I've just been diagnosed with fibromyalgia. I told my doc that I didn't know anything about it, whereupon she kinda laughed and said that the medical profession doesn't know much about it, either...including what causes it or even exactly what it is. The few minutes of reading I did online earlier told me very little, but this does explain some problems that I've had for a long time.

If any of you folks have dealt with this issue, I would appreciate any advice that you have to give. I've started on Lyrica, and I'm hoping for the best.

I was diagnosed with it too....may years ago. I changed my diet and sleeping habits and got ALOT of relief. First, I came off of the caffine. I wasnt sleeping more than 1-2 hours at a time. Sleep an hour wake up for 3...sleep another hour...wake up for 2...sleep an hour and get up for work....it is killer and horrible on the system. I also came off of red meat and fats. I went fresh veggies and white meat sparingly. I got better soooooo quick when I finally buckled down and did it. I have learned that for me....I cant drink too many canned soda's either...or other foods from cans. I just about have to do frozen. I think it has to do with the metals in the cans and such. My advice is to play around with your diet. See what seems to affect you. The way it was explained to me is....fibro is like having arthritis in your soft tissues. It is an immune system malfunction. Look for what is short circuiting your immune system. Try to make changes and see if that helps....oh yeah, lots of resting.

I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia 15 years ago. I went from being so sick I couldn't get up and couldn't work to working full-time again and feeling better than I have in years.

I changed my diet too, went off almost all processed foods and dairy. I also learned too that for me exercise(even slow moderate exercise) was crucial. Also (HUGE thing for me) learn not to stress over every little thing. With fibro sometimes stress, (or the way you react to it,) can make you very sick.

I've never taken anything for it but NSAIDS or prednisone ...what does Lyrica do?

Also blessings to you and if you need to talk give me a yell!!!

First, thanks to the ladies who have responded, both on the board here and by PM. It helps just to know that someone is concerned.

I've taken NSAIDS for a couple of years now for back pain, but they've started to give me the worst bellyache ever. No more NSAIDS for me! So far Lyrica puts me to sleep. I've only been taking it a couple of days, though, so perhaps I'll get used to it.

The constant muscle spasms are GONE, and my back pain may have improved just a little. Again, that's only in a couple of days. I wish that I had something to help with the brain fog! If I have to give up caffeine, I'll be totally brain dead.

Mostly, I feel like I need a massage. Every hour or two would be nice.

I question how much exercise that I can take, because I'm already on my feet for roughly 6 hrs out of my 8 hr shift. On a concrete floor. I walk quite a bit at work, too. When I get out of there, I've got nothin' left in me!

Now, about that massage...

Awww honey I'm sorry you're sick.

My aunt has a mild version of Fibro and the massage thing actually helps her so you're not far off the mark. When I lived closer I'd go over in the mornings after Katie went to school and massage her from tip to toes with a homemade mixture of capsicum and wintergreen oil. She seemed much less tired and achy after that and it actually made her average glucose level go down. I also took her off canned food, no fake fats, no fatty meats, and had her take a supplement of Chondroitin and Glucosamine since she seemed to think that her arthritis was causing the pain even when it was explained to her that it didn't. It helped her, but I'm still not sure if it wasn't a placebo effect. The brain fog was the hardest to deal with since she's on a bunch of medications and needed to remember to take them regularly. We discovered that her body temp had lots to do with the fuzziness and lack of focus, so I had her take Tylenol twice a day to lower her "fever" by a few degrees and it seemd to help. The major breakthrough we had was having her take Ginko Biloba with her morning medicines. If you want me to I'll look for the sites where I bought all the homeopathic stuff and I'll also call my friend Wendy (kitchen witch who helped with Byrdie's stuff) and see if she can remember any of the research we did. Also, if you just wanna whine, hit me up and I'll listen and try to make ya laugh.

Fibrofog totally sucks.

There's a place near where I work, in a really dicey area of South Memphis, called Dr. Champion's. The good Dr. is old as dirt and actually IS a pharmacist, but he specializes in more nontraditional medicine. From what I understand, the combination of the two can be pretty awesome. I may gather up my little bag of meds sometime this week and head down there for a consult.

The Lyrica may be a blessing in disguise. I was able to bend over and touch the floor without howling for the first time in over two years! And I swear this stuff has some weed in it somewhere- I'm high as a kite, and have the munchies. Then I go to sleep. I'm off on vacation this week, so folks will ask me what I did when I go back. I may tell them that I got stoned and missed it.