Recent Posts
Thanks for the encouraging words. I have been studiously NOT talking to the boss, except to say I had been recently diagnosed and I would let her know if I am having any issues. I then proceed to work extra hours to get the job done.
It's draining to say the least. I'm thinking I might ask to try 150mg morning and noon with 300 at night then maybe I won't be so sleepy in the day and sleep better at night..
I am going to have to get something else for sleeping. At first the Lyrica was doing well, but now - meh - not so much.
As the fibro turns will return after this brief work time.
Candy
I totally empathize. I looked back at when that was posted and found that, even though I had spoken with my boss and explained I was having an issue - which she told me she understood and was glad I was working out with the dr., she called in HR for a 'discussion'. I've been on FMLA since three days after I posted for advice.
They're still trying to hone in on what I will need to take daily. In addition to the fibro, I'm dealing with some weight regain, anxiety, depression, pain from foot surgery. It seems the list goes on and on. Suffice it to say that I hope to return to work this month, but we shall see what happens.
Hang in there Candy. It's so frustrating but if you keep working on it, it can get better. There are many, many meds to be tried and they just need to find the correct ones with the right doses.
Good luck
hugs
dorthe

AGING IS INEVITABLE
GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL!

That is the dilemma I find myself in now. I can barely concentrate, when a question is asked, it's like climbing out of of a volcano to figure out what they just said.
I was the one that everyone came to if they wanted to know what went on 6 months ago. Now I can't remember 6 minutes ago.
I'm sure I'm still getting used to the meds, but I hate this and fear that I will become the problem, not the solution.
Candy
I'm having the same. I'm newly diagnosed and the doc says to make sure I let her know if what I am taking isn't helping. I've been taking it since late January. It helps most of the time.
My hands also hurt, I can't open a diet tea bottle. I have to have help from my husband or the folks at work.
I'm taking 60 mg Cymbalta, but I really think it is the lyrica 300mg that made the difference in the pain level. Of course, it also caused me to gain 10 pounds since January.
Weather changes seems to make mine worse. Today it is raining and I'm eyeing my purse thinking about taking a vicodin. It's hard to walk without pain and the bones on my face are killing me.
The doc told me Effexor or Cymbalta. Lyrica or Sevella.
Good luck.
Candy
They do hit faster, meaning that by about 30 minutes after I take them I am ready to go to bed at night and want a nap in the morning.
Candy
I had a lot of tests for the last 12 years. A lot. They kept looking for a tumor because in addition to the pain, I was severley anemic.
No tumors in the brain, I have small tumors on my optic nerves, some small tumors on my thyroid. My GI and berium enema turned up nothing. The hips and shoulders screamed with pain. Doc put me on Effexor and Vicodin after my sister died from cancer.
But they couldn't find any tumors on me.
The pain went away for a while, then I decided I could deal with life after my sister and went off the Effexor. Within a year I was screaming with pain. Not just in hips and shoulders anymore, but like a razor across the muscles in my upper arms. Across my buttocks like a razor.
Fire in my upper feet. Fire shooting up my calves to my knees.
I wanted to literally die. I finally went to the doc and am back on tons of pills. Because I am malabsortive, I am low in Vit D, low in protein, the thyroid has changed from hypo to hyper. My eyes hurt like heck, I can't find a comfortable way to work. I have changed my desk around twice in the last two days trying to find a way to work that doesn't hurt.
The doc said that fibro is more a lack of finding the answer in any tests. There are pain points, the doc pressed on them and I thought I would go through the roof.
She gave me samples of Cymbalta and Lyrica to get me started. She gave me B12 shots. She told me to go on protein shakes 3 times a day in addition to eating more protein at each meal.
It's going to be a very different retirement that I envisioned. I empathize with anyone who is trying to work while struggling with this disease. It is exhausting.
Candy
I'm so sorry. I don't know a doc in Charleston. I feel so lucky in my doctor. She treats pain. She knows about bypass patients and that we don't absorb as well as other.
Keep looking. We may be hard cases, but we are not impossible.
We know what pain is, when I was super morbidly obese and now.
Candy
I wasn't diagnosed until after my surgery, but the doc thinks I had it long before.
Wow January was a rough month. I finally had to go to the doc to see what was wrong end of January when I cried just to get out of bed in the morning.
I am now on:
Cymbalta 60 mg 2x a day
Lyrica 300mg 2 x a day
Vicodin 5/100 as needed - yesterday it was every 6 hours.
My right leg and foot aren't helped with this. Nor is my left shoulder down to my boobage. The first time I had the pain right above my left breast, I thought I was having a heart attack. The pain was so intense for 2 whole days even with Vicodin.
I'm getting very depressed with the way I'm feeling on the meds, but I know I will be in bad pain if I go off of them.
I am seeing that others take a lower dose of Lyrica more times a day. Perhaps I will suggest that. Less at a time in the daytime and stay on the 300 at night.
I'm sure glad I found this forum. I'm going crazy with no one to talk to on this new stranger in my life.
Candy
I have the same restless legs. I was afraid it was a side effect from the Lyrica or Cymbalta. Glad to hear it apparently isn't.
The pain meds make me sleepier than normal. I just want to quit/retire from my job and stay in bed.
Hello all. I just found this forum. I was diagnosed with fibro in January after years and years and years of pain and tests and vicodin.
The doc has put me on 300mg of Lyrica twice a day and 60 mg of Cymbalta twice a day.
I can't remember anything anymore. I'm so much more tentative in my conversations with people and I've gained 12 pounds. I hate it. I feel like I am full of fluids in my joints and around my heart.
I'm so sleepy all the time. I sleep 10 to 12 hours a night and want a nap by the time I get to work.
How does everyone deal with the fatigue? Does anything help?
If I don't stop gaining weight, I'll have to go off the meds and take my chances with the pain.
Thanks
Candy