Fibromyalgia

britk65

I was diagnosed with fibro earlier this year. I am now 12 weeks 4 days pregnant. It seems the pain is unbearable sometimes. Anyone else dealing with this? How to ease the pain?

jk3610

are you receiving treatment from a doctor?  what do they say?

knlouis

no words of advice but T&P

AFrye0726

I'm right there with you.. 4 years of it so far.  They made me stop taking my meds for the baby.  Now they did say that I could take Zoloft - which was the original medicine for it, but I'm trying to stay away from as much medicine as possible, so I'm pushing through it.  There are days I feel perfectly fine and others where I lay in bed and cry.  

I'm praying for you as well.  Good luck.  I wish I knew what worked for both of us. 

JLaudio

I have no advice, nor am I educated on fibromyalgia, I only know it's unexplained pain. My T&Ps are with you and other sufferers, I hope you find some kind of relief.

kitc101

IF your doctor gives you the okay- try to find a licensed massage therapist in your area who specializes or has experience with fibromyalgia. Sometimes it really helps! Definitely get your doctor's approval first, though.

vickersh1

My old boss had this and was always in pain. I remember her going and getting a lot of massages. Maybe a thought to see if it will help relieve some of the pain. My T&P's are with you though - I can't imagine having it, let alone while being pregnant.

britk65

Jk3610 my Dr won't help me out at all. I told her I could barely walk sometimes and she had no suggestions. I'm thinking about getting a new Dr.

kayw2021

thoughts and prayers to you but I don't have any advice I'm sorry, I wish you a happy healthy pregnancy and that your pain gets a little easier to manage.

phoenixrising702

I wish I had some advice for you, but alas, I don't. I'm keeping you in my thoughts and prayers. *hugs*

Jaysway08

Unfortunately, allopathic medical doctors mostly provide medications, and you don't want to take medication. There is not much your doctor can do for you.

I agree with massage, and you could try tai chi and acupuncture as well. Both have been shown to decrease chronic pain.

MitoRachel

At one point in time I was misdiagnosed with fibromyalgia. Since my pain had a different source I'm not sure the cures would be the same. That being said, I have found eating a low inflammation diet to be hugely helpful. During pregnancy this would probably be the diet the ladies with Gestational Diabetes follow. Ask your doctor first to make sure lowering carbs would be okay without having GD. If muscle massage ends up being too much you might look into lymph massage. A physical therapist might also be able to help.

jk3610

britk65 said:

Jk3610 my Dr won't help me out at all. I told her I could barely walk sometimes and she had no suggestions. I'm thinking about getting a new Dr.

That sounds like a good plan...

ktrivisonno

I got my diagnosis 7 years ago and have done as much as I can on my own to deal with the pain without many medications. My top suggestions are 1. Walk. Swim. Anything active and low impact, even though it seems counter to how you feel and what you body feels like doing, continuing to move helps keep you moving and the endorphins are so worth it. Stretching and yoga (be careful and choose beginners poses and do not push yourself) also help. 2. Massages are a catch-22 in my experience. The right person can allivate your pain and the wrong one can increase it a billion fold. Personally I found them more trouble than they were worth but fibro is very individual so do your research on a massage therapist and give it a shot. 3. Sleep is insanely crucial to how you feel. Figure out your sweet spot of time, mine is 8 and half hours. Any more and I feel awful. Just as important is sleeping well, a good mattess is beyond important. Get yourself a bunch of pillows as well and use them to help align your lower back, support your hips, and knees- how ever you sleep depends on how you'll use them. 4. Good food. Drink water. Exclusively. Cut out all processed foods. Go organic and buy foods with ingredients you understand- I follow this simple rule- would someone 100 years ago know what this meal was made of? Would my great grandmother have been able to cook this? If either answer is no I stay away. I'm not perfect, but the better I eat the better my body feels and the easier the pain is to deal with. 5. Lastly, I take an anti-depressant and it really helps. With pregnancy my pain is worse as well and for the first 12 weeks I battled through without it (I had high ideals as a FTM) but it soon became clear that in my case the risk is worth it so I talked to my midwife and got back on a low dose, just enough to help me, But more than half less than what I would normally take. So even a small dose can help.
Be kind to yourself. Find a doctor or midwife who will work with you. You deserve a pregnancy that is not as rife with pain. If you have any questions feel free to ask me- you are not alone!

Charmainefoley

ktrivisonno said:

I got my diagnosis 7 years ago and have done as much as I can on my own to deal with the pain without many medications. My top suggestions are 1. Walk. Swim. Anything active and low impact, even though it seems counter to how you feel and what you body feels like doing, continuing to move helps keep you moving and the endorphins are so worth it. Stretching and yoga (be careful and choose beginners poses and do not push yourself) also help. 2. Massages are a catch-22 in my experience. The right person can allivate your pain and the wrong one can increase it a billion fold. Personally I found them more trouble than they were worth but fibro is very individual so do your research on a massage therapist and give it a shot. 3. Sleep is insanely crucial to how you feel. Figure out your sweet spot of time, mine is 8 and half hours. Any more and I feel awful. Just as important is sleeping well, a good mattess is beyond important. Get yourself a bunch of pillows as well and use them to help align your lower back, support your hips, and knees- how ever you sleep depends on how you'll use them. 4. Good food. Drink water. Exclusively. Cut out all processed foods. Go organic and buy foods with ingredients you understand- I follow this simple rule- would someone 100 years ago know what this meal was made of? Would my great grandmother have been able to cook this? If either answer is no I stay away. I'm not perfect, but the better I eat the better my body feels and the easier the pain is to deal with. 5. Lastly, I take an anti-depressant and it really helps. With pregnancy my pain is worse as well and for the first 12 weeks I battled through without it (I had high ideals as a FTM) but it soon became clear that in my case the risk is worth it so I talked to my midwife and got back on a low dose, just enough to help me, But more than half less than what I would normally take. So even a small dose can help.
Be kind to yourself. Find a doctor or midwife who will work with you. You deserve a pregnancy that is not as rife with pain. If you have any questions feel free to ask me- you are not alone!

What are you taking ktrivisonno? I was just diagnosed with FM which came on during my first pregnancy. I'm pregnant with number 2 and it came on insanely strong right away this time. Severe and chronic pain. Not able to function. I was prescribed 50 mg of Elival (amitripyline). I went to a high risk OB and she was confident in prescribing it and said it was fine. No adverse effects reported in her 15 years and research. I've been taking it for 4 days so far and have experience a reduction in pain but am still apprehensive. I'm 13 weeks along. Any experience from others would be great! Thanks.

swimgalk

I was diagnosed 12 years ago and on baby number 2. I found a chiropractor who was trained to work with pregnant women who was a huge help. I saw her once a week until the day before I gave birth and it was a huge help. I also took a lot of baths - helped me relax and helped with the nerve pain. I hope you find some relief!

britk65

Thank you so much everyone for your advice. This is my 1st pregnancy. So, I didn't know if this pain was normal or if it was from the fibro. Hearing that I'm not alone makes me feel like I'm not being ridiculous.