Meds for Fibro

This is one of the reasons why I am going DS instead of RNY.  Not the only reason, but certainly a biggie.  I stopped taking NSAIDs while prepping for RNY (Kaiser wanted me to start living as if I was already post-op.)  The year or so I've been off NSAIDs has been miserable.  Happy to say I'm back to taking my ibuprofen and I'm feeling soooo much better.

Also, it's sobering to hear that the weight loss doesn't necessarily help improve the fibro, but I'm not surprised.  It does, however, give all of us recourse with the doctors who have told us for years "You hurt because you're fat."

I once told a doctor, "Hey, blame my weight all you want for the pain in my feet, ankles, knees and hips.  But I've never walked on my hands, so what do you have to say about my wrists, elbows & shoulders?  Why do my triceps feel like I've been punched all the time?"

He didnt' have much of a response to that.

I have had fibromyalgia for about 15 years.  I have taken all NSAID's, a boat load of antidepressants, darvocet, loratab, steroids,etc.  Nothing really helped the pain that much, just made it a little more bearable.  I started a pre-op diet and 1000 Vitamin D and have felt much better ever since.  I had RNY on September 3, 2009.  I have lost 55 pounds so far and am feeling much much better.  Immediately after surgery, I had some issues with pain and the nurse practitioner told me to continue the high dose of vitamin D in addition to my bariatric vitamins and withiin a few days I was feeling better again.  Mayo Clinic recently came out with a study showing that high doses of vitamin D can help people with chronic pain problems.  http://www.qualityhealth.com/pain-articles/vitamin-d-fibromy algia-pain.  I think the Vitamin D in addition to low carb diet and exercise has helped my fibro most of all.  They weight loss makes me more comfortable when trying to sleep and move around as well.  I have gone from over a dozen medications down to 4.  I now just take synthroid (for hypothyroidism), prevacid (required 6 months post op from RNY), Mirapex (restless legs), and Elavil (for fibromyalgia and sleep).  Opoids are defiinatley not good for fibromyalgia in the long term.  They may help with the immediate pain, but they inhibit stage 4 sleep which will make fibro worse.  If I hadn't of started this weight loss jouney, I would have never have taken Vitamin D, went low carb, or really tired to exercise.  While the surgery itself may not have helped, the process did.  I still have about 100 pounds more to lose.  I hope to continue to do well with my fibro too.

xcurrently I am taking cymbalta, tramadol, and darvocet occasionally for fibro pain. It seems to help but not on my high stress days. My pcp seems to think that fibro and stress is linked. What do you guys think...

I absolutely believe that fibro pain is linked to stress.  I don't think that's all there is to it though as some doctors try to say.  I think our brains feel pain differently than "normal" people's brains.  Stress can magnify that pain even more.  I think the main link for fibromyalgia is sleep.  If you can't sleep you feel more pain and then you can't sleep because you're in pain and the cycle goes from there.  If you can learn how to sleep better, pain gets better too.  Most drugs for fibromyalgia cause sleep disturbances themselves and only masks the symptoms for a time.  I remember the psychologist telling me that loratab inhibits stage 4 sleep and I needed to stop taking it for pain.  The first few days, I was cursing the doc saying that a person can't get to stage 4 sleep if they can't get to stage 1 sleep to start with.  However, within a few days of being off the medicine, I was sleeping much better and my pain was much better.  Sure the pain was more intense in those few days, but it's been worth it since.