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vickythecat

Senior member
Joined
Jan 5, 2017
Messages
366
Reason
DX FIBRO
Diagnosis
01/2013
Country
EU
State
Earth
I know this is somewhat of a stupid question. If you feel unwell, you should go to the doctor. For certain issues, some doctors tell you to have regular check-ups, so you go back every year/6 months.

But I am confused with fibro because it can cause pain at the weirdest spots. I don't know what is fibro at times, and what is not.

For example, these past few months, I have been suffering from deep pelvic pain/hip pain. It started off feeling like regular fibro pain, but now it is getting so bad that it is waking & keeping me up at night, it shoots down my legs especially when I bend down, I can now feel it all the way to my toes and despite the extra painkillers, it is not going away at all. Usually with my fibro, I'll get pain in a part of my body one day, maybe for a week, but it will fade, then maybe come back days later. But this pelvic pain feels like something else, or maybe not. I really do not know.

And I really do not feel like going to a doctor to hear that it is 'nothing' aka fibro, and to be faced with another doctor who'll think of me as a 'weakling'. Does this make sense?

So when do you tell yourself 'ok, I should see a doctor about this?'

This question was easier to answer when I was working full-time (worked for 20 years). Mostly because it would have a major effect at my work, I could not handle the added stress of pain and fatigue, so I'd go to a doctor who'd almost always tell me to rest (thus a sick note for 1-2 weeks) and refer me to PT. (Looking back these sick-notes allowed me to continue to work for so many years despite fibro and mental illness)

But now that I am a prisoner at home, thus 'resting' all the time (though believe me, this does not feel like rest at all, it is constant torture at the (dis)comfort of my home, yey!) I don't know when to reach out for help. Does that make sense?
 
When pain changes in quality, severity and length of time, it’s time to visit the doctor.
 
If its way out of the ordinary comings and goings that you recognise as your normal pattern after a while a doctors visit would help decide if its fibro or not. Your not weak for asking for them to check you out. There might be a highly treatable cause.

For me my fibro doesn't come and go in areas like that... its everywhere all the time including daily pelvic pain but i didn't have that at the outset.,..pelvic pain joined in after a few years and initially did come and go ...then like the rest of me became permanent.....but i did get checked out and was diagnosed with IC and vulvodynia.

If your worried vicky i would say you need to know either way. It maybe yours is something else or will ease off again on its own if not....i used to get long gaps of months or as long as a year with only niggles not terrible pain before it became a daily issue.

Im not an expert but could it be sciatica too?

I get confused like you since my body hurts like you describe all the time and keeps me awake at night....but i know its fibro because it all went like it suddenly head to toe after high stressful trauma and never reduced back to my old base line fibro with increases in pain that came and went.

I know you hate doctors visits so its a big deal for you to go in the first place so i hope when you do the doctor treats you well and takes your concerns seriously....pelvic pain should flag concern in their minds as i don't think this is a regular spot for that many fibro sufferers.

Look after yourself.
 
As the prisoner my self with lots of weired pains and symptoms I could hardly keep up with.

To me everythings depending on how much I can take cause seeing doctor mostly made me worsen if that even sounds right.

The person I'm living with told me about something very interesting that her friend's doctor mentioned to her about. That right now doctors are recommending their patients to mix over the counter pains killer together from the different types and taking it together at once, as the optional choices intead of prescribing narcotic or opioid drug to ease the pains. I guess it's a new things now. And her friend was in the horrific cars accident and just got out of the hospital, yet she swear by it. And by the way she looks I'm more than half believed so far.

Although at first I was disbelieve by it , thinking how can it be good or safe?
Then I remember a few very good very good over the counter pain killer medicine that's got taken away from the market ( some stupid FDA policy in worries of it becoming drug abused) . The ingredients were the same too all mixed together in higher dose. And I remembered it being better than some of my prescriptions.

I wonder if that might be able to help with with pains till you're really up for seeing doctor for sure. Here are the lists and explanation you can choose for mixing them your self.

