I was enrolled through a pain program through my insurance. it's a great program but I had 2 of the doctors tell me I needed to quit. I think I knew this, but didn't want to admit it. Our plan was for my husband and me to work for another 5 years, pay the bills off in 4, stash money in the 5th, retire and then have our house paid for in 7-8 years. I retired this year and am now going thru bankruptcy.

You have my sympathies with your job. I worked at a college in the distance education department. I was on the computer more than not. I was would fall asleep at my desk. (Two good friends would keep an eye on me, cover for me, and wake me up. I had trouble staying awake for the commute which was excrutiating, would barely get through the week and sleep the weekend in pain, hoping to gain strength for Monday. I know what your fingers feel like--it's awful. I did hide my fibro fog well, but it was getting harder and harder to hide it. I couldn't read and used to read 4-5 books a week. Simple instructions were hard to follow. Meetings were awful--another time to fall asleep. Somedays a cane helped most didn't.

I've been off this entire year and am just now beginning to read. I take daily naps and have a great stretching routine I'm doing from my physical therapist.

Meds: 25 fentanyl patches (hate them, don't work well and make me sweat like crazy--they're being changed next week), Nortriptyline at night, 2 cymbalta in the morning, norco for breakthrough. I was doing well with with 4-6 morphine in place of fentanyl, but I couldn't go to the bathroom with mega stool softeners and prescription medicine. My doctor has talked about methadone. I guess will discuss that next week. Opana and Gabapentin were useless.

I have fibro, migraines, and moderate to severe arthritis in my tailbone, thoraic & cervical spine and severe in both knees. Part of what bothered me is that with the knees, they can replace them when it gets too bad, but there isn't anything to be done with the back. They doctor told me if I do my exercise routine and remain active, there is no reason to think that it will progress.

I still have bad days, but being off work allows me to take naps and pace myself (when I pay attention), do my exercises, and eliminates that painful drive. I can do more aroudn the house now and free my husband's time up some. It has also eliminates a lot of stress. I am definitely in better shape and much more limber.

I wish I could help you with your decision; it's definitely a hard one. Financially for us it was awful, but for my health, I can now see it was the best thing for me.

What GREAT description for such YECH pain. I sometimes feel as if even my eyelashes hurt. At night, my husband has to get me out of my recliner (I also have bad knees), most of the time. Today is one of those everything-hurts days, even with pain meds. I just keep repeating, "This too shall pass." I am just ready for it to go away for awhile.

The thing is that the medical community has and does use them. My sister-in-law is a nurse. She's the one who said the hand-held version is like a tens unit and that her mom and sister swore by the gun thing that their chiropractor uses. Hi-Dow has been in business for some time. Maybe with the economy the way it is, maybe they're making them more affordable and marketing to the public.

I was in Vegas this past weekend. My husband and I were walking through the mall when I was drawn to one of the little carts that I normally avoid. This one had a Hi-Dow XP III unit and a battery-operated accupuncture gun (for personal use). The gun thing looks like a small glue gun, but gives good zaps. I wish I had convinced my husband to buy the two while we were there. I found the XP III at amazoncom for a good price, but would also like info on the little gun thing.

Does any one know what I'm talking about and have you tried the XP 333?

My PCP retired and since I've just been getting worse over the last month, I decided to look on this board and a few other fibro sites for pain medications. I wanted to take a list of what people are using or some of the latest treatments. I saw Gabapenten listed quite often and that people were having luck with it for pain. I'm not certain if it's the same thing as Nuerontin or similar, but they're related some how. I don't think it's listed as a fibro medication, but it is used to treat nerve pain. I read somewhere that it is prescribed for people who have shingles.

So far I'm happy with it as I do notice an improvement. I felt like I had the flu with my back and sides aching so. I have been taking a pill at night and just took a one about an hour ago to try it during the day time; it seems to be fine. I'm a little tired, but nothing that would prevent me from working. I would wait to take it when I got to work though, not before I got in the car, but it is helping.