This is going to sound awful. It hurts just to say it. It’s the silver bullet, though, against fibromyalgia. Exercise.
Don’t stop reading yet.
You have to start very, very slowly. 5 minutes of gentle exercise is perfect for the first week. If you have access to a warm pool, then it’s even better because you have less weight in the pool and the warm water reduces pain.
You might try physical therapy (PT) as many PT facilities have such pools. Make sure the physical therapist has experience with fibromyalgia, though. If experience isn’t available, speak with them about their approach.
If they start with “we’ll start you easy with 30 minutes and 2-pound weights,” they don’t know enough about the condition. If they say 10 minutes and 1/2 pound weights, you are in a position to explain that they expect too much. You need to start with less time and the weight of your own body.
Note that your insurance will limit visits. Find out the limit so you can spread visits out to cover the pregnancy and part of recovery.
You (and possibly your PT provider) can slowly increase your activities. Keep in mind that you don’t want to increase as fast as most people would. I used to add three minutes every three days, and I considered that an aggressive approach. Three minutes a week might be more sensible.
The mistake I always make is to stop when I’m sick. Short of influenza, I need to keep going and maintain my ability to move. We seem to have less ability to hold on to our gains than most people.
A motivator that I should point out: if your core and abdominal floor are strong and flexible, you will have an easier delivery (according to my OB all those years ago). If they are weak, you have more chance of injury and you will have a harder time with the “push” part of delivering the baby. I haven’t heard any statistics on this, but logic dictates that if you have difficulty with delivery, it might increase the chance of complications.
Exercise hurts when you have fibromyalgia. I won’t argue with that. But every incremental increase in fitness will reduce pain. The trick is to keep it slow and gentle.
Having an understanding family has been wonderful. My husband and son understand when I having a bad day and pitch in without hesitation. Find those people who understand and support you. But it is also important to remain positive and do the things you can and not allow your chronic illness to define you.
Seek God through prayer, His Word and the counsel of others. Finding meaning and purpose in your life is critical for your spiritual and emotional health. In prayer, ask God to reveal His purpose for this season of your life. Invite others’ input and don’t be afraid to step out and try new things. Have you always wanted to take an art class? Write a book? Now might be the perfect time to start.
Ask important questions like, “What am I passionate about?” “What in my life can I share with others?” We sometimes abandon our “passions” for adult responsibilities. Think back to your youth and what you enjoyed doing. Rediscover your gifts and talents. Although your chronic illness may keep you from coaching your son’s soccer team, maybe you can use your photography skills to capture those winning moments. Be creative.
Take calculated risks. Rebuilding your life requires that you explore unchartered territory. Sure, it might be scary to head back to college at age 35, but why not give it a shot? While you may not succeed at everything you try, the experiences will enrich your life and give you something to talk about besides your illness.
Eliminate toxic relationships from your life. Few things are more draining than dysfunctional relationships. People who consistently blame you for their problems, criticize your choices and discount your feelings are toxic. If being in someone’s company continually drains you, it might be a sign of an unhealthy relationship. Learn to establish healthy boundaries.
Forgive those who fail you.Over time, your friends will fail you, co-workers will fail you—even your church will fail you. Forgive them and move on.
Learn to choose between “best” and “good.” Your physical and emotional resources will limit your choices. Determine who and what adds meaning to your life and invest in those relationships and activities. Not sure? Ask a friend. A fresh perspective may be just what you need.
Share your gifts and talents. Those who suffer have a lot to contribute. It is critical to look for ways to share your gifts and talents with others in your church and the community.
For me, it was addressing the root cause of the illness: heavy metal toxicity. I had 8 dental amalgams as well as a couple of root canals. I used to get vaxxed. I ate a lot of fish. I had some imaging with contrast dyes. Nowadays everyone is exposed to multiple heavy metals.
So once I had the amalgams safely removed that was a huge step forward I have been working on getting my body’s detox pathways to work right (liver, kidneys, and gut, for example, are how we do a lot of our detox) as well as boosting natural detox such as glutathione levels.
