How can you cope with fibromyalgia?

Answer 1

Living with Fibromyalgia

• See a therapist who practices Acupuncture and Neurostructural Therapy (NST or Bowen Therapy). I recommend both therapies for reducing stiffness and pain.

• Regular exercise, no matter how little, is vital. Pilates is great and Alexander Technique helps to relieve unnecessary tension in the muscles.

• A calcium supplement taken at bedtime helps relax muscles and aid sleep.

• I have been taking Cymbalta for fibromyalgia for a couple of months. It has really helped me.

• A small dose of amytriptiline at bedtime has helped me quite a bit, but the thing that has decreased my pain more than anything is a treatment called intramuscular stimulation. It uses acupuncture needles, but is not acupunture. I have better flexibility than I've had in many years.

• Don't discount depression. A good counselor or therapist can help you deal with the changes in your life, and asses and re-focous your goals taking your health into account. Anti-depressants may also be recommended to help with clinical depression and/or sleep deprivation (seratonin related) that often accompanies fibromyalgia.
• Also don't rule out vitamin deficiencies. There was an article posted in Prevention magazine, I think, that stated 80% of patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia/non-traumatic whole body pain are also Vitamin D deficient. Vitamin D is found in a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. The key source of Vitamin D, by far though, of course, is the sun. So plenty of fresh air and sunshine and whatever walking you can do will make a great difference. Healthy lifestyle is everything when it comes to preventing pain.

• Chiropractic has helped me greatly with pain. I take Zoloft for depression. I rest for the fatigue.

I am adding this information. There are some great books that cover all the topics above. There is a national association for Fibromyalgia too. I tried everything above. You have to try all types of regimens. So far I have found Cymbalta and Lyrica do work very well, however I gained a lot of weight on Lyrica. So now I only take Cymbalta and I use tramadol when some parts of my body flare up rea bad. I also had my thyroid checked. Once I was put on Armour thyroid my limbs hurt a little less, I quit losing hair and I stopped bruising so easy. Good luck. Pegalita, medical administrator Oh, If you get migraines see a neurologist. Cymbalta has decreased the frequency of my migraines and the severity of it.

Have your thyroid levels checked, at least for TSH, free T4 and free T3. Many people diagnosed with fibromyalgia find they are hypothyroid, and their fibro symptoms go away when they get on the right dose of thyroid supplement to correct the deficiency.

Answer 2

You could try physical therapy. They have different types of treatments that might help. Like a TENS unit, which is a transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, or any other type of muscle relaxant technique. Of course medications may help too with the initial pain. But you might want to stay open to other ways, like acupuncture. Maybe massage therapists in your area could suggest something. Talk to a Rheumatologist and or a pain management specialist about treatment options available to you.

Some commonly used medical treatments are listed below, each medicine works different for each person.

Trigger point injections [steroids injected to any of the 18 tender points)

Pain medicines- Ultram, Tylenol 3, Hydrocodone, 800 mg ibuprofen, Lyrica

Muscle relaxants- Flexural, Soma, Methocarbamol

Anxiety or depression: Amitriptyline, Klonopin

There of coarse are many more pills but these are the more commonly used. Diet, sleep, and exercise will reduce pain, sleeplessness, and anxiety. Not any specific diet or exercise program will work for everyone and buying one is not usually the answer. Staying healthy is the key.

Answer 3

8 Fibro Tips1) Listen To Your Body. When it feels as if you need to rest, then rest. Get as much sleep as possible, even if it means going to bed a lot earlier than usual.

2) Consult a Rheumatologist. This is a Doctor Who specializes in treating athritis and inflammatory diseases. He/she should have experience in treating fibromyalgia - you should ask how much experience the doctor has.

3) Work With Your Rheumatologist. He/she may have to try different medications before knowing what will help you individually. Everyone is different. Have patience. If he/she suggests physical therapy or alternatives like acupuncture, chiropractic, or biofeedback, or attending a pain clinic, go along with it and try it.

4) Watch Your Food Intake. The lighter you are, the better you will feel and the less weight will be on your painful joints. Caffeine is generally a bad thing, especially in the evening because it will prevent you from having sound sleep. Lean meats, fruits and raw veggies are always good. Some fibro patients eliminate sugar, wheat or certain carbs from their diet and say it helps them.

5) Keep As Active As Possible. If you just lay around in bed, you'll get weak and won't accomplish anything for anybody. Try to work if possible - it will take your mind off the pain.

6) Ration Your Energy. You will be much more fatigued than you used to be. Don't try to cram too many activities into your day. Save your energy for the one or two things you really want to do, and you'll feel better.

7) Learn Relaxation. Meditate or pray alone in quiet surroundings. Enjoy short nature walks or sitting in your yard when weather allows.

8) Keep Control of Pain. Take action (cold packs, heat compresses, warm baths, Arthritis ointment, etc.) to alleviate the pain before it gets too bad. When it does get severe, call your doctor.

Fibromyalgia has a direct link to depression. That is why there are several anti-depressants being prescribed for it. I have had Fibromyalgia for at least 21 years. I do not let it slow me down. I keep very physically active . Take a walk. Move around. Fibromyalgia is a type of syndrome that begins in the brain. You are feeling "perceived" pain. Your elbow may hurt,,,,but upon examination there is nothing physically causing the pain but the pain is real. It's tough to get used to pain in any form but your brain is quite the machine and you can beat a lot of it.

