I was diagnosed last July

[CraftyPerson]

I’ve had fibromyalgia for about four to five years, but didn’t get diagnosed until last year. It started about four years ago. Weather here was bad that winter and I started getting shocks, body was electrocuting itself. But it wasn’t constant or chronic like it is now. My physician assistant thought it was anxiety and tried me on amatriptyline which made me feel as if I was drunk after taking it, so I called after taking it for about 3-5 days and told them I didn’t think I could tolerate it, so they tried me on a seizure med which made me sick and quit it. Later my rheumatologist tried Cymbalta and it made me sick plus grogginess all day, she said try it at night, but I wouldn’t and now my new regular Dr has tried me on nortriptyline and it’s making me feel as if I’m drunk and I just took one pill 10mg last night before bedtime a little after 1:30am and I’ve been feeling this way all day. Is there anything else besides these antidepressants I could take for this fibromyalgia chronic pain and headaches? I get migraines, and have off and on since I was 18, but not that often. Sometimes once a month, sometimes not, and sometimes more than 2 a month. Those were in the past, but now I just seem to have a slight headache that goes away for a few days and comes back and goes away again, on its own no medication or peppermint oil. Peppermint oil does help with migraines, you just rub it on temples, forehead and behind ears. Sorry for such a long post.

 

[sunkacola]

Is there anything else besides these antidepressants I could take for this fibromyalgia chronic pain and headaches?

First, your post was not too long, and no need to apologize. Welcome to the forum.

And, in reply to your question above, YES there are dozens of things you can do to help yourself and alleviate some or even most of the pain you have, and drugs are not the only, or even the best approach to take. Drugs might mask the symptoms but they will never address the real problem. Fibromyalgia is systemic, and you need to approach it in a whole body/mind manner, rather than relying on drugs to do the job.

I am not saying drugs are all bad or that a person in over so much pain shouldn't take a medication if it helps. But I am saying that there are so many things that you can do to help yourself and the best thing to do is start finding out what things work for you and doing them regularly so that you give yourself a chance of reducing the severity and duration and frequency of the pain and make the drugs only something you need on occasion.

You can do this. I know because I have done it, and so have many other people. But no one can tell you what to do or sell you something that will work - you have to find out for yourself. The good news is I have written a lengthy post that outlines all of the things that could help, along with encouragement and advice on how to go about doing the experimenting you need to do to find out what works for you. I highly recommend you read it, start trying things, and keep coming here for support, encouragement, and to get your questions answered.

there are lots and lots of drugs that people and doctors may suggest you take. But experimenting with non-medication ways to help yourself is a lot less likely to cause you to feel drunk or sick, and far less likely to harm you than drugs.

Here's the post:

My advice for managing fibromyalgia (especially for newcomers)

I am not a doctor or anything, just a person who has lived with fibromyalgia for several years now and has done a lot of research and trial and error experimentation. What follows is just basics. There are a lot of variations. You will find your own versions of everything I say, as this is not a...

www.fibromyalgiaforums.org

 

[CraftyPerson]

Thank you for writing that, that probably took awhile. I am going to try this and see if it helps me feel better

 

[JayCS]

Hi Crafty & welcome from me also!
Whether your docs knew it or not, the meds you've tried are standard ones for FM: amitriptyline ('Elavil'), then the seizure medication was probably gabapentin ('Neurontin') or pregabalin ('Lyrica'), duloxetine ('Cymbalta') and now nortriptyline ('Pamelor'). There are a more you could theoretically try, but it doesn't seem as if meds are going to help you at all. As I similarly didn't tolerate any meds, my take on it would also be to follow the advice summarized by sunkacola. Treatment types apart from meds that help us fibromites a bit are identifying and preventing triggers (using a symptom diary), alleviating symptoms with physical therapy (>30 types, expert or self-applied), mental therapy (relaxation (>5), mindfulness, therapy) and >30 supps/herbs, for some diet (>20 types, boiling down to 3-4 types), for some essential oils (>5 types).