This has helped tremendously. It is taking some major time but I’ve been being poisoned for decades so not surprised to get the garbage out and to repair the damage is taking time and effort.
I am not “cured” but the fibro is nowhere near as bad as it had been. I do think it is part of why I still have major sleep issues. I fatigue way easier than I should. I DO have chronic pain—but it is not at the level it was. I am still never pain-free but I actually have hopes of getting there.
I saw pain specialists. I had strong pain meds. Only took the edge off. The McKenzie PT has been a real help. I get an “edge off” pain with arnica gel or Penetrex.
I believe it is crucial for fibro folks to stop eating processed foods, give up fake sugars. reduce real ones, eat fermented foods, and do other things that help the gut to improve. Doing that and much more has made this a presence in my life instead of the dominating force.
Going to keep getting better; there is a lot of room for improvement but my docs have been astonished I have come this far. My PT has been great. He told me many years ago I was in the sub-sub-(about ten times)-basement and needed to NOT PUSH myself as it kept leading to flares.
I still drop in on him and he is IMPRESSED. He still offers me tweaks to the routine AND works on me because I still have serious problems but I did not give up; it’s stopped progressing (and contrary to what is claimed, I found it most certainly DID progress and got worse.
Maybe technically it was the OTHER problems that DO come from it, but it got worse and worse without a doubt.) Infections, Lyme, mold, and more can also be caused or exacerbate the condition so it’s not just heavy metals and I had a lot of those factors so had to address those topics as well.
I started with 200 mg once a day. I increased it every other day until I got relief which for me was until I reached the maximum dose of 1600 mg every 24° period (i take 400 mg every 6°). Do not take if you are on an antidepressant without consulting your doctor. Also, avoid if you use sr. John’s wort.
It does much the same thing as SAM-e so don’t take it & SAM-e together without a doctor’s ok. Either or should apply to these 2 supplements. MSM comes in a variety of strengths. The maxi has seen recommended is 1000 mg every 8 hours. No more. I started at the lowest dose once a day, & increased gradually every 48° until I got relief. Again, avoid if you’re using st. John’s wort.
The warnings on these supplements above are because, to a lesser extent, they stimulate serotonin production. It’s very mild, but things like this add up. Often, a pharmacist will know more about them than a doctor, esp. if your doctor doesn’t hold with supplements.
Another Rx pain med that slightly increases the availability of serotonin in the body is Tramadol (Ultram). If you are ever given an Rx for this, make sure the doctor is aware if you are using any or all of those 3 medicines (SAM-e, MSM, & St. John’s Wort). The issue between MSM & SAM-e is also that they work by increasing the availability of sulfur in the body, but too high levels of sulfur are as bad. It may be worse than too low levels.
I have also found Boswellia Serrata to be of some help. 600 mg twice a day is the recommended max dose. It mostly helps with joint pain, which is common in fibro patients (I should know, I’ve had it since 1984).
When we were living in Scotland, a woman who owned a natural food store recommended nettle tea for joint pain. I found it quite helpful. I was very surprised to discover few people in the US thought it was used for joint pain; many here in the US use it only for respiratory illnesses, including COPD, & had no idea it was used for joint pain. I have used it when I had a respiratory illness, & found it helpful for both.
Also, these days, you can purchase 4% lidocaine topical lotion to rub into sore joints. Make sure you don’t strip the skin of its natural oils as that’s the medium through which it absorbs into the skin.
Another thing recommended is DMSO. You’ll usually find it in the veterinary section if you want the cheapest prices, & in states that don’t allow its sale for human use, you won’t see anything but veterinary formulations in any online store. It’s a very common chemical byproduct & nontoxic.
Don’t get a 99% solution, get something diluted & in gel form…. I’ve tried both & diluted 8n gel is more effective. The main issue is it can, for those with sensitive noses, smell like raw garlic…& it can leave a taste of garlic in your mouth – even though there is no common chemical I am aware of that DMSO shares with garlic. I find garlic difficult to deal with in food.