Answer 4

There is no cure for Fibromyalgia. You can improve your symptoms in a number of ways and some do find that they are able to return to a normal (or close to normal) quality of life.

• Diet changes - many find improvement by changing their diet to remove processed foods, artificial sweeteners, gluten and other substances that they find to have a negative impact on their symptoms.
• Exercise - stretching and light exercise like Tai Chi or Yoga often help many improve their symptoms.
• Supplements - Over-the-counter supplements like Magnesium, Vitamin D and Fish Oil can help decrease your pain.
• Prescription Medications - There are a number of prescription medications now being used to treat Fibromyalgia. It is important to find a knowledgeable doctor that can help determine the right ones for you.

Many have found that he best improvements are made with a combination of the above.

Answer 5

There are many ways to manage your fibromyalgia. Over the counter analgesics do very little for the pain. A regimen of medicine from a doctor is the best management for all the symptoms that come with fibromyalgia such as pain, sleeplessness, and or anxiety. These symptoms can be managed, but not take away completely. A healthy diet and a moderate exercise program also helps in some ways. Last of all some people find some relief with acupuncture, massage treatments, and trigger point injections.

Many things can manage your fibromyalgia but there is no cure from fibromyalgia. There are many places on line that offer a "cure". You can not eat, sleep, or exercise Fibromyalgia away.

This Propaganda helps so many to not take this disease seriously. Unfortunately there wasn't an actual test for this condition until recently, so there are many who claimed to be healed with food, acupuncture or physical therapy. Although some of these things can help temporarily they will not cure any true victim of FM. There is no diagnostic information that proves any of those people had fibromyalgia.

Unfortunately for a long time Fibromyalgia has been a "catch all" diagnoses for wide spread pain and fatigue. Even though there are a copious amount of symptoms that go with this disease. Not until recently have they proven and linked all these symptoms to one disease [syndrome]. With so many people being misdiagnosed there are websites and books making millions off the true sufferers. A good diet and exercise program will help keep off weight which alone will help relive many symptoms. Obesity does not cause fibromyalgia but it definitely can make many of the symptoms worse. Nothing will cure Fibromyalgia, there is no known cure.

If any of these books, diets, or vitamin packs worked to "CURE" you, then you are lucky.....you didn't have fibromyalgia after all! If you have most of the symptoms below don't bother wasting your money, instead spend money on the new blood test to test for FM [autoimmune.com for more information], or get a diagnoses from a rheumatologist and if you have fibromyalgia find a pain management doctor and find help from other sufferers not seeking your money. For anyone to state that diet can "CURE" fibromyalgia is both inconceivably naive and inconsiderate propaganda. It has been an on going battle to get the medical society to accept fibromyalgia at all. They once believed it was all in the head of hypochondriacs, a scape goat for druggies, mental disorder/sleep disorder. This is a disease that there is no known cure. It is hard enough to get friends and families of the FM sufferers to understand the disease without spreading propaganda that diet and exercise can CURE fibromyalgia.There is no known cure and finally after so many years there is now a blood test so those who suffer can get the medical attention they need. === Here are the symptoms of Fibromyalgia:[symptoms in bold are most common]

=== * muscle pain throughout the body [many times crippling]

* fatigue * tender points * morning stiffnes * headaches/migraines * irritable bowl syndrome/bladder irritability * unexplainable bruising * swelling of ankles/fluid retention

* irritability or mood swings

* mild depression * sleep disorders * numbness or tingling in hands or feet * paresthesias

* anxiousness/anxiety attacks

* chest pain/jaw pain/abdominal pain

* memory loss/cognitive impairment

* cold intolerance * dizziness

* dry eyes, nose, or mouth * vision problems

* Sensitivity to weather

Answer 6

Even though fibromyalgia affects from 2-4% of the total population, the exact cause of remains a mystery. For many years the medical profession did not believe this was an actual physical problem and treated it as though people with symptoms of fibromyalgia were either exaggerating or looking for sympathy and attention. In the last 10-15 years considerable progress has been made in understanding and diagnosing this problem and it is now accepted as a recognized health problem.

It can be said that the person with fibromyalgia feels more pain than the next person because their nerves systems are genetically geared to be more sensitive; they have an abnormal pain perception because their nerve chemistry is not right.

Medical research considers fibromyalgia to be a disorder of central nervous system in which biochemical disorganization and unregulated processing occurs in several key brain chemical processes of pain perception and transmission (cytokine, serotonin, tryptophan, etc.). Since it is now thought that fibromyalgia occurs because of disordered sensory nerve conduction and processing, it explains the greatly exaggerated pain sensitivity as pain signals are increased or amplified when sensory messages are received by the brain.

Answer 7

I had ME/Fibromyalgia for 10 years. The pain and the fatigue were immensely difficult to cope with and at times I just wanted to die. It's difficult for me to remember what exactly I used to do to cope, however, I do remember that things like t'ai chi, yoga, meditation, massage, acupuncture helped with the pain. I am now completely well. Read my story on in the related links.

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Answer 8

You will die from Fibromyalgia is a neurodegenerative disease which cannot be cured but there are medications to alleviate symptoms.