Two basic types of analgesics are available over the counter: acetaminophen (Tylenol) and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), which include ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin), naproxen (Aleve), and aspirin. It is believed that acetaminophen works by blocking pain receptors in the brain. NSAIDs, on the other hand, block the production of prostaglandins, which trigger pain and inflammation when cells are damaged.

Meanwhile 4% lidocaine cream or gel with no alcohol mixed ( or more % if you could find) might help you by pass the pains and help you sleep for now. It's also not that expensive to find.
 
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Two basic types of analgesics are available over the counter: acetaminophen (Tylenol) and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), which include ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin), naproxen (Aleve), and aspirin. It is believed that acetaminophen works by blocking pain receptors in the brain. NSAIDs, on the other hand, block the production of prostaglandins, which trigger pain and inflammation when cells are damaged.

Meanwhile 4% lidocaine cream or gel with no alcohol mixed ( or more % if you could find) might help you by pass the pains and help you sleep for now. It's also not that expensive to find.

Thanks for the info & the tip.

I already take paracetamol (acetaminophen - why does it have a different name over here and there, no idea!), on bad days I will easily reach the maximum dosage, knowing how bad they can be, but I have no other choice. The bad days are hell.

And I can imagine many eyes rolling when I say this, but I have to watch out with NSAID's because of my duodenal ulcer. Lovely...I only take them with a stomach protector around my period (indeed to stop the prostaglandin, you have to take them before they get active and give you the cramps, but lately even they don't seem to work anymore).

I use lidocaine cream when I have pain that is painful to the touch (don't know whether that pain is officially allodynia), but it has yet to work for deeper pain. But I will keep on trying, keep on hoping. :)

In September, we had to spend hours in the ER (it had open cubicles) and noticed how people who came in for all kinds of aches felt better real quick with a dose of IV paracetamol. It was interesting to see.

Then I remembered; after my 2nd neck surgery, that night I had so much pain despite my morphine drip. The nurse told me she had something better for me, and came back with IV paracetamol. She injected it and just wow.....weirdly you feel its warmth as it enters you body, then this instant relief of pain. I felt guilty and weird admitting this to the nurse because I felt like an illegal drug addict, but the relief was so amazing that I asked her how/why, why wasn't morphine doing this much for me? She just shrugged, and said she did not know either.
 
That's interesting vicky isn't it....paracetamol more effective than morphine.

Have you tried cocodamol? Codeine and paracetamol ......sorry i cant remember.

Also if you take Tramadol i gather taking paracetamol also increases its effectiveness.....not that i am trying to suggest you medicate yourself to extremes...just exploring possibilities.

Apologies for not remembering your meds.

I don't think not being able to take NSAIDs is weird at all...i cant take the tablets either..very harsh on the stomach.

None of it is good for us....but im like you i try to keep dosages down but sometimes am so desperate for relief i get past caring too.

Anyone know how would NSAIDS work on fibro pain when we have no inflammation to take down?

If it works that's great i just wondered how or why? Or maybe just luck if it helps some fibro folk.

I thought i would give the ibrupofen gel a try a while ago on my knees and shoulder blades...it does wonders for my partners shoulder and neck pain......i didn't even notice i had put it on!
 
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Actually Vicky , that's nothing to roll eyes over at all.

I can't take too much of NSAIDs either I even used to avoided it like a plaque ( plus my bad history with stomach ulcer) . But oddly after careful consideration and a little more dared on my part , I added the lower mix of NSAIDs ( below 300) with larger dose of acetaminophen ( above 800 ) somehow it have less IBS effects on me than just NSAIDs alone . Maybe it canceling each other out maybe, who knows. In your case I won't recommeding you goes against your feeling on it cause worries are deadly for fibro.

