Definitely lessen the stressors in your life and it should help your fibro. Also,

what helped me was to eat less sugar and take lots of vitamin C and get a good B complex. I eat LESS sugar, but I haven't cut out sugar altogether. I love chocolate too much. I just pace myself and that does seem to help. Stress is a HUMOGOUS factor with people who have fibromyalgia. Get the stress level down quickly. There's good stress and bad stress. What I'm talking about is the bad stress. Examples might be family conflict, extreme money problems, things you don't like doing but feel forced to do. If you're in a job you hate, keep the job, but start looking for something else and make the change. If you're in a rotten relationship, take steps to make it better or get out. Got a kid who is constantly on your last nerve. Take the upper hand and get that kid in shape and if they're old enough, tell them to get a job and get their own place. These are just examples, but it's not an instant fix. You'll have to help yourself in other ways in the meantime, like treating your body right by eating healthier and taking good supplements. Give yourself a tentative calendar goal and try to reach that goal with your life changes. Be realistic. Don't tell yourself you're going to change your relationship in 2 weeks, cuz it ain't gonna happen. Again, these are just some examples. Your life stressors may be completely different, but you get the picture. Scheduling yourself is very important and make room for fibro flares, cuz they will happen. Doctors are not generally sympathetic to the illness though some are coming around and rheumatologies are more helpful these days. They put me on NSAIDS, which only made matters worse. They put me on anti-depressants and that was a bad move, too. I go to a naturopath who on a daily basis deals with fibromyalgia patients. Not all naturopaths are good with fibro patients, though and insurance does not pay for my naturopath though we do have a flexible spending account that I use. Other supplements that I take are Omega (fish, NOT flax, there is a difference in how it works for fibro patients), Vitamin E, Barley formula made by Global DNA (it has stuff in it that regular barley does not), magnesium (extremely important for fibro patients), licorice paste (tastes awful by itself, put it in tea with honey). One other thing, a lot of fibro patients have low DHEA. You can get this tested by a naturopath who will give you what I call a spit test. You spit in a few vials over a period of a few days, freezing each vial until all are ready to go and then they are sent to a lab and analyzed. If your DHEA level is low (mine was nearly nonexistent), then you can take a supplement called BioSom, which is a sublingual spray.

I know it's a lot of stuff, BUT now that I'm to baseline and only have an occasional flare a couple, maybe a few times a year, it's WELL worth taking the daily supplements.

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THE JOURNEY

by Crystal Ward Kent

When you bring a pet into your life, you begin a journey � a journey that will bring you more love and devotion than you have ever known, yet also test your strength and courage.

If you allow, the journey will teach you many things, about life, about yourself, and most of all, about love. You will come away changed forever, for one soul cannot touch another without leaving its mark.

Along the way, you will learn much about savoring life�s simple pleasures � jumping in leaves, snoozing in the sun, the joy of puddles, and even the satisfaction of a good scratch behind the ears.

If you spend much time outside, you will be taught how to truly experience every element, for no rock, leaf or log will go unexamined, no rustling bush will be overlooked, and even the very air will be inhaled, pondered, and noted as being full of valuable information. Your pace may be slower � except when heading home to the food dish � but you will become a better naturalist, having been taught by an expert in the field.

Too many times we hike on automatic pilot, our goal being to complete the trail rather than enjoy the journey. We miss the details � the colorful mushrooms on the rotting log, the honeycomb in the old maple snag, the hawk feather caught on a twig. Once we walk as a dog does, we discover a whole new world. We stop; we browse the landscape; we kick over leaves, peek in tree holes, look up, down, all around. And we learn what any dog knows: that nature has created a marvelously complex world that is full of surprises, that each cycle of the seasons brings ever-changing wonders, each day an essence all its own.

Even from indoors you will find yourself more attuned to the world around you. You will find yourself watching summer insects collecting on a screen (How bizarre they are! How many kinds there are!), or noting the flicker and flash of fireflies through the dark. You will stop to observe the swirling dance of windblown leaves, or sniff the air after a rain. It does not matter that there is no objective in this; the point is in the doing, in not letting life�s most important details slip by.

