Fibromyalgia

Specialties Pain

Published

For those of you who know me well, you know that Fibromyalgia is one of the main reasons I went into pain management. After seeing my mother suffer with the disease for many years, I became all to aware how under treated the disease was and then began to see how under treated ALL pain was.

Hopefully this thread will allow us to expand on the history, presentation and proper treatment of the disease.

To start things off, here is a study that I found which I found to be very helpful.

Pain Ratings in Fibromyaliga...0-10 isn't enough!

Dave

A NOTE about this thread.

ABSOLUTELY NO negativity! If your goal is to come in and debate whether FMS is real disease, if these patients are in pain, the use of narcotics... Hit the road. This isn't your place. This thread is about how to HELP those with FMS. Not give them any more crud then they've already endured.

Specializes in Emergency room, med/surg, UR/CSR.

Dave, Have you ever heard of a herb called arnica used in reduction of inflammation and pain in muscles? A lady I go to church with swears by it in all forms. She even has an oral form of it, but from a couple of sites I have read, it doesn't recommend oral use. What do you think? I asked her if it could be used with FM and she said it is great for FM.

Pam:confused:

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Hi Dave, I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia in the mid 1990s. The symptoms had existed for years. I am fortunate that my disease is now well controlled though I do have several minor exacerbations a month.

In the course of researching the disease I discovered the Center for Complex Infectious Diseases in California. There were once part of the U.C. Davis medical school but opened independently after obtaining suffieient funding. They have been studying CFS and FMS as well as other conditions. A virus that is not detectable in routine lab tests has been found in a significant number of cases. If you are interested their website is at http://www.ccid.org/ . It has been a while since I last visited the site. To navigate to the scientific papers follow the S3 Support link. When that page opens click on "Information Area" on the tool bar at the top.

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Boy have I negleted this thread! ::shames self::

Firstly, I have NEVER EVER heard of Arnica. However I will certainly look it up. Anything that will work, I'm all for it.

Secondly NY, THANKS FOR THE LINK!

I'll be checking that out ASAP!

I really well get the next section of my FMS medication list posted. Hopefully tomorrow. Before I get into narcotic pain meds, I think I should mention Tegretol, Topamax and Zyprexa.

Anyway, off to bed for the moment!

Dave, wishing everyone a pain free night!

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Boy have I negleted this thread! ::shames self::

Firstly, I have NEVER EVER heard of Arnica. However I will certainly look it up. Anything that will work, I'm all for it.

Secondly NY, THANKS FOR THE LINK!

I'll be checking that out ASAP!

I really well get the next section of my FMS medication list posted. Hopefully tomorrow. Before I get into narcotic pain meds, I think I should mention Tegretol, Topamax and Zyprexa.

Anyway, off to bed for the moment!

Dave, wishing everyone a pain free night!

Alright mister, just because you have a newborn taking up every spare moment of your time doesn't mean you can just leave us hanging like this. :D

jadednurse, who hopes Dave knows how much he's appreciated in this forum...

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Specializes in icu,prime care,mri,ct, cardiology, pacu,.

I have fibromyalgia. When it was first diagnosed, I could not stand my youngest child even sitting on my lap. But with the proper usage of antidepressants, (elavil) the pain is managable. Some days are worse than others.........

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What happened to Dave? I was very interested in hearing more of his information on meds, lab tests, etc.

Has anyone's Dr. ever put them on Guaifenesin for their FM?

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I want to just say thank you for being so compassionate toward those of us with FM. I've had a long road to find the right regimen to control my symptoms, which started after a traumatic foot injury in '91. I have gone through my share of dr. and nurses who think I'm a hypochondriac, which in and of itself can cause severe depression. :angryfire

I thought I'd share some of what seems to work best for me. I use Benadryl at HS, 50mg gives me a good night's sleep and helps with some of the other auto-immune symptoms. I did use Zoloft for a time, but have been off of it for nearly a year, now. Darvocet is the only really effective pain med for me, and as of this time, I just use 1/2 tab prn. (less than three times a week) The biggest help I found was eliminating the stress in my life. I work third shift, in home health care and my husband is extremely helpful and supportive of me. He does anything around the house that could bring on an exacerbation and tries to keep things on an even keel. (Hard job, since we're rebuilding after a house fire without insurance.) I'd say, the biggest help is in reducing stress, because it just feeds the pain...the muscles get tense, start to hurt, tense up more, hurt more....

Again I want to thank you. By the way, the person who first diagnosed me was an Army ARNP.

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Specializes in Oncology, ID, Hepatology, Occy Health.
Dave, Have you ever heard of a herb called arnica used in reduction of inflammation and pain in muscles? A lady I go to church with swears by it in all forms. She even has an oral form of it, but from a couple of sites I have read, it doesn't recommend oral use. What do you think? I asked her if it could be used with FM and she said it is great for FM.

