Fibro pain

[Tjsw1234]

Just curious what kinds of meds people are taking for fibro??? My rheumatoid dr put me on plaquenal for rhemutoid plus I have fibro I quit taking the meds cause felt like it was not doing anything!!!! Any suggestions ??!

[Hidden]

I'm now treated for under active thyroid, I never believed the Fibro diagnosis. All the fibro symptoms are just like hypothyroid symptoms but the blood tests come back in range. Look into and research thyroid problems. Try looking at tpauk.com.

[ging in reply to Hidden]

Are you taking T3? If so did it help with the pain???

[Hidden in reply to ging]

I now take Nutri Thyroid and the constant muscle aches have mostly gone. I've still got some joint pain but I am still increasing my dose. I'm not 100% but I've got more energy and any improvement has to be good.

[TheAuthor]

Hi Tjsw1234

I have quite an extensive list of medications due to several other illnesses (including arthritis, sciatic nerve damage, asthma, osteoporosis, COPD and migraines) along with my Fibro, but this is a full list of all of my medications:

Alendronic Acid Tablets –

70 mg Tablets. One to be taken weekly

Accrete D3 Tablets –

Calcium / Colecalciferol tablets. One to be taken twice daily

Lansoprazole Tablets –

30mg tablets. One to be taken daily

Prednisolone Tablets –

5 mg tablets. 10 mg to be taken daily

Ventolin Inhaler –

100 micrograms evohaler. Two inhalations to be taken as and when required

Atrevent Inhaler –

20 micrograms inhaler. Two inhalations to be taken four times a day

Symbicort Turbohaler –

200/6 inhalation powder. Four inhalations to be taken twice daily

Ranitadine Tablets –

150 mg tablets. One to be taken twice daily

Solpadol 30mg/500mg Tablets –

30/500mg tablets. Two to be taken four times a day as and when required

Metoclopramide Tablets –

10 mg tablets. One to be taken three times a day as and when required

Nortripyline Tablets –

25 mg tablets. Two to be taken at night

Sumatriptam 50mg Tablets –

One to be taken when needed. No more than 6 tablets in 24 hours

Pregabalin Tablets-

75mg tablets. One to be taken twice daily, increase fortnightly by 75mg.

Take care

Ken

[Royalspec01 in reply to TheAuthor]

Blless that's a lot of fibro to manage and your doing really great always a kind word for all of us. Happy Christmas to both you and your family.

[TheAuthor in reply to Royalspec01]

Thank you so much that is really kind of you to say. Happy Christmas and a very merry pain free new year.

Take care

Ken x

[rowantree]

If you're taking meds for rheumatoid arthritis don't stop without discussing with your GP as this'd meds will be stopping further damage to your joints! If you're taking them for fibro and they don't work - May as well stop! I have EDS and took all sorts that didn't work. I couldn't find any that worked , and allowed me to function. so I don't take anything now. Still in the same amount of pain but without the side effects!

[JNc1]

Hi Tjsw1234, I'm new here, but I tried a host of preventative measures like Sevilla and Gapabentim with a Rhumy til l switched to a pain specialist an tried using combo approach using flexeril and narcotics for relief along with eliminating most gluten, white flour, sugar and pastas along with exercise. Up until today I am trying a new way to manage pain as l have daily pain with back pain as well and so tonight I started the fentenyl patch. It's early, but it seems to be helpful. I am thrilled about the idea of switching to one pain relief solution over 4 other medications to find temporary relief.

[Starbys]

Hi tjsw1234 sorry to hear u have fibro and RA.

It's important I take the RA meds as otherwise there will be irreversible damage to your joints. If the meds are not controlling the swelling, stiffness, redness and joint pain the RA causes then u should see ur rheumatologist ASAP cos they can switch you to a different type of med if it's not working.

As for the fibro many people find tramadol works well for the pain.

Also Amitriptyline is very often prescribed - it's normal

Use is an antidepressant but in FMS IT's prescribed in a lower dose than works for depression to help with the pain fibro causes (it works on the nerves which are the source of pain in FMS).

If you suffer with depression as well often duloxetine is the antidepressant of best choice because as well as helping with depression it also helps the nerve pain (in the same way as amitriptyline helps nerve pain).

another medicine that can be very helpful for fibromyalgia pain is pregabalin.

This also works on the nerves where the main pain originates from in FMS.

Sometimes only consultants and pain clinics will prescribe this as it's a newer drug, but most GPswill prescribe another drug called gabapentin which is very similar but the old fashioned version of pregabalin. It works slightly less well than pregabalin but GPs are more happy to prescribe it as they are familiar with it.

With both pregabalin and gavapentin it takes trial and error to get the right side. For some people a lower dose will not help and so the dose will have to be increased in stages until they get an effect.

Normally simple painkillers like tramDol or codeine - if paracetamol and ibuprofen (if you can take ibuprofen as some people with certain conditions can't) are not helping the pain enough tramDol or codeine Are given - are prescribed in combination with one or several of the drugs I mentioned above.

Also gentle stretching exercises can help many people especially if heat is applied to make the muscles less stiff.

Hope this gives some answers to your question!

Hope you feel better soon and get both RA and fibro under control with the different treatments for each of them in combination (fibro is purely symptom control, but for RA the drugs are aimed at the disease to try to prevent damage to the joints which is caused if you don't take the meds that suppress your immune system to stop the body attacking the joints which is what happens in RA. Without the meds in the long term patients can end up disfigured and very disabled where the joints have been so badly damaged. It can also lead to osteoporosis. All this used to sadly happen to people in the past before the RA drugs that are now available were invented, and so will happen without the meds, so u def need to take them and if they're not working ur rheumy needs to change the med to one that does work). Controlling the FMS pain takes different drugs so u will need both if your symptoms of FMS are bad.

Take care of yourself and hope you get some meds that help you improve and manage the conditioms ASAP.

Starbys

[Ellejm]

Hiya. I'm now just on burprenorphine transtec patches prescribed 140mcg which is made up of 2x70 patches, which is a huge dose..I have issues with my spine on top of fibro so these help me in a massive way, as without I wasn't able to move....have been on these now for 6 yrs in total...

This is such a wicked illness and I so wish there was more understanding about it, it's robbed me of so much, I'm only 36....I no longer see the rhumy as was finding it more inconvenient to travel to see her than to be at home resting, I feel that I'm quite stable right now...but it took me a long time to accept that life was going to be very different & that I had to stop viewing this as 'when I'm better'..

The only way to deal with this wicked illness IMO is to rest as much as you can, and drink full fat milk as often as possible, it helps with muscle pain, as it's what rugby players drink before & after a game so they don't hurt as much the next day..