When it comes to IBS to me it's a mysteries. Kinda same problem with my plain water, as soon as I added honey or tea that same problem went away like it never existed. Morphine for my family has always been a nono , my body rejected it to no end. I've also tried codeine phosphate and for some unknown reason I hardly notice any change beside the fog. It's very weird indeed. I think the idea of mixing drugs are crazy but lots of doctor starting to recommeded more and more . Like on my horrible migraine day I take over the counter maximum severe sinus/headache pills mix with migraine type magnesium pills it help a whole lot and lesser my pains. I thought I was the only one then when I did research online I wasn't. I think I might try tumeric mix with my mix dose of pains meds with extra baking soda . Going down the witchy road. I feels like I'm cooking illegal drugs sometime eventhough it's not.

I often applied lidocaine like 5 times before the effects kick in.

Maybe if you look it up online for people with the similar reaction toward drugs as you you might find the perfect explanation for your and possibly some new idea too.

XOXO my dear Vicky
 
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That's interesting vicky isn't it....paracetamol more effective than morphine.

Have you tried cocodamol? Codeine and paracetamol ......sorry i cant remember.

Also if you take Tramadol i gather taking paracetamol also increases its effectiveness.....not that i am trying to suggest you medicate yourself to extremes...just exploring possibilities.

Apologies for not remembering your meds.

I don't think not being able to take NSAIDs is weird at all...i cant take the tablets either..very harsh on the stomach.

None of it is good for us....but im like you i try to keep dosages down but sometimes am so desperate for relief i get past caring too.

Anyone know how would NSAIDS work on fibro pain when we have no inflammation to take down?

If it works that's great i just wondered how or why? Or maybe just luck if it helps some fibro folk.

I thought i would give the ibrupofen gel a try a while ago on my knees and shoulder blades...it does wonders for my partners shoulder and neck pain......i didn't even notice i had put it on!

I could never claim paracetamol works better than morphine at all, though - it just worked better for me then. It probably has to do with the type of injury/pain.

After that surgery, I was given paracetamol+codeine again, and to be honest, it did not do much with me. I had to go back to tramadol. And I take tramadol with paracetamol on most days - they seem to be best friends :)

Like in your case, the pill version of NSAID is not as effective for me either. I used to get injections of it, togeher with a muscle relaxant for my tendinitis/bursitis pain. It took away that deep burning ache away a bit. I have done the injections myself, and also have a back-up at home, but again I am scared with my ulcer, so try to stay away from NSAID's as much as possible.
 
Oh i see yep i forgot your tendinitis /bursitis....oh my its so confusing isn't it...what is what??

Like we need an annual physical check up to decide what is fibro and what might have crept in and be something else.
 
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Oh i see yep i forgot your tendinitis /bursitis....oh my its so confusing isn't it...what is what??

Like we need an annual physical check up to decide what is fibro and what might have crept in and be something else.

My body and its many lovely aspects :)

Hence the eyes rolling thing - I really do not want to be like this, but every single thing has a backstory that goes against the cure for another thing, but then that symptom can be that, but it could also be that because I have this and that and this....and I hate listing what I have, hate it, but it is what it is. This one complex story - believe me, it makes MY eyes roll! :)

The tendinitis/bursitis was confirmed after my first failed neck surgery. The surgeon could not explain the stabbing/burning pain in my shoulders with the failed surgery, so he requested an MRI scan of my shoulder - boom, the cause of pain was very visible to see. In fact, it was so severe that the radiologist called me right away to give me the bad news.

Then 6 months later, after my second failed surgery (lovely I know), I was getting PT treatment for fibro and my neck, I asked the doctor about my bursitis/tendinitis, if there was there something else we could try, she said 'no, it is a part of fibro, you have to learn to live with it'. Sorry, but that can't be completely right, can it? Shove it all under the lovely carpet of fibro....

It is one colorful mighty carpet - only if it could also fly, we could fly on it like Aladdin!
 
I have some similar issues ...i get confused too. No eyes rolling here...lol only from my doctor if i dare mention my own personal list that doesn't fit the standard fibro pain.

I think her favourite way of wording it is...... yes you seem to just have all over sensitivity! Move on!!!
 
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