Just wanted people's advice on what else to try.
I am currently on tramadol and paracetamol - Find it just takes the edge off the pain. Just started duloxetine, just feeling sick with it atm. Tried amitriptiline and nortriptiline in the past, neither worked. Also on lopermide and meberviline for IBS. Also tried physio, didn't help. Rhemuo has suggested acupunture.
Also - What vitamins or herbal tablets do people take? I used to take ginkgo biloba but no regularly and no idea if it would help..
Hi and sorry to haer you are struggling with medication but please see your gp before stopping anything and susing different things wih thwmeds you are on in case there is a reaction to them, i am not a doctor but i am on 8 to 10 co codamol a day 3 amitriptilyne at night 40mg citralopram and i also have iron tablets (was anemic before fibro off and on) and i have 20mg transdermal morphine patch that releases 20mg every hour into your body, and to be honest i still have all the pain so i am not sure if it would be twice as bad without meds or keep the same. I have had all the tablets you stated above but for one reason or another they did not suit me or work at all . I do hope you can get your medication in order but if you read alot of the blogs on here everyone is on different combinations and they still in pain !!!!? I went to physio and they told me it was a waste of time physio is for people who have had an accident/trauma to their body part and physio will work to build that part up and get the strenghth back but with fibro that is not going to happen so it would be s wsste of time(that was my physio advice so you have to see what yours say)i was also offered accupuncture but when the lady knew that i had fibro she again said she did not think i would get much out of it but saying that i believe if you put accupuncture in the top searvh on archives there are some blogs about it and am pretty sure some people got some sort of relief from it, it is all trial and error and althiugh we all have the same thing we all react differently to different methods of treatment and meds so please always make sure you chek with a proffesssional before you change or do anthing as that is the safest way to be and they know your past medical history and all the meds you are on for perhaps other things. oh well sorry went on a bit there but hope you get it sorted and keep us all informed love and soft hugs Diddle xxxx
Hi, I started on tramadol about 7 years ago, last year my GP decided to try different pain killers as I said i was still in alot of pain with the Tramadol, I tried pain patches, other tablets but I have gone back on Tramadol as I find it takes the edge of the pain better than any of the others I tried. I don't think anything actually kills the pain totally. I also take paracetamol at night as a liitle bit of a boost for the Tramadol.
I was referred for acupuncture, for me it was horrrendous, I hated the needles going in and I don't mind needles as i have tattoos, I found it very painful and after the third session I could still feel pain where the needles had been inserted some 6 hours later. When I told the nurse about this it was decided to stop the treatment, they said it only helped about 50% of the people that tried it. I had the accupuncture at a large hospital on the NHS.
I started off on co-codamol, then was moved on to Morphine (5mg, 10mg, 20mg patches then Oramorph) which did no good at all. Which isn't surprising really as opiates are shown to be ineffective for Fibro.
I'm now on Gabapentin, supplemented by Paracetamol & Tramadol. Nothing stops the pain but this regime at least helps to cut it down to a dull roar!
The Gabapentin is an anti-epilepsy medication that alters the way the pain messages are interpreted by the brain which is what helps to suppress it.
My understanding of the latest thinking is that in Fibro sufferers the pain receptors in the brain are firing all the time so the body is unable to recognise what real 'pain' messages are, which is why we feel it so badly.
Its currently working for me (although I'm still never pain free!!).
I'd give the acupuncture a go - you never know, it might work and if it doesn't you haven't lost anything (except the cost of the treatment).
Well my rheumotologist suggested I be referred for acupunture, which suggested to me it would be free...
I would be very careful of any opiate medications, I was on Fentanyl trans dermal pain patches for a long time, plus other pain killers as well. I was recently put onto Dihydracodine 60mg twice a day, then onto 90mg twice a day as well as the patches, then my dr told me to increase the 90mg to 4 times a day. I am not sure if I did manage to take 4 on the first day I started this but think I only took 3 of them besides having 125mcg of Fentanyl pain patches on. The following day my friend had to call and ambulance and I went into respiratory arrest in the ambulance and was worked on for about 7 or 8 hours in A&E according to another friend who was there with me. Another friend after I was taken up to the ward was phoned and told that if they wanted to see me before I died that he should get there as soon as possible as they only gave me 2 hours to live.
It was touch and go for a few days, but I managed to come home after 26 days in two different hospitals. I have only been home a week and a half, but it was very daunting the thought of coming home a week before I did, when it was suggested I go home the following week.
I am now on paracetamol 8 per day and Tramadol as well and my anti-depressant is Mirtazapine for the fibromyalgia, also I have asthma and COPD and have come home from hospital with oxygen for 15 hours per day. I have to use a nebuliser 4 or 5 times per day and 2 strong preventers, Respimat and Seratide 500 also I have to take my Ventolin inhaler out with me when I go out. Also I have two different water tablets, Vitamin B6 extra strong tablets 6 per day and a strong dose of Thiamine twice a day as they found out while I was in hospital that my liver is not in very good health, because of the drinking I did to excess up until I moved to Devon in 1990, when I was 33 years old, I did go through a stage about 5 years ago where I was drinking quite a lot but only for about a year and then I got help for the problem.
Try the acupuncture as it worked for my Mother quite a few years ago but they only gave it to her free for 1 year, that was when she was still of a working age, but had to give up because of her health, She will be76 years old this year and my sister put her in a retirement home where they keep her drugged up and nearly comatose which I do not like, because of the pain from the fibro as my sister does not believe it is an illness... and she is a fully trained nurse up to ward sister and now she works part time as a health visitor, as she had to take early retirement last September due to the arthritis in her hands and leg joints, she has had one knee replaced already.
Well enough from me for now, Good luck on finding something that takes the edge off your pain, But I would suggest you talk everything over with your GP and take care to research anything he/she suggests.
I have never found anything that takes all the pain away, just things that take the edge off it, maybe you will be lucky and find something that works for you and I sincerely hope you do.
RhonaElizabeth xxx
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