I am very sensitive & large amounts are a huge turn-off to me. If I want to stop myself from eating too much, that’s a heck of an appetite suppressant for me. It’s also not cool with cereal at breakfast…the taste of, say, honey nut Cheerios & garlic just so does not work…but I found it helped with sore joints regardless of the taste.
I have recently found a formulation where DMSO is listed as an inert ingredient, the main ingredients being menthol & camphor…so you smell like linament on a horse or Ben-Gay on an older person. The DMSO can’t be anything but a base ingredient in some areas…areas though have yet to see any mention of its harming anyone. Anyway, it helps but doesn’t take away all the pain. Nothing does.
As for antidepressants, pain & depression share many of the same pathways in the body, so antidepressants are used, with varying degrees of success, to help with the pain.
You must realize that this war on opioids & the false blame opioids receive for the overdose crisis means that we may all, if we’re on pain medication, be forced off it…& those newly diagnosed with pain syndromes like fibromyalgia may never see an Rx for pain medication.
I’ve seen tweets by people who have had major surgeries & their post-OP pain. Options are things like one, maybe 2, acetaminophen, extra strength (500 mg a pill), every 8 hours with 400 mg of ibuprofen every 6 hours for pain unrelieved by acetaminophen.
Most hospitals are so afraid of the DEA raiding them that they won’t prescribe opioids at all for any reason whatsoever. The VA has pulled all veterans off opioids altogether, resulting in a rash of suicides due to being unable to live with severe pain from war injuries.
I include in this WWII vets who had things like shrapnel buried in areas that precluded the removal of the shrapnel because of the risk of paralysis or even death. This is a jagged foreign object in the body, always tearing at something inside, often close to the spine or a major organ.
Many have been on opioids for decades with no, only a few, increases in dosage over that extensive time frame. What a way to reduce the number of VA patients! What a way to say thanks to the men who were sent from farms & small towns all over the US to make sure the menace of the Axis countries never reached our shores!
Many of these were called back up to active duty in Korea in the early 1950s, to yet another war. What a way to perpetuate the wrongs done to our Vietnam veterans, sent by conscription to fight an unpopular war & blamed for joining an army they didn’t ask to join but were forced to join.
If you want me to write more about this I can continue…
You know this is the craziest thing I am going to talk about now…
I’m not sure what the percentage is, but I can tell you that I spent years taking Adderall for ADHD and then had to stop taking it when I got pregnant. During the hiatus from that medication, I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia.
After unsuccessful attempts at treating it with many of the same methods you mentioned, I decided that I was sick of being a test monkey and asked my doctor to put me back on the Adderall. This time around, not only did it manage my ADHD symptoms, but it also seemingly “cured” my fibro.
Being a stimulant medication, its purpose is to counteract the area of an ADHD patient’s brain that makes them feel restless and unfocused by “tricking” the brain into believing it has produced too much of its own stimulant, therefore making it produce the chemicals that calm.
While it still does this for me, it also cleared up the brain fog and mental sluggishness that accompanies fibro, but the best thing it’s done is make the pain tolerable so I can normally physically function. As you certainly know, with fibro, some days are worse than others, and it’s not as though this medication blocks the pain as an opiate does, rather, it keeps me so focused on the task at hand that it also distracts me from the pain.
Upon realizing this, I started doing things to help further lessen the background pain, such as yoga and taking daily vitamin B12 and folic acid supplements, as they support nerve health.
Adderall is not recognized as a pain management drug, and only a small handful of doctors currently acknowledge it as a treatment for fibromyalgia. It is a controlled substance with a high potential for abuse, so, doctors won’t prescribe it without a perfectly valid reason, and they usually require a clear EKG prior to prescribing because the stimulant property is sometimes hard on the heart muscle.
