chronic pain

 they are now marketing cymbalta to help and when i think back mine did stop around when i started taking it, and started again when i went off it. 

 Yep. Been there, tried that, suffered the withdrawal.  

Kelly, 

My husband suffered for many years with the same kind of chronic back pain that you are describing. He has since been diagnosed and had surgery for: spinal stenosis. After years of doctors not being able to come up with a diagnosis we finally demanded he have an MRI. I would suggest having the same kind of test done, even if it shows nothing, at least you will know. It was the best decision of our lives. He now lives pain free and is able to do the physical things that he couldn't do for years. 

If you do not feel like you are not receiving support from your doctor, consider switching until you find one that will listen to you and give you the tests you need and deserve. 

I am so sorry that you are going through this. 

I have spinal stenosis.  As well as a herniated disc.   My doc has never mentioned surgery.  I'm not sure the pain is bad enough that I would want spinal surgery.  It hurts.  But the idea of surgery on my spine with all the risks that come with that...  I don't know.  I guess I am gonna have to go back to the orthopedic surgeon.

 Hi Kelly.  Until very recently I've been treating my pain with food, lots and lots of it.  Of course, that only made it worse.  I've been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, which is doctor speak for 'we can't be bothered to find out what's really wrong" and "you are never getting better" so I know how it feels to have a long tunnel ahead with a very small light at the end.

I am hopeful that WLS will help my back pain.  My lower back is in spasm anytime I move on land, and I am hoping that losing my butt and belly will reduce this pain.  I honestly don't know what I will do if the pain continues after I lose the weight.  

I undertand your concerns about pain meds, and I am going to my primary care doctor next week to talk to her about what pain meds I can take.  

If you are busty you might want to consider a breast reduction.  I am definitely not busty at all, but a good friend had breast reduction recently and even with a few problems with infection after her procedure, she is glad she did it and is a new woman now!

If I were you I'd try to give the back a rest as much as you can, and  try to stay hopeful.  tell yourself it is ok to let some chores go, or to get someone in the family to help out with them, so you can have less pain.   I use my two sons to do all my heavy lifting, they carry in groceries, do laundry, dishes, and such.  I try to save my back for doing fun stuff outdoors and let the housework go! 

I find that the swimming pool doesn't hurt my back and the hot tub can provide some relief, although temporary.

Best of luck and hang in there!

ps, you were very smart to have WLS.  you would probably be in much more pain if you were heavy , so you've already made one big decision that has made a difference!

I want to apologize up front if I get a bit uptight about how you described Fibromyalgia.  I've been through so many years of depression, doctors telling me to "just lose weight and you'll be fine", or even my own mom thinking I was a hypochondriac.

It's only been recently that they've discovered that Fibromyalgia is a defect in the way the brain perceives pain.  You may not be in any (or very little) pain, but for some reason your brain believes you are, so you experience alot of pain.  I've had Fibromyalgia for about 24 yrs, but was only diagnosed about 10-12 yrs ago.  Mine started when I was 16 yrs old and doctors believed I had Lupus at first, but none of the test results came back for Lupus, so they just dismissed it and thought I was faking.

Unfortunately, Fibromyalgia has gotten a bad rap over the years since there isn't a "tried and true" test for it (bloodwork, etc) to prove that it even exists.  This is the main reason that most people with Fibromyalgia even have depression is from nobody believing them for so long.

I can barely walk most days due to the pain (or perceived pain) and this, along with my sciatic nerve problems, is the reason it's so hard for me to exercise.  I can only hope that once some of this weight comes off, the sciatic nerve problems will lessen enough for me to exercise more than 5 minutes at a time. :)

I'm sure you meant no harm in what you said and I have no doubts that I'm a bit sensitive about the subject.  I just can't keep my mouth shut sometimes and this is one of those things I feel is important enough to speak up. :)

Jen

 no problem, but in my case i believe the diagnosis is incorrect, or else your description of what fibromyalgia really is and what the medical community thinks it is, is in fact wrong.  Most of my pain is in my lower back, resulting in inablity to walk more than a few steps.  My back muscles do in fact knot up, and do in fact become more and more knotted as i walk, this is not a processing issue but in fact muscles contracting when they shouldn't.  I definitely have other pain which could in fact be my brain exaggerating the signals it perceives, but the back is the one that is killing me.

For me, a diagnosis from the medical community means nothing unless they can establish causality.  Until someone can say that the causes of the disease are a or b or c and d combined, or whatever, i see the diagnosis as laziness.  also, until they can provide some real treatment, they don't know what they are talking about, and I still stand by my earlier statement!

Hope you don't mind a little friendly disagreement!  I really do hope they figure this out soon, my 14 year old son displays many of the classic fibromyalgia symptoms...sigh

I believe you're right and you were misdiagnosed. What you're describing is nothing like Fibromyalgia.  There are tender points in certain areas of your body and the pain radiates out from those spots.  My worst areas are my upper chest, upper arms, and thighs...and it's a muscular pain and burning in the muscles.

If yours is lower back, then perhaps it's related to the sciatic nerve.

I do disagree that it's laziness, since my problems started when I was 16 yrs old, I was in good health and very active.  I was maybe about 20 lbs overweight at that time but was playing sports and everything.  I was definitely not lazy. :)

I did just read back through that and did you mean that the diagnosis you got was out of their laziness?  If so, then I do agree with that just from what you've said so far.  You don't appear to have the symptoms of Fibromyalgia.

I hope your son doesn't have fibromyalgia, but at least the medical community recognizes it now and he shouldn't have to go through all the hassle I (and others like me) had to for 10-15 yrs before being diagnosed. :)

Jen

 oooh my bad, I meant laziness on the part of the medical community!! They have given this set of symptoms a lable and they "think" they know what causes it, but haven't done the work to really find out what is causing these problems!!

I do have many tender spots, and can't stand to be touched or hugged many days, but I am so sedentary due to my back pain that I rarely trigger the others.  I do find that swimming in a heated pool, very very slowly, doesn't seem to cause as much soreness all over as other activities.  

My thumbs are now so painful that it hurts to hold my kindle for a long time....and it is lighter than most paperbacks!

good luck to all of us facing this issue, and I wish the medical establishment would make a bigger attempt to figure out what this really is and find a way to treat it!

I feel your pain. I have had problems with my back for many years. Motrin kept things in check most of the time, but since rny, it has been alot worse. Tylenol does nothing for pain. For the last couple of weeks I have lived off flexeril, but I can't do this all the time. It is frustrating to have to learn new coping techniques. I will be praying for you!