3 Fat Chicks on a Diet Weight Loss Community - Anyone here dealing with Fibromyalgia or Chronic Pain?

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Theres a new fish oil out here in Australia it's called, "Fish Stix" anyone heard of it?

Quote:

Originally Posted by tiggertat2 (Post 4261592)

Hi Lisa,

Thanks for replying. I'm always sorry to hear about someone in as much pain as I am. Congratulations on losing 40 pounds! Wow so impressive and you give me so much hope. Sorry that you've had a rough six months and I hope things get better for you soon.

My story is a long one and I won't bore you with all the details but all of my problems stem from a high speed auto accident 13 years ago. Another driver ran a stop sign and hit me at 65mph. Before the accident I was very active and athletic. In an instant my whole life changed.
I also can't take medications without bad side effects or weight gain either. I am allergic to pain meds and the ones I'm not allergic to I am sensitive to. About 5 years ago I was on Cymbalta for about 8 months I ended up gaining about 25 pounds and got so dizzy and confused that my doctor took me off. It never really helped anyway. They then put me on Lyrica for 7 months I gained 30 pounds and my hands and feet swelled up like balloons! It didn't help either. I said no more. Since then I only take a sleep med and that is it and advil every now and then. I have also given up caffeine. I have some Lidacane patches and an awesome pain cream that my foot specialist had made for me. I just got those a couple of months ago. Funny how it took a foot doctor to give me those tools after 13 years of suffering!

I rely on self-management, exercise, (I love the water and swimming) and trying not to overdo it, (which as you know doesn't take much). But you know in the Midwest the weather does not help. Not being able to stand very long or walk very far doesn't help either. Fortunately I naturally have a positive attitude, I love life and laughter and I know that things could always be worse. I have learned to concentrate on what I can do and try not to shed too many tears over what I can’t do in the moment or what I can no longer do anymore. Any day I am alive and kicking is a great day no matter how much pain I am in. I'm hoping someday to love life in a much smaller size!

Thanks again for your reply and for your inspiration. If you can do it so can I!! Wishing you some pain free or less painful days to come.

Kat

(Ashamed to admit this, but here goes)

SW 236
CW 230
GW 150 or less

very similar to me.

I broke my back & neck and recovered well, but a few months later ached all over and went to doctor then rheumatologist and diagnosised with Fibro (1991) never heard of it at the time. I have had neck surgery and an artificila shoulder. Did the Cymbalta thing for a year. It is not fun, but I keep going and people don't even know how much pain I am in.

Things have gone quiet, I hope this is a good thing for everyone :)

:carrot: Size 16 Victoria Secret Jeans Worn out Last Night! :carrot: And I was dancing up a storm for at least the first 2/3rds of the night. Evil Drunk Chick then came and grabbed me by both wrists and JERKED me hard out onto the dancefloor! I am so thankful I didn't have anything in my hands or fall flat on my face! None the less ...guess who has a flare up today? :tired: I am required to be out at the gig with the band so I'm trying to excercise, housework through it. And I think FMS just sucks. Determined to get through this? Oh yes!

Yeah, I'm usually in a pretty dang fine mood, and I am an optimist now. This stuffs not going to kill me so I might as well just fight through these speed bumps. When things get tough I just remind myself: Self, you have hiked the Grand Canyon more than anyone you have met, you have white water rafted the Colorado in spring melt, you've kayaked the Gulf and Atlantic and done class 4's in a longboat, you aced college and had a good time at it, you are a respected geeky person, so wtf? Get off your tookus and get the f***ing laundry done! Geeze, Girl, there is stuff to DO!!!"

No I'm not always gentle with myself.

As I get closer and closer to my weight goal, I have to tell you that so far things have not gotten any easier or better with regards to my FMS. However, and this is important, I have found that dealing with it has become easier. Every little 1/4 pound seems to just help 2 pounds worth. Yes, just a few ounces makes a big difference. On days where I gain back a bit, I'm starting to feel that it will be gone again in a couple of days, and I have almost lost the belief that I will wake up some morning and all that fat will be back on me like I've never done this. I don't know if I'll ever lose that fear. Talk about irrational!

Have a great day, everyone. Keep fighting the good fight, Relax and just do this!

