Injuries not getting better

[Badger]

Hi DebMarPir,

I have exactly that too, in my neck, my elbows, and my knees - can feel just like tendonitis when a flare gets going, although not always the same. Sometimes, it's more like blinding white flashes of pain if I move, and my neck locks up. Sucks! I know that I had whiplash in my neck, my knees gave me trouble when I used to run a lot, and my elbows took a pasting through years of weight training. None of the damage is bad enough to show up on a scan, but I suspect that minor damage - the kind that wouldn't be an issue for others - can be a demon for those with fibromyalgia in a flare. It's interesting, too, that different flares can ramp up different clusters/types of pain. They can certainly last for very different durations, too. I'd say that's pretty "normal" for fibro, as far as anything can be

Whiplash is awful for chronic pain, seems there's no respite when it's your neck or back that gets injured. I hurt my neck in a fall about 12 years ago. It left me with chronic feeling of tension headache, sensitive scalp, regular migraines, sore and stiff neck. It's been one of the worst injuries and I've lost a lot of muscle as a result. I try to have confidence in moving and lifting but the neck and head pain is very sensitive.

Lately my inner right knee has been very painful and is having a knock on effect on my hamstring. It's difficult to walk normally with this jarring knee pain and worrying how to manage. Since injuring both hamstrings a few years ago I've not been able to stand up for long. Fibro can leave us with some strange sensations, the back of my right leg down to the foot can feel like a nerve has been pinched.

 

[longtimer]

Hi everyone - this is an ongoing issue for me, especially now with the change in temperature, and I'm also trying to go off Cymbalta. I was completely out of action yesterday with the pain of old injuries including the ones I wrote about above. My doctor doesn't think I should go off the Cymbalta, but it is an awful drug and has some very bad side effects (I've been on it more than 10 years) but it is brutal coming off it. All the pain echoes back with even just a 3 bead reduction - like my brain is punishing me for trying to get off this powerful drug. I know that the pain center in the brain is next to the depression center (non scientific) and that one can go hand in hand with the other. I just hate being a slave to this drug - gotta get through the pain to be free. Ugh.

 

[Jemima]

Hi everyone - this is an ongoing issue for me, especially now with the change in temperature, and I'm also trying to go off Cymbalta. I was completely out of action yesterday with the pain of old injuries including the ones I wrote about above. My doctor doesn't think I should go off the Cymbalta, but it is an awful drug and has some very bad side effects (I've been on it more than 10 years) but it is brutal coming off it. All the pain echoes back with even just a 3 bead reduction - like my brain is punishing me for trying to get off this powerful drug. I know that the pain center in the brain is next to the depression center (non scientific) and that one can go hand in hand with the other. I just hate being a slave to this drug - gotta get through the pain to be free. Ugh.

Sending strength to you, longtimer. Coming off that drug kicked my ass, and I hadn't been on it for very long. It's great that you're staying self-aware and know that what you're feeling is withdrawal related - but that doesn't side-step the fact that you have to live through it Best of luck to you.

 

[longtimer]

Thank you - it really helps to know other people who've been through this too

 

[Auriel]

 

[sunkacola]

Longtimer, I am seriously rooting for you as well. It's possibly one of the hardest things you will ever do, but stick with it. We will all be cheering you along!

 

[Auriel]

Longtimer what is the cymbalta side effects doing to you? (If you don’t mind me asking) I take gabbapentin and last week I took 3 and it knocked me out for 11 hours solid! ( but I’d not slept much the night before so that might have contributed) I woke up it was pitch black outside, I didn’t know if it was early hours or night! That was weird ?

 

[Jemima]

On cymbalta I was fine for the first couple of months, but then started to have heart palpitations, nausea, insane fatigue, dizziness and vertigo. Coming off it, I had tremmors, headaches, hot flashes, sweats, tingling skin, and panic attacks - but the nausea and palpitations faded. Happily, not the dreaded "brain zaps" that the drug is renowned for! I was only on it for a little under half a year and tapered by reducing the pearls in the capsules too over a few weeks. I think it took me around 6 weeks to feel back to "normal" (as normal as us lot can anyway ) but I understand that the longer you take it, the worse the ride.

@longtimer , you mentioned in a previous post that you've been trying to come of cymbalta due to side effects for quite a while, and that was back in January. How are you getting on? I feel so much for you in this - a damned if you do and damned if you don't scenario. I wish you all the strength you need to push through this and come out better off on the other side. Have you got the support of an understanding doctor? Perhaps they could suggest a temporary medication to help alleviate the withdrawal? Thinking of you

 

[Badger]

I've been in two minds about reducing Pregabalin, it calms down severe burning pain on the back of my forearms and hands but makes brain fog worse. It's like living with a blind spot, concentration and memory are poor. Speaking is clumsy, often forgetting words and it's frustrating being understood. The hope is a lower dose would be not as bad while still helping with the pain. It's the only pain my medication seems to help, I take amitriptyline for the sake of sleep.

Hesitated speaking to the surgery about it because of their off putting bedside manner.
It's doubtful they would see me at the moment during Covid, perhaps unless by phone with a GP. Unfortunately my right knee is still quite painful after several weeks and is making chronic hamstring pain worse. Debating whether or not to ask GP if a physio could take a look.

 

[DebMarPir]

I had also read that neck pain was common. I have some minor arthritis there and have had some PT on and off over the years there, too, unfortunately. Some of the facet joints freeze up and others overcompensate so the head is not turning as easily as it should. Oh my, it has ached for about four days now... heat and my meds help if I can take the time to rest and lie down.

 

[Auriel]

Debmarpir yes that’s really good that you’ve found something that helps, anything that helps these things feels more like a small miracle than anything! I have a bit of osteo too, like we need an extra with this like go away fibro stop crashing my life party x