what meds have you taken?

Initially when I first was having extreme problems with my back and overall pain throughout my body I was prescribed Vicodin. The problem with this drug is that once I was on it for more than a month I developed a horrible dependency for it. I found it extremely difficult to ween myself off of it, let alone go cold turkey. I was determined, but I continued to face obstacles whenever I asked my doctor (at the time) about the most successful way to stop using it since it was becoming more of an obstacle than a help. In fact, I would wake up in the morning with horrible sweats and shaking realizing that I was going to withdrawals I was forced to ask the doctor to increase my dosage to 1 more per day so that I could take it when I woke up around 3 to 4 a.m. which was usually the case.

Well after a year and a half of trying to get off of the drug I finally decided to change doctors and went to a wonderful physician referred to me by some friends who instantly prescribed Methadone. This drug not only blocks the receptors responsible for taking in the opiates into your system but is a pain medication in itself. Immediately I felt the results and after only two weeks I was completely able to stop taking Vicodin without any ill effects. In fact, taking Vicodin while on Methadone did absolutely nothing for me and was like taking water pills.

So now I take an aggressive regiment of 40 mgs twice a day to assist with my pain which does assist believe it or not, and not a single craving for more or abuse. Also for times when my muscles go into spasms I take another drug called Robaxim which greatly helps and calms my muscles giving me better control.

While I haven't a medication that has been the one saving drug for me, I have heard from others who have had success with a drug called Reliv and even said it changed their life.

I hope this helps.

Take care,

Chris

I live in Reno so I hope this helps, but the doctor I am currently seeing is named Shaheen Ali and is a wonderful physician and human being. As most people who have Fibromyalgia or believe they have Fibromyalgia, getting a doctor to help you on the basis on their disbelief is a very very common and unfortunate occurrence all across the state. Thank goodness it is finally starting to become a more accepted disease or condition and more and more medical professionals are acknowledging that Fibromyalgia is indeed a true condition that exists and that there have been documented cases of successful treatments.

Finding those documented cases, however, can be a lengthy process and one that I hope this new and great resource will help make easier and less painful. There have been Medical Doctors who have actually written books and have listed themselves as Fibromyalgia advocates which has brought new hope to the arena of people like you and me.

The first and very important thing Jaime is to not get too discouraged with the permeating ignorance that has plagued some professionals into thinking that this is all psychological. Quite frankly I have found these so called "professionals" to simply be lazy and only interested in cases that they can easily treat and solve i.e. colds, flu, and other well documented conditions.

Some of this history dates back twenty even thirty years ago when doctors first became skeptical because some professionals were listing just about every single symptom as being Fibromyalgia, yet in fact this disease has some very distinctive characteristics that have become proven methods of determining a positive diagnosis. These include a combination of chronic pain and fatigue due to insomnia as well as "Irritable Bowel Syndrome," Arthritic conditions, as well as an overwhelming feeling that you feel like you have the flu all the time. In addition another common occurrence with Fibromyalgia sufferers is that they tend to have a fog often called Fibrofog which is usually described as not being able to concentrate on anything for too long getting lost in an array of distractions or simply blanking out most of the time when faced with a task or even reading.

As far as opiates go, your challenges are shared with many including myself when I realized that after taking Vicodin after over a year that I realized no matter how much my dosage was increased it was like taking water pills, yet unable to stop taking opiates due to the heavy withdrawals that come with it. There are two different drugs that now have come to surface to help get rid of dependency on opiates and these are Methadone which is also a pain medication in itself and for me has been a very successful alternative or BUPRENORPHINE (http://www.addictionrecoveryguide.org/medications/heroin/ index.html) that is not a pain med but is completely a medication to help fight addiction to opiates, heroin, and pain medications.

From there a good physician can start a pain medication that is a non-narcotic that can actually begin to help you with your day to day pain. The best thing about the above mentioned medications is that according to studies that these have been successful in not creating new addictions and dependencies.

The only reason why I stress the importance of this is that the problem with opiates and pain medications, although I have decided to stay on Methadone for the time being, is that opiates in my opinion create more problems than they are supposed to help with. Also there are a myriad of programs that I will be soon listing on this site that have been documented as successful for people with specific chronic pain and a way to open up a life that most people like us don't believe exists for us anymore.

