This article was interesting and covered a lot of stuff that I haven't seen elsewhere. I was wondering if anyone else had any of the treatments and how successful they are.
http://www.arthritiscentral.com/index.php?page=overview.php& amp;topic=Fibromyalgia%20Syndrome
Very interesting article, Deanna. How does the info here compare with your diagnosis and treatment?I don't feel like they have ever done anything about it other than treat the sleep apnea. I was hoping they might try the trigger point injections at the pain specialist, but she didn't even bring it up. Everyone is saying that my FM is 16/18 or 18/18, but no one does a thing about it. Physical therapy helps until I hit a flare. No one has tried something for sleep or an antidressant. That is one reason that I am going ahead with the Psych eval to get on some kind of antidepressant in the hopes that it helps with the symptoms. The only thing anyone does want to do is give me morphine. Man, if I was into drugs, that would be cool. But I'm not. And, I can't even start that until I get a followup with my pain specialist.
So, it's been pretty much the runaround. That's why I really hoping others will post with their experiences.
Deanna I have had good results from 25mg Lyrica at night. 1/2 tablet of the sleep aid Klonopin at night and 20mg Lexapro in the am. I really don't feel the FM symptoms at this time. I do have fatigue but some of that comes with RA and it's meds.My treatments consist/have consisted of:
Anti-inflammatories - currently Relafen
Muscle relaxants - currently Skelaxin
Anti-neuropathy (nerve pain) - Lyrica (I'm up to 300 mg)
Physical therapy - therapist said we weren't getting anywhere, I still do some of the minor exercises
Exercise - therapist said only in a pool, and even that's very painful
Acupuncture - didn't help any
Chiropractic - I go every 3 weeks because that's all I have time/money for. They didn't mention this in the article, but muscle spasms can pull your spine out of alignment and vice versa.
Sleep study - showed mild apnea, but allergies and pain were bigger factors, pain's already being treated, but they added a second allergy med (I was on Zyrtec, they added Singulair, and now I'm taking Advair too)
Steroid Injection - I got one injection in my shoulder, which was the worst area, but it didn't help. I'm hoping to get injections in my SI joints but they want to see how the Enbrel is working first. I think the problem there is in the soft tissue, not the joints. The x-ray was clean.
Anti-depressants/SSRIs - tried em all, lots of side effects, only one that worked was Wellbutrin which gave me constant hives, instead I take a daily SAM-e supplement
Pain management - have taken Percocet, currently switching around between Vicodin ES, Ultracet, and Ultram ER
All that stuff, and I still hurt. A lot. I was almost glad to get the RA dx because at least they have some targeted treatments for that, not just shots in the dark.
I was diagnosed with fibro in 1991. I was put on a low dose of elavil (amitriptyline) but I very quickly had to up the dosage. I take either 100 mg or 125 mg (depending how much pain I am in) at night. About 10 years ago I went through a month-long program at my then local hospital. We were given physical therapy, occupational therapy, learned pacing ourselves, coping with pain techniques (which for the life of me I cannot remember!) etc. This program did help alot and I was able to go back to work after (had been off work for about 4 or 5 years). Until I got arthritis my fibro was under control with daily exercise and the sleep meds. No pain meds were ever prescribed and I was told I would just have to learn to live with the pain (thus the program).
My arthritis is not under control yet (started MTX and Plaquenil in October) and I'm in so much pain most days that I'm not sure what is fibro and what is the arthritis. I do plan on talking to my rheumy when I see her next week about anything new for fibro she can offer me.
I found the article very interesting, though, and will let you know what my rheumy says about it.
Thanks Deanna, very interesting article