You will find yourself doing silly things that your pet-less friends might not understand: spending thirty minutes in the grocery aisle looking for the cat food brand your feline must have, buying dog birthday treats, or driving around the block an extra time because your pet enjoys the ride. You will roll in the snow, wrestle with chewie toys, bounce little rubber balls till your eyes cross, and even run around the house trailing your bathrobe tie � with a cat in hot pursuit � all in the name of love.

Your house will become muddier and hairier. You will wear less dark clothing and buy more lint rollers. You may find dog biscuits in your pocket or purse, and feel the need to explain that an old plastic shopping bag adorns your living room rug because your cat loves the crinkly sound.

You will learn the true measure of love � the steadfast, undying kind that says, �It doesn�t matter where we are or what we do, or how life treats us as long as we are together.� Respect this always. It is the most precious gift any living soul can give another. You will not find it often among the human race.

And you will learn humility. The look in my dog�s eyes often made me feel ashamed. Such joy and love at my presence. She saw not some flawed human who could be cross and stubborn, moody or rude, but only her wonderful companion. Or maybe she saw those things and dismissed them as mere human foibles, not worth considering, and so chose to love me anyway.

If you pay attention and learn well, when the journey is done, you will not be just a better person, but the person your pet always knew you to be � the one they were proud to call beloved friend.

I must caution you that this journey is not without pain. Like all paths of true love, the pain is part of loving. For as surely as the sun sets, one day your dear animal companion will follow a path you cannot yet go down. And you will have to find the strength and love to let them go. A pet�s time on earth is far too short � especially for those that love them. We borrow them, really, just for awhile, and during those brief years they are generous enough to give us all of their love � every inch of their spirit and heart, until one day there is nothing left.

The cat that only yesterday was a kitten is all too soon old and frail and sleeping in the sun. The young pup of boundless energy wakes up stiff and lame, the muzzle now gray. Deep down we somehow always knew this journey would end. We knew that if we gave our hearts they would be broken. But give them we must for it is all they ask in return. When the time comes, and the road curves ahead to a place we cannot see, we give one final gift and let them run on ahead � young and whole once more.

�Godspeed, good friend,� we say, until our journey comes full circle and our paths cross again.

Hey, I have extremely bad fibro too, have for the last 10 or more years. Well, at least they say it's fibro, but it doesn't come and go. The pain is always extremely bad and never ever goes away. I have days when I can barely walk or get up out of bed along with very limited activities. I can no longer do at least 50% of the things I used to do even simple house cleaning.

I went through an enormous amount of testing and saw multiple doctors who gave me worthless medications that did nothing or just made me more sick and brushed me off. Like in your post you said they are giving you a Medrol Dosepak? Why on earth would they give you that? Fibro is not an inflammatory condition and steroids will not do anything unless you have other comorbid conditions such as arthritis, lupus, etc. Steroids cause all sorts of damage to your body, and if they are not helping you or you don't have other conditions, I absolutely would not take them. Another thing they like to do is put you on NSAIDs. Again, these do absolutely nothing for the fibro and can do irreversible damage to your GI system, kidneys, etc.

The only way I can live and function to do absolutely anything is because I am on daily narcotic pain medications. It took me a long time and several physicians to finally be referred to a pain management clinic that would actually help me. It is inconvenient due to the ridiculous laws in this state regarding chronic pain patients, as I have to go once every month, but again, that's the only way I can function. So, I would definitely suggest you see a pain management specialist or a pain clinic. Regardless of what some of these ignorant doctors say, you don't have to "live with the pain," or take numerous expensive medications that just do more damage than good. It may take a while depending on where you live to find a knowledgable pain management doctor with compassion and you may have to go to several different ones until you find the right fit, but eventually hopefully you can find one. It can be very discouraging at times when you are in agony and doctor after doctor won't help you, but just don't take no for an answer. You deserve not to live a life full of pain.

Good luck to you. I really hope you find something that can provide you with some relief.

