Beware of what you poo-poo

[Trilby]

Fifteen, twenty years ago I used to roll my eyes and poo-poo patients who said they had fibromyalgia and/or chronic fatigue syndrome.

Now, I'm not so sure I should've done that.

I am experiencing around 90% of the symptoms/problems associated with both those conditions - conditions, I assure you, that I did NOT believe even exsisted when I was a young, smarty-pants, better-than-you nurse.


(I was better than you b/c I made a lot of money, my handsome hubby made a lot of money, we had new cars and a nice home and, godDammit, we paid our bills on time AND we were health conscious, upwardly mobile, owned all the latest gadgets, took expensive vacations and all that rot. The "You" was the patient with no job, no insurance, coupla teeth missing, bus-riding, hobo-aspiring retard who claimed to have chronic fatigue/fibromyalgia and could she please get some relief? (Ok, preferably relief with some high calibar narcotic, but hey, who am I to judge??)

I've gotten older, life has happened to me, things I didn't plan for or think in a million years would happen to me DID happpen and now...I'm a much more compassionate person than I was when I was young and rich and knew everything about everything like how to run the state and the country and the world. IF ONLY THE WORLD WOULD LISTEN TO ME EVERYTHING WOULD BE FIXED!

Ah, the credo of the alky or junky. "I"m in charge!"

The serenity prayer helps. Knowing I'm not in charge helps.

having symptoms of a disease I thought was complete made-up shite is a little more than I wanted, but...here it is.

[Gravdigr]

Pray you never have to use Remicade.

Momdigr has to have treatments every six-ten weeks @ right around $7500 per treatment.

Fuck fibromyalgia, and fuck arthritis.

[Trilby]

Are there side effects to Remicade, Gravdigr?

I'm not really versed on RA except know it is v. painful.

does your mom have fibromyalgia and RA??? horrors.

[Pico and ME]

My mom deals with fibro...she has a running prescription for hydrocodone which she might take one a day for pain relief. She is also on trazadone for sleep. She tried Lyrica for a while and it did provide some relief, but she started to suffer really bad constipation and so gave it up. I was on Lyrica for a while and don't remember having constipation from it.

[SamIam]

Sorry that you might have such a debilitating condition, Bri. I never used to "believe" in fibromyalgia either. The symptoms sounded so vague. But I have since encountered at least three people that I know well who have it, and the symptoms just knock them out - especially when they're having a bad day.

On the plus side, if you DO have it, you can get a prescription for speed. I forget the name of the drug, but its an amphetamine derivative. One friend of mine takes it daily for her chronic fatigue symptoms.

Oh, I just remembered - concerta is the name of the drug. Its a form of ritalin.

[Trilby]

thanks, sam.

I can't take speed, though, OR hydrocodone - I'm a friend of Bill W's. I mean, I TRY to be a friend. sometimes I epic fail.

I'm taking 800mg of advil a day (sometimes twice a day) but the fatigue is rather crushing. coffee/espresso doesn't begin to cut thru it.

[Clodfobble]

Have you tried vitamin B12?

[Trilby]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

Have you tried vitamin B12?

injections? or pills?

and how many mgs?

[SamIam]

Originally Posted by Brianna

thanks, sam.

I can't take speed, though, OR hydrocodone - I'm a friend of Bill W's. I mean, I TRY to be a friend. sometimes I epic fail.

I'm taking 800mg of advil a day (sometimes twice a day) but the fatigue is rather crushing. coffee/espresso doesn't begin to cut thru it.

The person I know who takes the concerta is also a friend of Bill's. She is on this whole strict regime of meds and takes them EXACTLY as prescribed. But of course, everyone is different.

I was just joking about getting to take speed, though. There's a bunch of other meds that can be helpful. Do you have health insurance that would let you get evaluated by a doc?

[Pico and ME]

Have you looked into Lyrica, Bri?

[Trilby]

I need to see a doc - a new one.

I haven't tried Lyrica - I've just used motrin so far. guess I need to invest some time and money into finding out what can be done (other than just complaining about it)

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by Brianna

injections? or pills?

and how many mgs?

Liquid drops or dissolving lozenges are the easiest, both of which are absorbed through the skin in the mouth. Injections require a prescription, and pills don't absorb very well in most people on a Western diet.

Dosing completely depends on the person, but a 1000 or 2000mg lozenge is a pretty common place for an adult to start. Just go to a Whole Foods or Trader Joes or whatever, and an employee in the "Healthy Living" department ought to be able to talk you through the different products they have. (And they're guaranteed to have several, B12 is a common thing for people to take.)

[Gravdigr]

Originally Posted by Brianna

Are there side effects to Remicade, Gravdigr?

I'm not really versed on RA except know it is v. painful.

does your mom have fibromyalgia and RA??? horrors.

I don't know if you'd call it a side effect, but, the Remicade keeps her immune system beat way down, so she gets every little sniffle or bug that goes around, she catches everything. Any little thing can become very serious, very quickly. They check her for TB, and do a bunch of bloodwork almost every time. They also keep a close track of her liver function and condition.

I'm not sure they know what she's got. They treat those two the same way sometimes. They looked at polymyalgia rheumatica at one time. I don't know where we'd be if that was the case.

Oh, and it's made from people. And mice.

Remicade side-effects.