Fibromyalgia Symptoms HOME

I had it once but it was not covered by medicaid and expensive however it helped better than any others until i was given soma which helped with tension and pain both!!

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I get this all the time but get no help with drugs, so I cant help you with that one but it is unbearable when it comes, I never put it down to Fybro though

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i have taken Zanaflex and it worked wonders for me. i have taken almost every muscle relaxor out there and zanafel helped the most. soma made me very sick,flexaril did nothing for me,skelaxin helped but was way too much money...

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I have these pains very severly,they are hard to live with. I live in Portugal, but I travel to the UK every few months to see a Consultant in Pain - he gives me some injections, in my neck, under sedation, which are wonderful. I also take a drug, Arcoxia, which helps with the other painful areas.

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I get some temporary relief from taking 10 mg Baclofen (muscle relaxer) & .25 mg alprazolam (zanax). With this smaller dose I am still able to function around the house.

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I get the tension you describe. In a pinch, I can take a shot of espresso (or a mocha) with an Alieve to make it act stronger, and take a Xanax before bed. I'm trying to pinpoint the cause of my tension from this list:
- Constantly holding my head so that my chin juts forward. I'm trying to just let my chin drop, even though it makes a double-chin. :(
- Letting anxiety cause me to hold tension in my shoulders, stomach, butt. I have to remind myself every stinking 10 seconds to let go. >:( I was surprised to find I subconsciously try to keep my arms back and tight to my body.
- Chronis sinus infections. For this, I use nasal irrigation and Zicam nose spray.
- Constantly getting food stuck inside my left tonsil. I'll sometimes see something sticking out of the top of the tonsil. I can push it out (from the bottom up) with a sterilized finger and spray my throat with Zinc.
The last two can create a situation where your body is constantly fighting infection, making every tissue more likely to be inflamed. Last night, did everything (took an Alieve, pushed a LOT of stuff out from my tonsil to the point where it bled, sprayed my throat, took a Xanax, stretched my neck a little), and this morning, NO TENSION!!
Good luck!

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I also have intense upper shoulder, neck and back pain. I was sent to physical therapy where I learned a lot about how our posture affects our muscles. As Janet says, you have to really think about how you are holding your head and shoulders until it becomes habit. MUCH easier said than done. The PT also helped me with my TMJ, which can affect your ears, neck, head and cause major head aches. If your insurance covers a good physical therapist you might consider going. If you can afford a massage now and then, deep tissue massage can help but is also painful, so beware - you won't feel great afterwards, but the muscles may loosen a bit.

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Good point about PT. Sometimes I think the tension is fixed 100% by that. I get convinced that it's due to what I eat or microinflammation or whatever. :( But there's no doubt PT is effective. Has anyone tried this guy's ideas, http://www.tensionheadaches.com/? It looks so bogus and gimicky, I'm hesitant to try it.

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I have very bad headaches and can not function. I've been told they are migraines but
while at the chiropractor he thinks I have fibromyaliga. The muscles in the back of my neck, between my shoulders and across my chest get to be unbareable . I had muscle spasms in my back and had 3 injections in one week then was prescribed valium for muscle spasms and I can tell it relieves some tension in my neck .

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I have been taking it for about 3 months now and I feel it helps. Also with sleep. My Dr. gives it to me for my sleep problems and for relaxing muscles. Much better than taking sleep aids. Goood Luck!

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I have chronic muscle tension as well. It appears to be exacerbated by food allergies and acidic foods. I take magnesium citrate capsules (150 mg)with each meal to relax the muscles. These can be purchased at most pharmacies or health food stores.

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I had all of that! I couldn't sleep because of it. I started to have muscle weekness and in my line of work - dog trainer - that didn't help. The muscles in my back were constantly tight and my legs ached. If someone poked me or tapped me it would send excruciating pain to my core. My doctor put me on Topomax - a migraine medication. He also gave me Flexeril for a muscle relaxant. Even then I still had a few aches. Then I had a friend tell me about Vemma. I started taking this liquid vitamin along with my medication and noticed that the aches went away completely.... So, I decided to quit taking my meds completely to see what would happen. The first week or so I had some muscle pain, but nothing like before, I could actually live with it. Then, everything went away. I FEEL GREAT! And no side effects! The Topamax made my fingers and toes tingle and anything carbonated would burn my tounge and throat. I would get dizzy if I took 2 Flexeril (which was what was prescribed). Well, I'm happy to say that this Dr. Pepper lover is drinking all the Dr. Pepper she can get her hands on!!! No burning. Vemma has Mangosteen in it. Mangosteen has xanthones that help reduce the inflammation in the body, which is directly related to most Fibromialgia cases. E-mail me and I can give you more information about it. I wouldn't be telling people about it if it didn't work for me! My e-mail is - dogsandvemma@embarqmail.com

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I also have had severe pain also in my shoulders and upper back. The zanaflex works great for me at night, it makes me sleepy during the day. But helps me sleep very well. I have fibro and that is usually the area I am hit the hardest.