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

I'm really glad you have found your key to living more comfortably, Sistah, I'm still walking my knife edge of good days and bad days. But I have a question for you? How in the world did you get a pain killer? The physicians up here are so adverse to anyone taking any pain killers they don't even recommend taking Tylenol or Advil. Or they think I'm a faker or a person just wanting drugs or something. I know painkilling drugs have limited effectiveness with FMS so I'm wondering how you brought this up with your doctor. Your experience with Lyrica sounds like it went the same route as my Cymbalta one took.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sistah phat (Post 4477341)

Oh, I feel for you. Maybe you can benefit a little from my experience. I don't have FMS (thankfully) but I do deal with chronic nerve pain and sciatica, both of which originate from a cervical spinal injury. I have about 7 years of experience with Lyrica. At a low dose it seemed to be marginally effective at controlling the pain but, after about 1 year my doc had me try it at about 3x the usual dose and my pain symptoms were greatly diminished (the good) Unfortunately, I also gained about 100 lbs. in the 5 years since the dosage increase (the bad). I had no motivation to lose weight, my mobility, as limited as it already was, became severely limited and I started to exhibit signs of depression (the ugly).

Last spring it just got to be too much. My doctor recommended going back to gabapentin. I started on Neurontin immediately after the accident (in 1999) but it seemed like it was losing effectiveness over time. This time, she suggested a different, time release formulation combined with Tramadol (a synthetic opioid). So far, it seems as effective as the Lyrica at controlling pain but I don't have any drastic increases if I am the least bit late taking my next dose. I have regained motivation to exercise and eat right. I've lost more than 10% of my highest weight since May. I can't say it was all due to the switch away from Lyrica, but the difference is more than coincidental.

I recommend keeping up with the SBD. Even if your weight loss slows you will at least learn to eat foods that are healthy. My current strategy is to count calories using the food choices that I learned from Ph II and Ph III of SBD. After 4 months, this is the longest stretch that I've sustained without a plateau and the increase in exercise (including 1 hr in the therapy pool each week, regular stretching and meditation) have helped me manage the pain.

I can;t get a consistent diagnosis so I am not sure if I have fibro, rheumatoid athritis, or both. I do know that I am hypothyroid and have some pretty severe food allergies.

I also found out that food allergies have the same symptoms as RA. trying to get a definite answer this week. Am on 120 mg of Cymbalta for chronic pain. It has reduced the pain by about 50%.

i started taking black currant seed oil at the suggestion of the advisor at my local health food store. This was back in March. I take 5,000 MG a day. I noticed within a month or so that I wasn't as tender in the trigger point areas. I have been taking it every day. I also started using clove essential oil directly on my tender points and it has been very helpful more than Aleve!

Diagnois whoas -

All I know is that it is time-consuming and costly to get a diagnosis of FMS. They rule out about every other thing in order to get there, and RA and a myriad other issues, for me, were eliminated. I will be very glad when they can get certain indicators for a firm diagnosis, but this is a syndrome it seems, and those are harder to pinpoint.

I know that I'm getting a lot of positive motivations with weight loss following the SBD, I guess because it gives you more fruit/veggie options, and it keeps your "feel good" level about it pretty high. I've hit a few plateaus along the way, but I try to hang in with it until those pass, and they do pass. I'm still quite limited as to what exercise I can get in. I"m not sure if losing more than 50 pounds has really helped with the FMS at all, but just generally I feel much better, so don't give up and keep going! I imagine that each ounce that leaves I can feel..and that feeling is a good one.

It 's funny you mention food allergies..I've got a couple weird ones..watermelon and bivalve (clams, oysters, scallops..two shells) sensitivities. Maybe more subtle ones as I get older..not sure and still investigating. But I do have a lot of mold/fungi/pollen allergies that drive me crazy nearly all year long up north here. Down south, not so much. Go Figure!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kat117 (Post 4532883)

:goodluck:I had it for years I try do not take meds for it because they have to many side effects . if they are not going to take away pain or symptoms I would rather just deal with it under my terms.
personally I would not take an anti depressant ,if this was a disease that affected mostly men I think they would take it more seriously.
I use distraction as away to deal with it but I know I have also used food in the past.
I deal with it on a regular basis but bouts of the overwhelming fatigue that Zap my strength for me are the worse. This fatigue can reek havoc on plans to get things accomplIshed and to make matters worst I'm tired but can not fall asleep.
I work night shift and sometimes I am unable to sleep more than 1-2 hours later that week I will keep have to pay my sleep debt off,this can be so frustrating.
Working days is not an option because DH work opposite shifts to care for the family and I am mother's caregiver so I need to be with her...so we just carry on.
I find my dogs are a great distraction and I can get my walking in at the same time.
Believe things happen for a reason .
I believe keeping a positive attitude keeps things in prospective.
In life we all have challenges it just how we choose to deal with them.
Now I will get off my Soapbox.
Roo2:carrot::carrot::carrot: