HELP!!! I need to be prepared for my next doc appointment...We're trying to find the best treatment for FM

Question

I have fibromyalgia and allready have tried numerous pain management avenues. So far, what has worked best is a strict percocet doseage, yoga, swimming, walking, hypnotism....but my doc and I haven't found a muscle relaxant that works best....used flexeril up to soma and seemingly every NSAID.....what are the strongest muscle relaxants and NSAIDs? We FINALLY found a med combo so I can sleep, but I still wake up stiff and like my body is on fire head to toe - muscle spasms in back and neck, tender points in hips and knees and thighs; some days even if I or someone else touches my skin, it hurts. Headaches and pain in face and skin are helped by the percocet - although it doesn't make me feel "high", just relief, probably like a regular person with a normal headache feels after taking excederine. Anyway, I'd like to go into my next appointment with some good suggestions for the strongest muscle relaxants and NSAIDs. PLEASE help. I'm doing everything else right to manage pain.

Answer 1

I have been on the Fentanyl Patch for 3 years. I started out at 25mcg's, then 50mcg's & now I am being weaned off 100mcg's to go on Morphine. I also take Percocet 7.5 for intermitten pain and I have Valium 10mg for #1-Stress & #2-for a muscle relaxant. I also took a muscle relaxant called Robaxin. I didn't find that helpful but you might. My Fibro mainly hurts from my knees down. It hurts to sleep (I'm on Requip), it hurts to walk and that will be a problem because I am going to visit my daughter in Germany this summer and we are going sightseeing in Germany and Italy (which requires alot of walking) and I'm afraid the Morphine and Percocet won't work together. I have been looking in my PDR under muscle relaxants and I think you have may have exhausted them all. There is another medicine called Parafon Forte DSC which is under Muscle relaxants. The PDR book says it is used for severe, painful muscle spasms. I hope I have offered you some kind of suggestions for your doctor and yourself. As far as people making comments about you being a junkie because of the Morphine-just tell them that they should be grateful that they don't suffer from a debilatering desease, (as if they really care). Good Luck to you.

Answer 2

Ok...I don't know if this is going to be of any help or not but here goes.
I am 20 and was diagnosed with FM when I was around 13, not long after a severe case of gladular fever.
My main problems were chest pain (extreme), severe fatigue, poor sleep, joint stiffness/weakness/pain and muscular pain/weakness as well as a proneness to soft tissue injury.
I tried virtually every treatment anyone suggested; I was desperate, my condition was worsening and I was becoming depressed.
I also had horrible periods. I would be incapacitated for ten days out of the month, with severe bleeding and agonising cramps. I was put on the pill to control this issue, and I take the hormone tablets tablets continuously without taking the sugar pills and this way I do not get a period.
Around this time I left home. "Home" was disfunctional to say the least...abusive and incredibly stressful.
I moved in with a caring partner and my stress levels dropped dramatically.
Now for the interesting parts....after about two months of my new life and being on the pill, there was a noticeable improvement. My symptoms began to abate. The aches were the first to go, then gradually the fatigue vanished too.
I am now incredibly fit with a very physically demanding job, whereas previously walking to the mail box was enough to exhaust me.
I am tend to get a lot of soft tissue injuries but I have reclaimed my life...I cannot begin to describe how it feels to live normally without constant fatigue and pain. It is like having a terminal illness, and waking up one day to find it cured.
If I have a stressful week or two, or humid weather, some symtoms return, but temporarily. I dont know whether it is the fact that my hormones are under control, or that I dont have such severe blood loss now or if it is the reduced stress, but it is fantastic!
I still have trouble with sleep, but I take an insomnia formular containing Valerian, passionflower, calcium, Humulus lupulus and magnesium and I actually manage to wake up feeling rested.

Just thought I would share my story! Feel free to email me if you like.

Btw...for the aches and pains I found that taking anti-inflammatories for about three days would eliminate the pain for up to a month.

Answer 3

One of the strongest muslce relaxers out there is Flexeril but for me I found that taking Skelaxin does a pretty good job at helping my fibro symptoms when I have to take the muscle relaxer.

The thing I like about it is that it does its job to help my muscles without making me sleepy the way the others will based on what I've heard from others who have tried it.

Answer 4

Ask your doctor if he has heard about using anti-Parkinsonism drugs for teating FM. Nothing to lose here.