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Pain medication for fibromyalgia?
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Fibromyalgia is a prevalent condition that affects many people in the United States. Approximately 3.7 million Americans have Fibromyalgia. That is 1 in every 73 people.
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Hello, The pain of
Hello,
The pain of fibromyalgia can be difficult to cope with on a daily basis. There are many different medications which are used to address pain in fibromyalgia. Lyrica is a medication sometimes used in fibromyalgia. It acts by blocking nerve pain signals at the chemical level. Cymbalta and Savella are two drugs which have been approved for use in fibromyalgia patients. They are classed as antidepressants but are used to treat pain.
The above drugs are approved drugs to treat fibromyalgia pain. Of course, there are others. Antiinflammatories may help with muscular pain. Narcotics are sometimes prescribed for severe pain. Of course, long term use of narcotics may lead to dependency, so these drugs are prescribed cautiously for short term use.Muscle relaxants, such as Valium, Flexeril and Klonipin are also used to treat fibromyalgia pain.
There are many options to treat your pain. It may be helpful to obtain a referral to a pain specialist, whose job it is to know about all the latest treatments, including alternative treatments.
Under the main menu, you will find a section on the medications mentioned above. Feel free to look through the site for more information.
Good luck,
Jennifer Bunn, RN
I had a bad experiece with
I had a bad experiece with cymbalta, Lyrica made me gain weight and I can't take savella due to cardiac problems. I also have Lupus and my Dr. just kind of blows off my fibro. I am in constant pain. And can't sleep much ,maybe 2 or 3 hours at a time. Any sugestions?
Hello, Sounds as though you
Hello,
Sounds as though you have had a bad time of it, having been diagnosed with both Lupus and fibromyalgia. Your doctor may be focusing on your Lupus, as it can be very serious (as you probably well know).
Can you ask your doctor to refer you to a pain specialist? Doctors who specialize in treating pain often have a number of tricks up their sleeve, and often use therapies in combination. Treatment is geared towards your pain specifically, dependent on your situation. If your doctor is not adequately addressing your fibro, it may be because he/she feels inadequate in addressing your pain. Seeing a pain doc effectively lets your doctor "off the hook" regarding your pain, and they may be more willing to follow a specialist's recommendations.
Sounds as though sleep is also an issue, and a pain doc should be able to help with this problem as well.
Hope this helps.
Jennifer Bunn, RN
Jennifer, I have been in
Jennifer, I have been in horrible pain now for over a week. My Dr. prescribesomly 23 days of my pain meds. He says we can't take a hammer and pound the pain out. I wonder how he would feel if he had to go through this?I can be sound asleep and the pain will shoot me out of bed. Have you talk with other people about un caring DR.s?
I'm sorry you are feeling so
I'm sorry you are feeling so poorly. It definitely makes things worse when you feel as if your doctor does not support you. As you well know, doctors get frustrated sometimes with conditions they cannot "fix". They also worry about their patients getting addicted. As the government in the US keeps a close watch on Dr's prescribing habits, I can understand why they are sometimes reluctant to prescribe them.
However, that doesn't mean you should be left to suffer. Have you seen a pain doc? As I mentioned in my previous post, they have a lot of different ways of treating pain, and pain is their specialty. Might be worth a try.
If you truly feel like you and your doctor are not on the same page, you may need to consider finding a doctor who is. Given your health problems, you deserve someone who understands and cares and is willing to treat your fibro as aggressively as he/she might treat a bad lupus flare.
Hoping you feel better soon,
Jennifer Bunn, RN