a recognized disability further helps. There are still those out there who doubt it, and unfortunately, many of them are highly outspoken about their thoughts.
Coming from someone who suffers from it, this attitude is detrimental to us fibro patients. It is hard enough living with the unrelenting pain as it is. Since they have taken away many of our medications, we have discovered that it is even more debilitating than many of us were aware of. I went off my meds voluntarily almost a year and a half ago.
I was sure that I could handle it. I was wrong. I’m now at a point where I am very aware of what I am unable to do because of my pain. My depression over my pain has increased. I have tried many different alternative treatments including the low dose ketamine infusions that only served to poison me and put my butt in the hospital and in a position where high dosages of steroids had to be used which then served to crash my immune system.
I’m currently looking for a new pain management practice that is willing to take me on as a patient.
I do want to make something very clear here – I’m not addicted to pain medication. I never was. Since my fibro reached epic proportions in 2009, and actually before that, I get no buzz from opiates. I only experienced enough relief to function as a normal healthy person to some degree – not completely mind you because that can never be with my levels of pain.
When I took myself off of my meds in 2017, I experienced almost no withdrawal symptoms, and those that did show up faded after 48 hours. I do not crave them but I will admit that I miss them, and some days are worse than others.
I’ve tried just about every medication possible over the years, and have just recently ended up with a configuration that works for me. Some of these are atypical, and were prescribed for something else but ended up helping.
I am putting my results with each here, because although everyone reacts differently – especially fibro patients – I have found it helpful seeing other people’s experiences in order to help figure out where side effects were coming from and to have suggestions to take to my doctors to see what they think of it. Often there are meds they haven’t considered, or had forgotten about that could be helpful.
For example, was the last resort to pull me out of severe allergy-triggered depression. Doctors refuse to prescribe stimulants for Chronic Fatigue. The Psychiatrist who prescribed it was shocked at the results, saying I responded to it like a narcoleptic. I have been on it ever since, and if I don’t take it, I just end up asleep all day long.
Is a pretty amazing drug. It’s known to cause weight gain though, although I’m only up 5lbs from when I started it almost a year ago, so it doesn’t always. I am unable to take conventional antihistamines anymore, and can’t take prednisone on an ongoing basis or I end up losing my cognitive abilities.
So I asked my doctor for something to suppress my immune system because my fibro was flaring badly. Another patient of hers had been given Doxepin by an allergist, so she gave it to me to try. I haven’t had a major flare since going on it (10mg 2x/day), and my (environmental) allergies have been almost completely controlled. Great stuff!
Is a blood pressure medication and can have an antidepressant effect at higher doses, and also works magically well to prevent migraines. I was getting up to 6/day every day and they were totally debilitating. The neurologist gave me this, and I only get 1 mild migraine a month now. I am on a fairly high dose so get some antidepressant effect as well, but I don’t feel stoned like I did on Effexor, and don’t get the druggy-looking eyes either.
My bp has been low all my life but suddenly went super high last year. This stuff helps control that (along with the Verapamil) and also alleviates excess bloating from food issues, so I no longer look like I might be pregnant after having a meal I didn’t prepare myself (most ladies will be able to relate to this).
I can no longer take painkillers after landing in a pain cycle last summer. I have managed to stay off them almost completely for the past year under this medication regimen. The only time I took anything was after the surgery, and I managed 5 days before the cycle started again. It wasn’t a fun recovery!
Low-dose Hydromorphone was the best of the pain meds for me. I was on Tramacet for years but it stopped working and started fogging up my brain badly. I went on Hydromorphone and my head cleared right up. I also needed far less medication when on it, which was easier on the body. Codeine makes me turn suicidal, so can’t go there.
This is the part of marijuana that doesn’t get you high. I can’t tolerate THC even in the smallest dose, but CBD is an amazing painkiller. It made me hungry but killed the pain. Unfortunately, after a time, it also starts the pain cycle up, so I limit it to emergencies now.
