How are you dealing with fibromyalgia?

Question

Chronic pain and sleep deprivation sure, but how are you dealing with the mental and emotional aspects?

Answer 1

Emotionally, the single best thing I've done is to systematically reduce the stressors in my life that I can control, so that I can better deal with those that I can't. For instance, I've cut off personal contact with people who aren't supportive. I use my limited energy to associate with positive people, which has meant greatly limiting contact with my family of origin. Anyone who says they "don't believe in fibromyalgia" doesn't belong in your life, because they will cause you to suffer more from the stress they cause.

The feelings of isolation can be difficult, but there are some excellent support groups online and offline that can help. I link to some of the best sites I've found at http://fibrantliving.com , the site for my fibro blog and podcast.

Fortunately, my life partner and my daughter (who also has FMS) are marvelous. The friends who are still with me are very understanding about the need for flexible plans and contingency arrangements. For instance, they know that we prefer to socialize at our place, because that way if I run out of energy I can retreat to our bedroom without ruining whatever's going on for my partner and the others.

Mentally, it's incredibly upsetting to know that I'm just flat stupid in many ways, compared to what "normal" used to be for me. I use all kinds of reminders - written lists, pop-ups on my computer, a PDA, text messages sent to my cell phone, you name it! I'm finishing up my bachelor's degree, so I try to be very careful in shepherding my energy in order to lessen the fibro fog so that I *can* handle my classes. (It's working fairly well at the moment, although I had to drop all of my classes last year after catching pneumonia - that led to a HUGE flare.)

Best of luck as you make this big adjustment in your life!

Namaste,
Cyn

Answer 2

I do not have this but I do know that the first thing you need to do is get rid of the toxic cleaning products and laundry items etc as those can really make your symptoms worse. Once you have switched to all natural products be sure you are taking a good multivitamin and antixoidant supplement as well as good grape seed extract product. All of these will really help with your Fibromyalgia. You might also want to try a good glucosamine product to see if that helps with your pains at all.

Answer 3

Topamax. It helps pain and moods. I also avoid temperature extremes, I find if you keep the temperature in the house even , not too hot, not too cold, then I'm ok. I never take a hot bath, hot sauna or get cold. Heat is my enemy and so is cold. I used to be on morphine the pain was so bad, but now I don't even take a tynenol. I heard a lot of people get pain relief with Ultram. You might want to try that first.

http://www.askapatient.com/viewrating.asp?drug=20281&name=ULTRAM

Answer 4

Cymbalta is the only thing that works for me: http://www.inhousepharmacy.com/anti-depressants/generic_cymbalta.html
It takes some getting used to, at least 2 weeks.