Looking for Pain Management Options

I feel the same. Seeing him again this Thursday. If all else fails I'm trying a pain management clinic.

I understand. My current pain-management specialist is not helping at all. I go to her and tell her that my pain level has been an 8 to 10 lately, and she tells me to go for a nice walk, take Tylenol, or use OTC pain patches or topical ointment. I don’t need to pay a pain specialist to do that. If those things worked, I wouldn’t need to see a pain specialist. Yeesh! I went to see a gastroenterologist yesterday, and she was more help in five minutes than my pain specialist has been in the last year. It’s exhausting, but we have to keep advocating for ourselves. I have had some amazing doctors. They are out there!

I went through a fair number of doctors who did not address my pain from fibromyalgia. I finally got to a pain clinic where they helped me balance the pain through medication and physical therapy once a week. I really recommend not giving up and looking for a doctor who will be attentive and empathetic, and there are some! You just need to find them.

I found that I was so many pain meds that I became allergic to them. Please I beg you, don't take them long term. Pain meds only mask what's going on. It cures the symptoms not the disease. Stretching cures the disease, you stretch until it doesn't hurt anymore. The pain is from lactic acid build up in your muscles, from lack of use. Fibromyalgia put me in a wheelchair by going with what the doctors said to do, which was to continue taking pain meds, I found yoga, and physical therapy was the trick for me. Now I'm out of the chair, and able to do what I want when I want, by stretching every day.

Unfortunately, from my experience, sometimes doctors tend to belittle me when they hear about my fibromyalgia. I hope you’ll find the doctor who will be empathic. The thing that helped me most for my fibro was exercise.

Thank you birdnerd for replying as well! I am definitely going to look into chronic pain PT because I truly thought all PT was the same process which is why I put it off. I’ll also ask if I’d be right for gabapentin, I’ve definitely heard from friends with autoimmune disorders and chronic pain that it’s the only way they’ve managed

Thank you Lorita! I can’t reply on the app for some reason but im really interested in researching cymbalta more and asking a lot of questions just because I already take an antidepressant and am interested in how it has multiple uses. I’m really glad to hear you had a good experience with it because others have said that the side effects were detrimental

My doctor referred me to a specialized pain management clinic, and they have been so helpful. I have chronic pain physical therapy once a week (which is much different than regular PT), I was put on gabapentin, and I see a pain psychologist occasionally who helps me keep my mind healthy while dealing with the pain.

I use Cymbalta and it helps! You can find it under “ explore treatments” for Fibromyalgia at Alike. I see many optional drugs for Fibromyalgia and Cymbalta is in a class of antidepressants… ( I did not know that this drug was from that class….). I have a few questions for my physician after seeing that list of options…. Good luck! 🤗