Guest guest Posted July 16, 2004 Report Share Posted July 16, 2004 Ivy, Have you talked with your Dr. about fibromyalgia? Cramping and muscle spasms are part of that illness, and it mimics arthritis in a number of ways, and is frequently misdiagnosed. Muscle realxers do wonders for fibro. There is a medical disagreement over whether fibro is or isn't an auto-immune disease, and whether or not anti-inflammatories help or not. When my fibro is flaring, anti-inflammatories do help. But I also need to take the muscle relaxers and painkillers. I know people who only take pain meds for it, and some who only take muscle relaxers. Like so many others things, it all depends on how our bodies react to various meds. I too have the wonderful puffiness from taking pred also. The one thing that helps is taking diuretics. If you don't want to take meds, you can use foods that have a diurretic effect, such as cranberry juice, parsley (I chop a lot up and put it in chicken noodle soup), and some teas. I hope you get a definite diagnosis and meds that can help. Dix [ ] Unsure of myself > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > I have what is a problem to me that I'd like some advice on. > > > > > > Like pretty much everyone here, I have good days and bad days. > > > Unfortunately, there have been a lot more bad days recently than good > ones. > > > I have meds I can take, but tend to be cautious about narcotic > painkillers. > > > I also have muscle relaxers for my fibro, and valium for my AS when the > > > inflammation starts pinching the nerves. I try to take only what I need > to > > > bring it down to a tolerable level. Sometimes, even 2 Percocet doesn't > have > > > much of an impact. And that's something I rarely do - take 2 of a med. > > > > > > So, on the trally bad days, when it hurts just to walk, I'll go > back > > > to bed and put on a relaxing CD. Sometimes, I'll end up spending most of > the > > > day in bed. > > > > > > And I feel guilty when I spend a lot of time in bed. I think it > goes > > > back to my childhood when I was told literally every day that I wasn't > good > > > enough and I would never be good enough. Spent 15 years in therapy > getting > > > rid of most of the " ghosts " . > > > > > > I was also taught that there was always someone worse than I > was. My > > > Dad was fully fused from AS and worked full time. Of course, he took > massive > > > amount of prednisone and painkillers to be able to do so, and died at age > 51 > > > from the side effects of all those meds. It's one of the reasons I watch > my > > > meds. > > > > > > But I know there are people all over the world who have many, > many > > > more problems than I do, and a lot of them have no meds to help them out. > > > > > > So, the bottom line is that I don't know if I should be pushing > > > myself more than I do on the bad days, or if I should find a way to stop > > > feeling guilty for resting on those days. > > > > > > Any help would be most appreciated. > > > > > > Dix > > > > > > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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