BUT, Adderall IS recognized as a treatment for chronic fatigue, so, if you approach your doctor after having utilized so many other medications unsuccessfully and specifically address the concern that the fatigue which accompanies your fibro is debilitating in nature, and you propose the idea of trying a stimulant, he or she may agree to prescribe it at a low dose on a trial run.
Be prepared, however, as it is a common practice for doctors to perform drug tests before and during treatment with a controlled substance to ensure a patient is not abusing it or any other drugs.
I’m certain this is a treatment that will not be appropriate for every person with fibro or other chronic pain disorders, but it has worked in this way for me and a decent handful of other people in our shoes. That being said, for how significantly my quality of life has improved, I firmly believe that it is a treatment that deserves consideration by doctors and sufferers alike.
Not all Rheumatologists (especially if they had been trained some years earlier and belong to the older generation) believe in Fibromyalgia.
Even if they “believe”, not all are comfortable with managing patients with Fibromyalgia for diverse reasons. One very common reason (which doctors only admit to other doctors) is that Fibromyalgia patients are generally difficult (I sympathize with those patients) as they are generally mistrustful of doctors in general after all their bad experiences with doctors.
b) Whether they are comfortable and happy treating patients with Fibromyalgia.
If the answer to either of these questions is a No, ask politely for suggestions for a Rheumatologist who is interested in managing these patients. You would be surprised that there are many. Fibromyalgia is a test of a Rheumatologists utmost all-around skills.
The first order of business is confirmation of Fibromyalgia which is completely clinical. (It involves bedside tests and interviews. There are two criteria for diagnosis both of which are valid. Remember that a diagnosis of fibromyalgia does not exclude any other diagnosis.
Therefore the second order of business is to look for and exclude any other disease that may co-exist or may have triggered fibromyalgia by increasing the risk. The more recent your fibromyalgia, the more the need to look for other associated conditions.
If you find something else along with fibromyalgia, the doctor’s job gets easier. (If you have the disease for 10–15 years, there would be little doubt and the doctor may be able to make a diagnosis just by talking to you)
Managing patients with fibromyalgia is multi-dimensional. Patient education is key so as the patient gets reassured that fibromyalgia is a non-life or limb-threatening benign disease of just pure pain and suffering. So it is important for the patient not to let the disease get to them and fight it valiantly and refuse to be impacted in everyday life. The doctor is there to help you do that.
The treatment would involve drugs that alleviate the different symptoms as well as lifestyle changes. Exercise and good sleep are the cornerstones of Fibromyalgia management. For those who find exercise painful, it is important to have a structured regimen where you start slow and slowly increase the level of exercise.
Improved sleep either with lifestyle changes or with fibromyalgia medicines would have a direct and immediate impact on your pain and other symptoms. Reducing weight is important for those who are obese, as they are in general less likely to respond to drugs (contrary is also true, those who are lean tend to respond better to drugs).
I have seen patients who did not respond to any drugs getting cured simply with exercise and weight loss. While there are several drugs for fibromyalgia that are approved (pregabalin, duloxetine) or off-label, the choice of the first drug should be determined by the specific circumstances of the patient including co–morbidities and is not going to be covered here.
Suffice it to say that different individuals respond differently to different drugs and it is important to find which drugs or combinations thereof work best for any given patient. Therefore, the patient should have patience and stick with your chosen rheumatologist and give him enough time to optimize your management.
I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia in 2015 and have been finding ways to keep going!
Well, let’s look at this logically.
When a person goes missing alien abduction is not on the police’s mind. At no point in their investigation does a detective state “should we not consider alien abduction.” When they have completely exhausted all areas of questioning they have to move on and they leave the case as an open “cold case.”
The person has disappeared and they are actively choosing to remain so for whatever reason.
The person has had an accident in a place where anybody can find them and sadly they die.
Someone has abducted the person and either they have found no evidence or their inquiries did not look into this perpetrator.
At no point even then do the police consider alien abduction. This is something that others may consider on internet forums and chat rooms. It is outside of the general psyche.
