A Bit About Fibromyalgia (AKA What I've Learned)

First thing the doctor will do is: Complete blood count, Erythrocyte sedimentation rate, Cyclic citrullinated peptide test, Rheumatoid factor, Thyroid function tests and so on to rule out other medical issues. There are no actual tests to determine if you are the disorder other than some postural tests and responses to pressing on certain parts of the body. This is generally hit and miss. Thus some doctors still not believing in the disorder.

Treatment generally is:

Over-the-counter pain relievers like Tylenol or Ibuprofen - when needed I take Tylenol as I can't have Ibuprofen. I also take CBD (hemp seed oil) and it works wonders.

Antidepressants. This sounds strange but some of them work for reducing the pain and helping with the fatigue - I am on one and have been for years.

Anti-seizure drugs. Tried several and they did nothing for me.

Physical therapy will most likely be recommended as they can give you things like the stretches I do every day. They help and if I forget to do them I pay for it.

Occupational therapy is to help you organize your work-space to help lower the impact on your body. I have setup my kitchen and work station (computer) to be as low impact as possible.

Counseling. Well had this in the start and it was going no place for me. Fact is I did not really need it and quickly freed up a slot for someone who needed it more than me.

Reduce stress. Well The stresses in my life are a constant and can't be relieved unless I win the dang lotto or something. Literally they are all money related. And well pain causes some of it, but I have learned to manage it.

Get enough sleep. Good luck with that when you are in pain. But aside from that I have had sleeping issues since I was ten years old. I go in cycles where I sleep not bad and cycles where I have a very hard time sleeping at all.

Exercise regularly. I do what limited things I can do like walking in the basement back and forth. I can't go to the gym for example as I would end up hurt. I have other issues rather than just Firbo at play here like bad knees and a bad back.

Pace yourself. I do everything in shifts that are short. I will when cleaning for example do a bit then lay down for 15 minutes. This it takes me all day to clean the place.

Maintain a healthy lifestyle. Well I'm trying like hell at this. I mean I am over 300 lbs and at my worse was 498 lbs.

The fact is that treatment is very individualized and a lot of people with Fibro end up having almost nothing working for them or the treatments become noneffective over time.

As well industrial pain meds are hard to come by these days due to many addiction issues in society, so those with extreme levels of pain most of the time get no relief or have to go to the doctor for short courses of pain medication. Trust me this is rare that it will happen though.

Personally I have found that controlling my diet have given me a lot less pain. I do not consume pork or red meat that often at all. Maybe twice a month at best. When I was eating a lot of beef the pain was worse, the brain fog was worse and so was the tiredness.

I also have recently found that Hemp Seed Oil (CBD) can reduce the pain level quite a lot. For me it does not eliminate the pain but for others it has. Oil forms of CBD seem to be the best delivery system in pill form. In fact it will reduce a flair that would put me in bed for days to a bothersome level where I can still go about day to day life unhampered. As for the normal level of day to day pain it is down at least 80%. I was actually amazed this worded BTW...

During a bad flair listening to music and holding onto a Pusheen stuffed toy tends to help me. I got not one clue how the toy helps but she does help noticeably. Other people will interact with a pet or a loved one to help reduce the pain levels. I guess it comes down to keeping the brain busy. This distracts from the pain and lowers response. I pretend Pusheen is flying and so on...

Your doctor can only help you so much with one. As I say a lot of the time treatments do very little or nothing - but they CAN help some people and should be tried as directed by your doctor. A pain management specialist may be a good idea. As well try alternative things that are not outlandish - you never know - a friend gets great relief by having a nice old lady stick pins in him after all.

I only wish this CBD oil that has worked wonders for most of the symptoms would work on my headaches - but oh well, that is life. Anyway look for support groups online and in your city, they are all over the place. I hope this helped a little at least. Have a good one.