Bev

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wow...this is me to a T and I starte seeing a chiro long before my fibro dx due to the headaches i was getting.. seeing the chiro one ever 2 weeks for mainenance keeps the headaches at bay although muscle and shoulder pain isn't helped

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I am living with the same constant muscle tension in the same areas of my neck and upper back. Recently I've been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, I also have Facet Syndrome in my c-spine and t-spine. I have been prescribed Zanaflex also. I have found this drug to be good for putting me to sleep for 1-2 hours, but I get 0% relief from the non-stop muscle tension. I have found that taking a combination of 800mg Motrin with 1000mg Tylenol every 4-6 hours takes the edge off the pain. Flexeril, also a muscle relaxer helps a little better than the Zanaflex. Ask your MD about taking this combination of NSAIDs and pain reliever. Above all, do your best to be persistent about finding the answers to your condition and never stop Advocating for yourself.

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If you have chronic muscle tension and/or bone pain of inexplicable origin, you may want to consider taking a vitamin D test. Recent research has shown that chronic muscle tension
can be caused by a vitamin D deficiency. See vitamindcouncil.org for more info. For me, the main symptoms were chronic tension in the neck, shoulders, back and hamstrings. It took me three years before I figured out what was wrong. After I started taking an ultra high (50,000 IU/week) prescription dose of vitamin D (D3 to be exact) the symptoms gradually went away over the course of a few weeks.

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The only thing that takes that type of pain away for me is a massage. I try to see her twice a month to releave the pain (insurances don't cover for massages). I hate taking anymore meds unless I'm desperate. She's quite aware of my desease so she knows how to work those muscles! Try it if you can it's much cheaper than drugs.

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kikafika321, yes I am suffering the same and I am having the same treatment. However how often did you retest levels of D? Did you test calcium and magnesium and PTH? How long was the ultra high dose maintained and did you drop to monthly high or daily maintenance?
luv Dawnx

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I agree on the Physical Therapy management - you want to look for PTs that do 'neuromuscular re-education'. I have a great PT at Healthwell Physical Therapy in San Francisco.

I must agree with kikafika321 about 'Vitamin' D testing, but disagree on the interpretation of the results. While the Vit D deficiency has something to do with it the reasoning is backwards (by the VitaminCouncil as well)...for one thing, D is a secosteroid (precursor hormone) and not an actual vitamin. Also Vit D being low is the result, not the cause. Taking Vit D would mask the symptoms, but not resolve the underlying issue.

Check out trevormarshall.com/BioEssays
-Feb08-Marshall-Preprint.pdf
& also check out marshallprotocol.com (search for Vitamin D deficiency there) and autoimmunityresearch.com in general.

Here's a key paragraph from the pdf:
For half a century, medical science has been noting the association between Vitamin D serum levels and disease. What developed has been a concept of ‘Vitamin D Deficiency’ based solely on the assumption that ‘low’ Vitamin D serum levels somehow cause disease processes. But this ignores the alternate hypothesis -- that the disease processes themselves regulate the Vitamin D metabolism -- that the observed ‘low’ values of Vitamin D in disease are a result of the disease process, and not the cause. Molecular biology has now taught us that the body is capable of making its Vitamin D directly from 7-dehydro-cholesterol(10,11), and that the generation of the Vitamin D metabolites is modulated by inflammatory disease processes(11,12). Not only does the whole concept of ‘Vitamin D Deficiency’ need reconsideration, one should question whether it is misleading to even use the word ‘vitamin’ when discussing this secosteroid.

I'm still getting pain between my shoulders/upper back/neck, but I'm dealing with the underlying disease process & hopefully it will be resolving completely. In the mean time PT saves me every time.

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I was taking Zanaflex with Darvocet and it caused me to have bad hallucinations. I thought I was going crazy. The drug by itself is great.

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