Fibromyalgia is a syndrome that most up-to-date physicians are / or should know about.
There are no specific tests (at this point in time) to detect Fibromyalgia so the Doctor tests for other conditions that have similar symptoms to Fibromyalgia. When they have tested a patient for several other conditions and all the tests have come back clear and the symptoms have remained for six months or more a Doctor will give a diagnosis of Fibromyalgia.
Medical knowledge is not complete doctors are learning new things all the time. There may be several new conditions that come under the umbrella of Fibromyalgia at the moment. Even if doctors don’t agree with Fibromyalgia as a diagnosis, most of them understand how much their patients are suffering.
At one point they didn’t know or understand HIV or Aids, at one stage they didn’t understand or know how to treat cancer. As lifestyles change to adapt to the changes in how people live and work new medicalconditions arise.
I have a feeling that the person who asked this question was trying to be funny, however, Fibromyalgia is very far from a joke. So I have given Fibro the respect it deserves and answered this question, as a byproduct of this I have treated the question with respect, that part is unfortunate and all I can hope for, is that the person asking this question never has to understand the reality of living with Fibromyalgia.
Karma may have other ideas and may make the question asker regret this.
Honestly just understanding, no suck it up, it can’t be that bad, get out and do something, it’s an illness that we never know how bad we’re gonna be so plans are pointless, invite but don’t get upset if they bail, etc, when we do get good days you can guarantee we will do all we can then have a crash for 2 weeks as did way too much, a job looks simple to you not so much to us.
I get bad paraesthesia just typing imagine having to scrub the shower I look and know in 1/2 minutes I’m going to have crippled hands so why bother to start, or we can start a job then gets too hard so we move on to another simple thing and repeat till everything is a bit done, etc, most people with fibro are just angered by assumptions like we love being “lazy”.
We enjoy bailing on plans or eating toast as haven’t the energy to go shop or even not eating as can’t even manage that, seriously I have eaten one mouthful, and like nope I can’t even lift a spoon or have the energy to chew my food, we’re tired all the time except for like 2 hours when it’s midnight, oh then is 50/50 if we can sleep and even if we do sleep we do not hit deep sleep so always tired which causes more pain.
Which causes worse sleep issues which causes more pain…. round and round it goes, so we have to have an order I need to do x.y z they are a must so we do those and anything else is a bonus, look up “spoon theory” this may give you more of an idea, or for example, let’s say you have a phone the charging is unpredictable you plugin for the night and is a surprise what % you may get so you wake up.
It’s at 50% everyone else is 100% I have the same things to do as you but on 50% battery so have to optimize, leave out some things that take me down to 0 plug phone in the next day because I had to squish stuff in and that messed up my “battery” more today I have 40%, 3 days later I’m only getting to 5% so I need to do nothing to try let battery recover to a better amount.
Also as my battery is “weak” what takes your battery 1% to do takes mine 4%, so for you having a shower jump in scrub feel refreshed, etc, for me a shower actually takes energy away from me, a walk to the corner shop for you nothing for me like walking the marathon with a limp, we also are VERY good at faking being fine, as we can’t just lie on floor screaming due to the pain all day.
Just picking up a cup can make it feel like a bone has broken in my hand but I can’t scream every time, we can “continue” with pain most people rush to er for, but in the confines of our homes we’re in pajamas easy clothes, pottering when we can resting and chomping meds that don’t help much, so basically anyone you know with FMS feels shit enough as is w/o people who cannot know what it is actually like judging.
“Just exercise” “you need change diet” ya de ya trigger phrases do NOT use them, and in my experience most of US with FMS just want people to grasp what we are dealing with and not brush it off, believe me, most of us at Doctors begging for any fucking help so we’re not this pointless waste of flesh but there’s not even a definitive way to diagnose it let alone treat it.