 

[LolaMerle]

Hi CraftyPerson: I just joined recently (and was recently diagnosed with fibro) and I hope you search the forums and read about what others have experienced; it’s been really helpful for me. One thing I wanted to say was that, like so many other people have experienced with fibromyalgia, it seemed like your doctors were just giving you one medication after another instead of trying to diagnose why you had the “shocks” and pain. I take Cymbalta but it was prescribed because of have peripheral neuropathy and it has helped with that. I took my doctor’s advice to take it at night because it did make me groggy in the daytime, and it actually helps me sleep better at night. The same for Lyrica, which was prescribed for nerve pain and fibromyalgia. But I’m finding that the drugs aren’t magically making fibro go away. They help, but now that I know I have fibromyalgia, I’m learning from members here (mostly sunkacola and JayCS, bless their hearts!) that I need to learn to MANAGE it instead of it managing me. Sunkacola’s “advice for managing fibromyalgia” is very, very helpful!

 

[DrPepper]

Hi, I too suffer from migraines and fibromyalgia. I use CBD oil for my pain, it doesn't get rid off it but I find it more manageable.

 

[CraftyPerson]

Thank you everyone for your post. I’m going to try to not get so stressed, eat a little better and exercise some. Going to be going to physical therapy as well. I read online a while back that loosing weight can help manage the pain, so I’m going to try to suffer through it to see if it helps. Plus, several years ago I did loose it though I didn’t have fibromyalgia then, it did help my arthritis calm down a little. So, I’m going to try that and drink less caffeine.

 

[JayCS]

I read online a while back that loosing weight can help manage the pain

There's many reasons for it even reducing the pain, not just managing it (altho it's true some of the articles about it say 'manage':
The less we are carrying around with us, the less we are overdoing every single activity, every moment movement even, so less pain/ache.
So also that less pain can allow us more activity, which decreases future pain/ache and renewed weight gain.
The weight puts pressure on our joints, so less weight means less joint pain in arthritis etc.
This pressure is up to 5x as much as the added weight and every bit we lose reduces that by 5x too, so every bit counts.
That also applies to the seeming joint pains caused by overtaxed muscles & tendons in fibro.
Also the spine/back pains most of us have.
The weight puts a little bit of stress on our bodies and minds, which is then relieved.
The more our body weight is in balance, the more our body is in balance.

This is one of many reasons I prefer/need to keep off of meds, keep/increase a healthy diet and keep gently moving (stretching if nothing else).

So good on ya for having a go at it!

 

[sunkacola]

Thank you everyone for your post. I’m going to try to not get so stressed, eat a little better and exercise some. Going to be going to physical therapy as well. I read online a while back that loosing weight can help manage the pain, so I’m going to try to suffer through it to see if it helps. Plus, several years ago I did loose it though I didn’t have fibromyalgia then, it did help my arthritis calm down a little. So, I’m going to try that and drink less caffeine.

Good for you!
Wherever you can start to eat better and cut down on harmful things (for us) like caffeine and sugar, is great. Remember that even a little bit can help. If you really want the best benefits, you will need to keep it up and to work yourself into a habit of only drinking one cup of caffeinated beverage a day, eating sugar only once or twice a week at most, exercising to the best of your ability every day, and eating a healthy diet with all the appropriate fruits and veges and so on. You will find so much benefit from this! Not only will you lose weight, which will help with your pain, but you also will feel a lot better. Eating unhealthy things feels good in the moment sometimes, but that moment passes and is gone. Eating a truly healthy diet will make you feel better all of the time.

I once went off ALL sugar for over a year. I read ingredients and did not eat anything, not even a condiment, if it had manufactured sugar in it in any form. After only a few months, I stopped wanting anything sweeter than a banana. Everything that was naturally sweet, like a ripe red pepper, tasted exquisitely sweet to me. Even though I did start eating sugar again eventually, ever since then (many years ago) I have a sensitivity to sweet things that makes me avoid a great deal of foods that have a lot of sugar in them because I can't stand that much sweetness.

Not saying you have to do that. But if you can cut down seriously on sugar and fatty foods and keep it that way for a while you will find that you do not crave them any more. And then you are truly on your way to better health and much better management of your FM pain. We are all here to support you and encourage you, so take advantage of that and let us help in any way we can.