Pam:confused:

Dear Pam,

Arnica is a herb widely used in Europe in a topical preparation (usually a cream) to treat bruising and swelling. I use it both personally and professionally. It makes bruises disappear much more quickly and helps reduce swelling. If you apply it copiously immediately after a bang it can make the resulting bruise virtually nothing. I have no idea of it's pharmacodynamics and don't know how it works, nor have I seen any published papers on Arnica. It is available without prescription in the UK and France. I have never heard of an oral preparation or of it's use in FMS.

Dave, thanks for a wonderful thread. I'm the partner of an FMS sufferer and have found this thread both comforting and extremely useful.

Does anybody have any experience or academic references regarding the use of melatonin in FMS?

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I have fibromyalgia. I also have thyroid disease. I am trying to get in a ADN program at our local community college. Some days I have a heck of a time just functioning. Last week my Mom had to have surgery, she is okay, but all the stress is really throwing me into a bad flare. I am having a heck of a time catching up on my studies. I am really hurting this week. I go to a pain clinic once a month, barely getting enough medication to keep the pain under control. I also see a psychiatrist monthly, he gives me effexor, I am taking 150mg twice a day, and sleeping pills called sonata. I hate to take the sleeping pills as I have to go to the restroom so much during the night. I am 40 years old, well 41 tomorrow, haha! I have always wanted to be a nurse, but had a lot of children. Five of them. Now I have only the youngest at home. So I enrolled in college and I was taking courses for a LPN program, then the school started a ADN program so I switched to it. I love going to school. It has just been very difficult this past 2 weeks. I sometimes wonder if I would even be able to physically handle a nursing job. I want to work in geriatrics, I did have a job as a CNA, but could not handle the lifting. I did however love working with the residents. As far as I can tell, the RN's did not do much physical work, so maybe that is where I will fit in.

Wishing you all a painfree night!

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This thread has been veeeery informative. My husband, Bryan, has had chronic pain, fatigue, etc. for years and has been thrown around and tested to the max. He finally went to a dr. (mine..that I had been suggesting he go see) and she figured out right away what was wrong with him. He has Fibromyalgia. We are furious that these other dr's just ignored the possiblity. I mean, it was never even suggested!! He goes for a sleep study on the 3rd of June so that they can work on treating his sleep problems as well.

My dr. has put him on Zoloft 50 mg. a day, working up to 125-150 mg. a day, percocet 5 mg, as needed, Celebrex and Flexeril, 10 mg. a day.

She took him off his Motrin 800 mg. and he says that he feels worse without it.

He is 47 years old and we have three little ones that really need him to be a daddy which is very hard for him most days because of the extreme pain he is constantly in.

Thank you for this thread. It is greatly appreciated!

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Boy have I negleted this thread! ::shames self::

Firstly, I have NEVER EVER heard of Arnica. However I will certainly look it up. Anything that will work, I'm all for it.

Secondly NY, THANKS FOR THE LINK!

I'll be checking that out ASAP!

I really well get the next section of my FMS medication list posted. Hopefully tomorrow. Before I get into narcotic pain meds, I think I should mention Tegretol, Topamax and Zyprexa.

Anyway, off to bed for the moment!

Dave, wishing everyone a pain free night!

I have suffered from fibro and CFIDS since the late 1980's, and would like to say some thing about the use of antiepileptics for treating fibro pain. Last summer I had a bout with trigeminal neuralgia and was put on Topamax for the pain. It turned out to be a miracle for me for my fibro and CFIDS pain symptoms. With so much less pain my depression,activity level, and so many other things in my life have made major improvements. My maintenance dose is 50MG HS.

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Thank you Dave to sending along the article on the history of FMS.I have suffered from this for many years.AS an RN I see lots of pain and give lots of pain meds.Some succeful and some are not.I have been out of work for 6 months with, C-Diff colitis, kidney cancer, compound fx with titanium rod insertion in left lower leg and fx of right foot.I am having an enormous increase if fibro pain especially in the abdominal area.No doubt thanks to the kidney surgery and all of this immobility.I can't wait to get to the doctor on Monday to discull Cymbala with him.The therapy I have been on for seven years has sustained me very well but I'm afraid it no longer affords me the same level of comfort.The increased fatigue and I will admit to some degree of depression is becoming hard to bear.Hopefully this new drug will help.Thanks again for the article, Jean

For those of you who know me well, you know that Fibromyalgia is one of the main reasons I went into pain management. After seeing my mother suffer with the disease for many years, I became all to aware how under treated the disease was and then began to see how under treated ALL pain was.

Hopefully this thread will allow us to expand on the history, presentation and proper treatment of the disease.

To start things off, here is a study that I found which I found to be very helpful.

Pain Ratings in Fibromyaliga...0-10 isn't enough!

Dave

A NOTE about this thread.

ABSOLUTELY NO negativity! If your goal is to come in and debate whether FMS is real disease, if these patients are in pain, the use of narcotics... Hit the road. This isn't your place. This thread is about how to HELP those with FMS. Not give them any more crud then they've already endured.

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