I am using FMS as fibromyalgia syndrome as it is NOT one problem it is up to 200 symptoms so do you think we’re having fun? headaches lasting weeks? bruising easily, IBS, brain fog, short term memory fucked to shit, I’m at can forget what doing while I am doing it, paresthesia, vertigo, dizziness, eye muscle weakness, just to list a few symptoms bar the “pain”
This can be a difficult question to answer because fibromyalgia affects everyone in differing ways; however, there is one overarching thing that makes it worse, not moving. Although it can feel horrific to move at times, not being active will only make things worse.
On really bad days all I can muster is walking my dog 10–20 minutes 3–4 times in the day. It’s not a lot but it helps. I’ll also do light stretching on really bad days. Just making sure to not spend the whole day on the couch or bed and getting up every so often and moving around will help.
On days when I still hurt a lot but I’m not absolutely fatigued I’ll call a friend to meet me at the dog park. This helps because it distracts me from the pain while getting me moving for an hour or two (sometimes taking breaks to sit on a bench).
Having my dog has helped me tremendously with my fibromyalgia for the sheer fact of forcing me to move every day, no matter what. Plus it’s nice to have companionship when you do feel terrible.
Another thing that can really aggravate is a bad diet. Sugar especially is bad because it causes inflammation, poor digestion and can cause bad crashes when I’m already fatigued. Same with fatty foods.
The first thing I suggest to anyone dealing with fibromyalgia is to talk to their doctor about medication. Even though I’m a believer in making good life choices and having your body heal itself, if the pain is so bad that you cannot even begin to think about exercise or am exhausted at the thought of trying to buy healthy food and preparing it, medication can help get the ball moving.
I take Cymbalta for my pain and it’s helped enough where I could start doing yoga again, which in turn gave me the motivation to eat better.
Make sure to eat well and eat protein (protein powder in a shake with lots of veggies, fruit, and yogurt are great) because I find it hard to keep muscle since I cannot exercise hard enough/regularly enough to sustain it. I also stretch thoroughly before bed and when I wake up in the morning because sleeping for 8 hours makes me quite stiff in the morning.
And finally, smoking, too much stress, or not getting enough sleep can all aggravate fibromyalgia. Meditation is a great way to help with stress levels and being able to endure the pain. There are great apps and websites that have free or cheap meditation. They have helped me tremendously by not letting me fall into a depressive episode during a flare-up.
I realize that Fibromyalgia doesn’t affect everyone the same way. I don’t think I suffer as much as some people do.
Having said that, there are things that I have done that make it better. When I was first diagnosed in 1987, I started exercising, at the gym and walking. It took care of almost all my pain. 12 or so years later, the chronic fatigue kicked in and everything got worse. I took naproxen, mostly. It was all I could do to do my job and get home.
Now since I’ve retired, I thought things would get better without job stress, but not! It’s kind of worse. More and more naproxen. When tramadol became available, I used it sparingly. If I took 50 mg before bed, I slept well and the next morning I felt that it reset my brain, somehow, and I felt pretty good for a while until it got worse again.
When I first heard of CBD oil about 4 years ago, I started taking it and it really helped a lot. It helps with sleep problems, but not enough. A couple of years ago I got some street cannabis edibles, and it worked so well that I knew I had to do some research.
Last year when medical marijuana became legal in my state, I researched different strains and found ones that worked better. When you buy edibles, you don’t always know which strain is in the product. Therefore, I always buy a 1/8 package of “flowers” and make my own special chocolate.
I only take it an hour or so before bed. I get a really good night’s sleep, wake up refreshed, have no side effects, and have more energy. I keep tramadol around for really bad days, mostly caused by changes in weather. I found that less cannabis is more, and have no interest in getting high. One flower lasts me a couple of months.
Bottom line — if you can exercise, do it, but don’t overdo it. Work with CBD oil, tramadol, naproxen, and medical cannabis if it’s available to you. Try not to get stressed, if you can.
Good luck!
Just a little update here to clear something up ….. I don’t take naproxen regularly, now. It’s already given me heartburn and GERD issues. The only things I currently take every day are CBD oil and cannabis, with tramadol and naproxen as needed.
