My mother.

Hello, my name is Jessica. My mom has fibromyalgia. She takes methadone and a muscle relaxer (I think its called baclafin? Idk how to spell it...), and Advil arthritis (I think)  for it and well, sometimes it doesn't work :| she takes 8 10mg 2 times a day of methodone and sometimes it doesn't work, and shes always hurting even after her meds kick in a little. I keep asking her if there is something else she can take and she keeps on telling me that there is nothing stronger then methadone and that's shes tried morphine and oxcycodone but neither worked. Is it true that there is nothing stronger then Methadone? Is there something else she can try? Shes tried lyrica but it made her hurt even more. Also she is addicted to Pepsi and drinks about 2 44oz cups a day :( can that be adding to her pain? Her fibromyalgia was trauma induced, when she had my youngest sister about 7 years ago. Your input will be appreciated.

The pepsi cannot be doing her any good for sure. It causes weight gain which in turn causes you to hurt more. Losing wight does not make your fibro hurt less but it does help you get around better.
Themethadne thing,. I am not sure about that. I would get her doc to try somthing different. Maybe something more often would help, something to helpo the inflamation. I dunno. I feel for her but we all do deal with it the same......I have heard of a new drug called avinzia that was suppose to be real good with fibro. Haven not tried it myself but worth looking into.,.....
sorry could not be of more help

I don't know if there is anything stronger but she may just need to switch to a different drug. Sometimes when we take the same drug all the time we build up a resistance to that particular drug but a different one at even a lower dose may work because our bodies aren't used to that one. Anytime we aren't getting some relief from our meds we need to get back in and do a re-evaluation with our doc. There have to be other things available. There are also patches that provide constant pain relief like fentenyl. Sometimes we just have to try different things. I've been on neurontin for awhile now and it's doing wonders for me altho I know others have tried it and it didn't help. That's one of the big problems with the fibro you never know for sure what's gonna work. Some docs are also very concerned with addiction issues and don't want to try some of the stronger drugs. I try to get by with as little medication as I can because I'm in my late 50's and want to make sure that I'll still have workable options if I need pain relief for other issues as I age. I think she really needs to get back with her doc or try a specialist in fibro treatment and see if they have any solutions for her. Good luck!

It is very hard with fibro to find something that works and when you do often times you do become resistant to it. I have been started on a pain med called Opana. I have the extended relief that I take every 12 hours and then I take the short acting for breakthrough pain. I was started on neurontin and it was working but it stopped my weightloss so I went off of it. The pepsi could be contributing to the symptoms. For me sugar is a trigger and will cause me to flair up. Even if she is doing sugar free the sodas are just not good. I would have her go back to her rheumatologist and tell them they need to try something different. I have pain everyday but with the Opana it is manageable. It has worked better than anything I have been tried on. I wish you the best with her and it is awesome that you are trying to help her. It is often hard for people who don't have it to understand and you seem to understand how hard it is.
Take care,
Sharon

Squirrellady,
If you do not mind me asking what dosage of Opana do you take? I am on Opana also, have been taking it now for abou 3 months. I like it so far and am thinking of asking her to up my dose. I take Opana ER 20mg 2X a day and then Opana regular 5mg as needed for breakthrough pain. I normally take 2-3 at a time depending on my pain level. She gives me 120 at a time so they last me a good long time. I have a awesome pain specialist though....she tries so hard to help me get rid of this pain. I love her to death!! I also have darvocet for when the pain is not bad bad cause the opana makes me real sleepy.
I like the opana, it seems to be one of the only ones that actually helps the pain. I have never known anyone to take methadone for the FM. Seems a little extreme, she must be in some bad bad flare ups. My doc said there is no way in hell she would prescribe methadone for FM........

wow ... she is getting better drugs for her fibro than me!!! My DRs won't give me any good stuff! So I really can't help much. I am on gabapentin (neurotin), tramadol, an anti-depressant, a muscle relaxer and I have ambien if I can't sleep and a cpap machine.

SH,
You might want to switch docs then. How long have you suffered from fibro? I have had it since I was a small child. Of course over the past 32 years it has been called many things from growing pains to arthritis to lupus to MS and they finally settled on FM. I have had so many tests, pokes prods and so forth......
I took neurotin for a year or so and it worked for a while but then stopped so they swapped me to something else. Of course I swapped docs too cause the one prescribing the neurotin would not listen to me and kept me on it even though I kept telling him it done jack **** for me. I have also tried tramadol, with no relief with it also. I take 4 crazy meds as I am bi-polar. I take celexa for the depression, serequil and rememron for the bi-polar and tryleptal for my rage issue. In other words I am one screwed up chick....LOL.....
back to subject...HAHA.....If I was you I would change docs if they will not give you some of the good stuff. You deserve relief just like the rest of us. Tell them the bottom line is you hurt and you want relief and if they will not help you you will find someone who will.......Is your doc a pain speciallist?