I have a bunch of materials that I intend to post over the next week as I find them (I've just moved and am in the process of unpacking) and will hopefully help people get a start on their own recovery.

The basis of the best recovery in my opinion comes from taking complete control of your medical success. By this I mean that this is finding a physician that you feel comfortable with and eventually finding a medical team devoted to your treatment and your well-being. This does take time, but is totally worth it.

I also suggest the following websites:

http://ratemds.com/index.jsp - in my opinion a very good site to find good medical profesisionals and even rate them based on your experience.

http://www.drscore.com/?referId=1002&gclid=CKiTwtWW94oCFQU4YAodQgt1lA - I believe a pay to use site, but totes at being a site that offers good information about particular medical professionals and if they have any complaints or compliments recorded about them.

Keep in mind that there is mixed emotion about using these sites as some doctors believe it is unfair to be rated as they believe the ratings are one dimensional. But in my personal opinion anything that helps me find the right people for me is for my benefit and when it comes to my medical health hurting feelings is a less priority than getting the best service and appropriate medical help.

Sorry for such a long post and I hope I've helped in some way.

Please let me know if there is anything else I can do.

Chris

Thank you for all the info in your posts. I don't have time to respond right now....rushing around this am ...but just wanted to thank you.

After some thought, I felt it was important to re-address my post regarding getting off of opiates using a couple of the methods that I mentioned. Something to be aware of when making this step is to obviously work with a doctor you trust and one that has your best interest at heart. This sometimes means interviewing several doctors until you believe you've found one that is understanding of you condition and the challenges that it presents to your day to day life.

I mentioned the use of Methadone as a method of getting off of pain killers such as Vicodin, Percocet, etc. It should be mentioned that Methadone is also a potentially dangerous drug if addiction is a problem. While it has a history with many people as being a miracle drug that offers relief of pain without the snare of addiction, it can also add to addiction and there are also many cases where this has happened and the results are tremendously debilitating. A great source of information if you don't have time to read or simply have a difficult time concentrating due to the characteristic of the illness of Fibromyalgia is to watch the Discovery Channel and look for a show called "Addiction."

This show is a very insightful and information view about prescription drugs and the danger they possess. You can also view this show if you have "On Demand" and can view the Discovery Channel shows which should have the "Addiction" shows there.

For me I've been extremely fortunate to have a primary physician who is willing to work with me all the way to help me with my pain as well as my desire to no longer be tied to Vicodin and it's been a huge success. I haven't had a desire or need to take Vicodin now for over two months and I've also skipped taking Methadone on days that I simply feel I don't need it since it does have a not so great sedative side effect. But hearing how others have been negatively effected by Methadone caused me to feel compelled to deliver this addendum to my original message.

Thank you and my hopes are with all of you that you are able to find a great health team with great health alternatives to a better and more meaningful life.

I read an interesting article as to why some drugs don't work on certain people.... codiene and oxycodone, etc...I guess they are supposed to break down into a morphine like substance in your body, and a lot of people don't have the enzyme needed for that to happen. That's why it's important to find a doc who understands that and is willing to try something different.

Personally though I would rather take a narcotic and worry about addiction when it gets to that point than to take NSAIDS.... they all seem so quick to write for NSAIDS...but the dangers with those are so high...

Right now my main goal is to be in a little less pain, and be able to enjoy my kids before I wake up one day and have missed it all becuase "mommy can't do that right now"...it's breaking my heart.

I hope you find a good doctor as I found that to be the real key.

Last month we were driving from ohio to florida to take my 5 and 3 year old to disney. We couldn't afford to fly, and this was over a 20 hour drive...you can just imagine my fear. I ended up going to some quack pain doc asking for nerve block. The bastard (not sure if I can say that, but he really was) spent all of 2 mins in the room with me...I was in the room a total of 2 hours btw. He agreed to the "nerve block" told me it would be immediate and last a long time. WHen I got there for the procedure, I found out I was getting facet injections...same old song and dance, immediate relief, long lasting. this consisted of 12 shots into the facets of my sacrum...every single one sent me off the table, and he knicked nerves. He said my nerves were more sensitive than anyone he's done! (which leads me to believe more in the lyme problem), he put me on cymbalta (basically telling me it's in my friggen head) I was in more pain than I started with. THen he wanted to send me to the cleveland clinic chronic pain program, I agreed....then I got the paper work. They want you to go, 5 days a week, 8 hours a day , for 8 weeks!!!! Yeah, I have time to sit in a hot tub that long. But when my step dad walked in with post op pain, he offered him morphine!!!! WTF?? I have pain all over my body, and I get an antidepressant, he has pain in ONE area and gets morphine? If my pain was only in one area, I could deal with that.

