Sleep wasn’t good, but at least I woke up late. That’s always a big help. I’m feeling worse as the day goes on. It’s not even noon yet and I feel the fibromyalgia ramping up. Spine pain wasn’t all that bad this morning, but I’m sure I’m paying for my cleaning efforts last night. So fucking stupid that I can’t even clean my apartment without guaranteeing a flare up. I started the day yesterday just wanting to chill and enjoy finally feeling a bit more normal, but by the end of the day I did the most basic things I need to do and I caused a flare up. This is so absurd. If I can’t clean my home, how can I live?
I sort of panic took Lyrica right when the flare started up. It’s something I’ve done over the last couple weeks, and it’s been helping. Lyrica always works for about a week, then it stops working and the pain and fibromyalgia come back in a magnified fashion. I’m always weary of taking the Lyrica at all because of that, but when it works, there is nothing more effective at fighting the fibromyalgia. I also feel like I don’t have adequate support from my doctors to properly dose the medication and give me enough refills. I’ve lost my medical coverage so many times, I can’t afford to take medications that you need to taper off of. I I have to taper, but don’t have a refill, the unplanned cold turkey quit would be very painful and difficult. This is the life of a chronic pain patient.
My pain management doctor won’t prescribe medication, and the rheumatologist wouldn’t prescribe anything either. The rheumatologist is the fibromyalgia specialist, and they would be the one I expect to manage the medication, but they won’t. That pushes the responsibility to the primary care doctor who is not a specialist. The patient then tells the primary doctor what to prescribe and you have to say, “The rheumatologist said to prescribe this…”. Doctors tend to not like people telling them what to do. I have seen 4 different doctors now at my primary doctor’s office. They have a revolving door of doctors there. I can never establish a relationship and trust with a doctor there in order to make these medication demands. The last doctor said she won’t prescribe it until I’m stable with taking it. How can I be stable without someone to prescribe it? It’s a catch 22, which is another place chronic pain patients live. There are so many cracks we constantly fall through.
The therapeutic dose for Lyrica for fibromyalgia is about 300mg per day. The prescription I have is for 50mg per day. I can only wonder what a proper dose would do for me. I also wonder how bad the withdrawals will be when I taper down, or when I have to quit because the doctor is no longer with the office and the new doctor won’t prescribe it to me. I’ve taken 100mg per day and it is more effective than 50. Go figure. But will the 300mg/day drop off after a week, just like the 50mg/day did?
I’m feeling a bit better as the day goes on. Very slowly, but better. It’s amazing how Lryica has the (occasional) ability to squash fibromyalgia flare ups in it’s tracks. Now I’m dealing with the side effects of the meds, but it’s not too bad. A heck of a lot better than fibromyalgia!
I finally played some of a new game that came out Tuesday. Nice game so far. I was having that nerve pain that drills through my fucking skull all the way from my sit bones. Like a fucking auger going from my ass hole to my brain, constantly spinning on full gas. I had to stop playing. Nerve pain and spasms are very similar. They are cut from the same cloth. They can both bring you to your knees within seconds if they get switched on. I had to hit the recliner, and I feel better after taking the load off my sit bones.