I had fibromyalgia symptoms for 15 years before I was diagnosed. At that time, I took a course of physical therapy where I did the Wharton stretch method, where you put a strap around your ankle, stretch your leg, and then gently use the strap to extend the stretch for a second. This, combined with a slow, progressive walking program where I extended the length of my walk over time improved my energy and pain levels to almost normal.
After that, I had a car accident which put me into a fibromyalgia crisis and I’ve never reached that former level of health. I gained weight, and what helped my energy levels next was having a sleep study and getting CPAP. Later I was diagnosed with Wilson’s Thyroid syndrome and started on T3. That helped my energy somewhat.
in 2005 I went to Africa as a missionary. I discovered that I am a mosquito magnet. I had malaria 8 times and intestinal parasites several more times, and all the antibiotics led to a massive reduction in energy, which caused me to come home after 7 years on my dream job.
That made me believe that an abnormal gut biome has something to do with the disease, and might be a leading component. To that end, I did the challenging GAPS diet for 2 years, and while it has not improved my energy levels, it has greatly improved my bowel symptoms.
Before that, about 5 years ago, I did a juice fast for 5 days. For the first 3 days, I went into a massive detox and had huge pain and fatigue. Then for 2 days, I felt like a 30-year-old again. I had energy and motivation! It was amazing! But I developed bruises all over my body. I called my fibromyalgia specialist, Dr. Joanne Pizzino, who is in Cary, NC, and she called the True North Clinic in Santa Rosa CA, which specializes in supervised fasting.
They told her that juice fasting is contraindicated when you are taking blood thinners because it acts as a blood thinner itself. As I am taking both aspirin and Plavix after having had a heart stent, I sadly had to stop the juice fast, and all my symptoms came crashing back.
At the time I juice fast I was doing Dr. Joel Fuhrmans vegan diet, at Dr. Pizzino’s urging. She had me watch the movie Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead first. I did that for a year, and while on that, my energy improved to the point that I could walk again, and I worked up to a 45 minute fairly brisk walk.
Since I got off it, my energy levels have faded to nothing, and I’ve developed cardiac symptoms. I think my heart is now driving my health. I’ll have to go back to the vegan diet to establish that.
There is also a lot of research being done on antiviral treatment. I recommend everyone with Fibromyalgia/chronic fatigue read Cort Johnson’s excellent, encouraging, well-researched blog: Health Rising. He mentions 2 doctors who are having success with that. Dr. John Chia is in California and Dr. William Pridgen is working in Alabama.
Another resource is Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum, who is in Hawaii and cured himself of chronic fatigue. I found Dr. Pizzino through his list of fibromyalgia practitioners. Sadly, he is into the business of selling his own supplements and I think he emphasizes them too much in his treatment protocols.
But what he does do is parenteral nutrition: an IV cocktail that bypasses your leaky gut. Dr. Pizzino has expanded his original small cocktail of stuff and if you are within range of her clinic, she could help you, if you can afford her. She doesn’t take insurance, and the IV cocktails need to be taken on a weekly basis.
I lived too far away from her, and couldn’t do her whole program, and went back to Uganda in the middle of it. The moral of that story is don’t start treatment unless you can finish it.
Another treatment that helped me a lot is Ondamed, which is electrical biofeedback. Ideally, it is given every other week. I had 4 treatments, one by Dr. Pizzino and 3 by a man based in Greenville NC who came to St Louis every few months.
His treatments really helped my pain and energy levels but they were not regular enough to be effective. Then he stopped coming. I think if you could purchase the $16,000 equipment, take the classes and treat yourself that would be the best way to go.
To sum up, I think that a two-pronged approach of looking at antiviral treatment and parenteral nutrition treatment or fasting is the most promising possibility for a cure. The True North clinic could probably cure you. Failing that, watch the movie Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, and do the juice fast.
