Hi everyone, it is good to be able to talk with people who are in the same boat as myself, although I would much rather not be in it lol. My frustration lies with my doctors views on Fibro. I have been on Fentanyl for 15 years for osteoarthritis in my spine. I was diagnosed with Fibro some 8 years ago on top of Osteoarthritis. Some docs say I should not be in pain with the amount of Fentanyl I am on but it does nothing at all for fibro. I was prescribed Fluoxetine which began to work after 4 weeks but then I started suffering terrible panic attacks so I stopped taking them and it took 5 weeks to get out of my system. The I was put on Neproxin but this flared up my stomache even with omaprezole! Ametryptiline did nothing for me apart from make me sweat profusely day and night. Currently I am on no medication for Fibro just Fentanyl for Osteo. I would appreciate your input as to which drugs give you relief without many side effects
Frustrated: Hi everyone, it is good to... - Fibromyalgia Acti...
Frustrated
Hi, I can give you a couple of suggestions for medications to try, but everyone reacts differently to medication so I don't know if they are good suggestions or not. The first group is Pregabalin or Gabapentin and the other group is anti depressants like Duloxetine and Mirtazipine.
I believe that both Pregabalin and Duloxetine are approved medications in the USA for treating Fibromyalgia. Pregabalin has some nasty side effects to start off with, but if you can tolerate them for long enough, you may find that the benefits outweigh the side effects,
Hi there
It's a tough question. Because we are all so different, we all react differently to meds.
From personal experience if you found Fluoxetine a problem I definitely wouldn't suggest Duloxetine. I had dreadful side effects from both of these meds.
I am not happy to suggest meds as I don't personally feel happy doing so.
Your GP should know what to prescribe for you.
Make an appointment to review your meds with your GP and ask for a referral to a Pain Clinic.
Wishing you less pain and more peace
Lu x
Admin
Thankyou
Hi Nodrugswork56
I am so genuinely sorry to read this and I sincerely hope that you can find some resolution to this issue. I personally take Pregabalin and Nortriptyline for my Fibro but i can only go on what I have tried and they have helped me somewhat. I want to sincerely wish you all the best of luck.
All my hopes and dreams for you
Ken
hi tbere, it is generally now belived that the opiate meds dont really help fibro. i am similar as in i have fentyl 50 for my spine. the other problem with opiates is our body can acclimatise to them and sometimes a change can help. the issue then is that it takes a few days to cope with the swap and you can feel unwell. You should be put onto a slighly lower dose of the new drug, then it slowly increased until a manageable level. just be careful, they may drop the dose too much if they dont know much about opiates and chronic pain.
duloxitane, if you can manage it can be exellent for fibro it alters the way the brain thinks about pain. check with your GP if it is similalr to fluoxitine, but fluoxitine,or prozac, did get very bad press for causing people to feel suicidal. Amytriptilline needs to be at least 30 mg before it is more effective for fibro.
as also suggested pregabalin or gabapentin work on nerve pain so could also help with the back pain but again may have side effects so it depends on how functionable you want to be.
without my meds i would be bedbound as they will not operate on my back until only the last resort. I am too young for that lol.
As someone else said it is all individul, already there is primary, secondary and juvenile fibro and i strongly believe in years to come there will be further subdivisions. Thus why we are alll so different but with a tbread of commonality 
Thankyou
I've only been diagnosed a few months but I seem to be coping ok.I've been put on escitalopram and within weeks I was able to sleep again....hadn't slept in years.The pain started to calm right down....bad days I need tramodol nothing else deals with it.My ibs symptoms also seem less.Its all very individual and I think trial and error.I'm also told these meds might not always work and I Mmm ay need to change .Good luck.
Thankyou
Hi sorry your having such a tough time. It is trial and error finding what works for you. I take duloxetine and use lidocaine medicated plasters and the combination works for me. I also have a friend who is currently taking part in a study using lidocaine infusions and she's having a great response. Research is always going on and hopefully more effective treatment for all will be found.
Take care of yourself
Pam
Thanks Pam, I haven't heard of Lidocaine?
It's an anaesthetic, there will probably a list of side effects online but personally I have found it really helps me to manage the pain most of the time. Hope the info helps.
Amitryptyline has to be at a high dose before it acts as an antidepressant.
I've been on the forum for 4 years and the number of members that have had awful side effects with Duloxetine is very high xx
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Amitriptyline for Fibromyalgia