Believe me, I feel your pain, literally. I have been misunderstood more times than I care to mention, even by family. Sometimes people think they know better than I how I feel. I have lived with this for several years, and I know what I am feeling and talking about. Actually I have always felt we have a great responsibility regarding our body and state of health; that is, to report what is going on, and most importantly to give the best history possible to our physicians. Sadly, this is still a diagnosis that is misunderstood and even questioned by some health professionals. My friend's husband looks at me every now and then and makes me go through the whole thing again after he asks me with doubt in his eye

I was diagnosed in January of this year by a rheumatologist after having problems starting last August that began with a rash and my GP did a battery of tests - the rheumatologist started me on 1500 mg of Relafen (which has greatly diminished the tender areas like my hip areas), I also take 150 mg of Zoloft, 600 mg of neurontin, 50 mg of Tramadol every 4 hours as needed (which do me has not really helped the pain 100%, but it does lessen it a good bit) and I take a muscle relaxer at bedtime and sometimes during the time. These meds do not zap me and I feel more functional with them than before. I also take Halcion if I am unable to fall asleep, however, these days it seems that I am so exhausted that I have no problem sleeping as long as I am not hurting and the muscle relaxer at bedtime seems to help with that. Of course now that my inflammatory markers are at a near normal range I am walking 30 minutes a day and have begun stretching exercises 15 minutes in the morning, 15 minutes at night to help with the muscles. The rheumatologist has said that all of these will change as the fibro progresses and I age (I'm only 33) but he said if we stay on top of it it should be very tolerable for me from now on - I am thankful to my GP for the referral to this doctor because I have read of so many stories where the GP ignored the patient's complaints only putting them on powerful pain meds and not really getting to the source of the problem or telling them that there is nothing wrong or nothing they can do...I feel now that the pain is being managed, my biggest complaint is being tired at doing the simplest of things - like folding clothes - I feel that I need to rest after I do that - whereas before it was just a normal thing. My rheumatologist has stressed that sleep/rest is very important so he says when your body tells you to stop and rest - do it - whatever it is you have on your to do list can wait - otherwise you're gonna really feel bad and then nothing on your to do list will get done. I see my rheumatologist every 3 months right now and he says once I am doing okay on the meds and everything seems in check we'll go to every 6 months and then yearly until something goes out of whack and my treatment needs changing - he seems to really be on top of things.

As far as I know no carpal tunnel syndrome but my ribs are about to kill me today and I have noticed my arms, hands, fingers and the like giving me the blues. I have no pain at night, only when I lay my wrists down on my desk to type , they really hurt so bad and the elbows hurt and the arms, guess I am wearing out. If anyone else has similar problems, let me know. I took something for the fibro a little while ago and it seems to have stopped that really bad pain when I rest my wrists. Thanks

years ago. You mention the pain is in your ribs. When I was diagnosed that was not one of the key points, of which there are many. I have pain all over, really. I have very much pain in my neck, wrists, elbows, shoulders, lower back, etc. I have terrible burning and pain in my muscles in my arms and legs as well. I have advanced osteoarthritis and chronic fatigue, which can also accompany fibromyalgia, as I am sure you know. Symptoms can certainly vary from one patient to another. I wish you luck and success in your efforts to control pain. I wish I had the answer for everyone suffering daily with chronic pain.

and know what you are going through. I read somewhere that it is impossible do describe the pain, and that is how I feel. It is a gnawing, pulling, burning, aching, fatigue all the time. No one has helped, and what meds I have tried gave too many other bad side effects, stomach upset, etc.

You can't plan someone's whole life for them, or tell them they are ruining it because they have chosen a different path than you chose for them. She has to make her own mistakes and learn things in her own way. What you might call a ruined life could end up making her very happy in the long run. You do not have a crystal ball in that regard. Everyone has had a "bad boyfriend" or several and its a learning process. You can't choose who someone else is attracted to.

When I had children I realized they will not be a carbon copy of me, they will have their own experiences, feelings, etc. from day one. I made up my mind when my child was little that even though I might not like or agree with my child's life choices, I'm just going to have to grit my teeth and bear it. Its about what makes them happy, not about what makes ME happy.

You know, I saw that plastic snowman in the window straight off! We had one like that when I was a kid too! I think we had a halloween decoration or two made out of that same funky chippy plastic. Very retro! Thanks for posting the picture!