I am just so fed up with everything. Tired of being looked at like a drug addict...and in case those of you who don't know, oxycontin is only time released percocet. Nothing more. When I first started taking it I was sicker than a dog for a week. Not sure why anyone would want to crush it up and do god knows what with it....throwing up , to me isn't fun.

I am hoping to get a positive reading for lyme, and hopefully finding a LLMD who realizes the intense pain that goes with it. And yes, of course us chronic painiacs have depression....who wouldn't when your life is limited on what you can and can't do on a day to day, minute by minute basis of how you feel.

I find that pain managment docs want to give you shots everywhere...which in my experience does not work. after having talked to several people.

The one good thing about thsi quack is through word of mouth, I talked someone else out of going to him. HE told her the same old song and dance...nerve block...then he started talking all these shots...immediate relief, long lasting, etc. I guess I forgot to mention that after he got my money and I was writhing in pain in the recovery room he told me, it can take up to a week to work, if it does at all, and it will last for 3 weeks!!!! what a jerk!

I just don't get it. I think you can tell I am in obvious pain when most people don't jump off the table when you do this procedure, and I was....and you can't fake that, this was instint reflex.....arg.

It took a while of going through a couple of idiot doctors, but after several referrals from friends of my wife I found this doctor who is a primary care physician named Shaheen Ali. He's young and energetic which is a plus since he's determined to find the best treatment. But I definitely know what you're going through and I agree that it's frustrating to go to a pharmacy only to be treated like a drug addict. I also had to go through several pharmacies before I found the one that treated me like a human being and didn't give me an odd look whenever I brought in my Methadone prescription.

I'm so sorry you're having to go through all these ridiculous hoops and from what you describe of your doctor he does sound like someone who needs to be fired. There are a couple of sites that I use when looking for a doctor, although the list is rather sparse, it does give insight of doctors that people actually took the time to write about either good or bad. The sites are:

http://ratemds.com/index.jsp - Rate MD. A good website that's free.

http://www.drscore.com/?referId=1002&gclid=CKiTwtWW94oCFQU4YAodQgt1lA - Another review site that seems to have more doctors.

Also you might be able to find city specific doctors sites by typing in "CITYNAME doctors" or even "CITYNAME doctor reviews" that may bring up better sites focused on your area.

I really don't get why doctors even today are still using the whole "It's in your head" act when Fibromyalgia has actually become a more accepted and more understood syndrome than it every has in the past, but in my opinion it proves to me the ignorance of these people. I would just urge you to keep pressing on and not give up on yourself. There are, believe it or not, doctors who actually devote their practices to Fibromyalgia and are a Godsend. Again, I've been very fortunate when I found my primary physician and then a Rheumatologist who actually diagnosed me officially with Fibromyalgia and stated in his diagnosis that I should not be working. For Reno, finding medical professionals that are willing to help than to judge is very difficult since most of them up and left due to the heavy lawsuits that were occurring in our state.

I'm sure others will also have good advice who read this post and might be willing to share their experiences as well as things that have worked for them.

From what I have read and what I have been told my medical professionals who are in the Fibromyalgia know, the important things to achieve is good sleep and lessen pain. Cymbalta for me was like taking water pills and did nothing. For sleep I actually use a very cheap drug called Restoril and it's not a hypnotic which for me would keep me awake and activate Restless Leg Syndrome. Then if you're lucky to find a doctor that will at least attempt to try Methadone with you, you can at least determine for yourself if it works or not. I recommend finding a new doctor and you know, today, it's really okay in my opinion to fire your doctors until you find the one that makes you comfortable and treats you with dignity. It's something we end up fighting for the most unfortunately.

If there is anything else I can do please let me know and I hope you're successful in your search. And again, you're not to blame for your illness and the fact that your actively seeking a working treatment shows that you're not just a person looking for some cool drugs to get you high, but a person that genuinely is in pain just like the rest of us. Take care and I'll keep you in my thoughts and if it's okay with you in my prayers.