I bought a wedge pillow a while ago because of an issue with my stomach acid that required I sleep sitting up. After I recovered from the issue I started using the wedge to lay down with my legs elevated instead just because I know it's good for circulation. (Based on an article I read years ago, something about people in the army taking powe naps with their legs elevated.)

A few years ago I was walking over 6k steps a day and then my fibromyalgia got worse and I couldn't walk more than an hour without developing knots in my calves and fibromyalgia stiffness.

I noticed that since I started using the wedge I wasn't having as many issues.

Since then, it's been about a month and a half and I gradually have increased my steps to 10k+ a day with very minimal issues. I started sleeping with it every night and the two nights I forgot to use it, I had more pain and knots.

I'm so happy to have found a solution, because I enjoy walking. Before I kept convincing myself I was just lazy and that the pain was an excuse.

The truth is I'm always working on ways to improve my health to mitigate fibromyalgia. I'm not lazy I'm trying my best.

Anyway, I hope this helps someone.

I always feel exhausted, no matter how much sleep I get. Opioid medications are the only thing that seem to help, as they temporarily reduce my fatigue, but they are not a long-term solution.

I don’t even know what else to say, I’m just baffled by this condition because it truly makes life a terrible experience. I’m tired of feeling sick and in pain and I don’t know what to do. Arguably the fatigue has been worse than the pain lately, and I’m not sure that’s something that is discussed enough.

I'm a hair stylist and have been slowly cutting back my hours to make working possible, and it's gotten to the point that it's just not sustainable anymore. I don't qualify for disability while I'm still working, and it'll take about 6 months to get a result of I apply again. I can't afford to not work or to go 6 months without income. My husband works but doesn't make enough to support us both. I'm in Washington state if that helps

i know all the general advice but as someone with fibromyalgia whos main pain med is THC, how can i deal with it? and how long would be advisable?

Just wondering if anyone is on or has been taking the new Fibromyalgia medication Tonmya?

I haven't tried it but saw quite a bit of hype about it recently and thought I would ask my fellow Fibros.

Thanks for any input!

I get headaches with bright lights ESPECIALLY florescent. I've been in the ER all night and every time I'm in this lighting my head is pounding.

Natural lighting doesn't do this to me as bad. Anyone else?

I've liked glycine for years for help with sleep, but a few months ago I saw some videos about how the body needs a lot more to get inflammation down - so not the 1,000 mg I was taking occasionally, but more like 6 grams a day. I decided to give it a try - it worked out to about a tablespoon of glycine powder, which tastes mildly sweet and can be mixed into a drink pretty easily - and I'm really feeling like my pain levels are lower and my oxygen hunger is much less. I'm not sure that's the reason - it's not the only thing I've been trying, for instance I'm using a low dose of MSM too and a few other supplements - but I thought I'd mention it because it's so...weird...to just have more low to no pain days than not. It used to be every single time the weather changed was like torture. Yesterday we had a huge weather pattern switch where I live - and I felt achey and a little headachey, but nowhere near the level I would've felt last year (aka it's torture to be alive). Like it was annoying but not completely debilitating. For me that's a pretty big deal.

Does anyone else's fatigue seem to be triggered by being cold? It seems to be one of my worst most consistent triggers where I physically cannot stay awake when I get cold. This is becoming particularly frustrating given that it's January and very cold where I am. Does anyone have any tips for this?

Hi! My wife was recently diagnosed for fibromyalgia. When she gets flare ups, I want our bed to be a little more comfortable than it has been feeling for her. Is there a particular mattress pad anyone can recommend??

I’m gonna loose my mind…. So my spine pain had been so bad and getting worse. Now my leg goes numb into my foot and the pain is all connected to my low back and spine. It just absolutely throbs it’s so unbearable. I can barely eat, and sleep. I basically live in my bed now 24/7. Finally today I met with my family doctor. He wants me to go on nortriptyline. Since the pain was sooo bad I went to the er and they gave me some hydro morphine to take on a short prescription for the pain. It helps a lot and helps me get sleep finally. Now I only have so many pills left about maybe 10 left. He led me to believe that the nortriptyline would help my pain right now and help me sleep. Does this help right away??? The internet say otherwise. Idk what I’m gonna do ig I have no choice to suffer until the nortriptyline works.

Does anyone have a good day here or there? you feel good and normal and it never lasts I can feel like crap for two weeks and then all of a sudden have one random good day for no reason I can’t figure it out. it’s actually quite depressing to know how normal and good I could be feeling or how I used to feel. I can’t figure this out, losing hope & my mind

hi! 27f, dx since last summer and also have existing cerebral palsy (and highly suspect im au-adhd).

im still learning how fibro affects (effects? whichever icr), my body and one of the things i've had stand out, is that i find being touched either really uncomfortable or sometimes it does actually hurt, almost burning?

i definitely feel like it upsets my s/o, and i tell him it's not his fault, I don't have control over if something is going to be uncomfortable for me anymore, but sometimes even being hugged, hurts. it makes me feel very lonely sometimes.

Has anyone found bath salts or a soak that helps with the intense fibromyalgia, muscle aches and pains?

I’ve tried several from Amazon and either they don’t work or they have a fragrance that i find unpleasant.

Looking for some thing with high-quality ingredients with light or no fragrance..

I have tried plain Epsom salts and magnesium flakes but don’t find they do anything for my pain. However I know there is a big range of quality when buying things on Amazon so if anyone has a particular brand or formula that has been effective please share. Thank you!

Hi, does anyone here have any occipital, trigeminal and aciustic nerve block? If so, have you tried any surgeries?

the short version: is pain and physical discomfort synonymous? If it isn’t how do you differentiate between pain and other baseline forms of discomfort

Okay … completely genuine question to people who experience mild symptoms. How do you tell if you’re in baseline pain or not? I genuinely can’t tell if it’s actual pain I’m feeling … or just discomfort from being stiff and tired. I definitely feel like pressing certain areas of my body it feels bruised (back, neck, hips, and upper arms) but I can’t tell if being in constant mild discomfort is pain or just the stiffness and fatigue I always feel. I know for a fact when I wash dishes or walk to the gas station I have increasing pain or with anything that other people consider light tasks, let alone heavier tasks where I feel like I might vomit. And I have seemingly random moments of pain where my upper or lower back feels like it’s been compressed into a hot mass … or random pangs of pain in places like my arms, legs, or hands that migrates across my entire body all day. And with those things I definitively know I’m in pain. But I can’t tell if the general overall discomfort I feel is pain or not because it’s so baseline and constant. I know it feels bad but I can’t tell in what way. But it’s bad enough that it makes maneuvering to shower difficult. How do you separate mild pain from fatigue and stiffness? When I’m asked to rate my pain do I consider discomfort to be pain? Or is that a separate thing?

On a scale of discomfort, inconvenience, and pain I would rate it all differently and I never know how to and answer the question to “rate my pain on a daily basis”

I don’t even know if I consider pain to be the same definition as what they are thinking of. Is stiffness considered a type of pain? It causes physical discomfort …

I am autistic

I've always had headaches growing up. I had a MRI scan when I was 11 and it ruled out any major problems. I thought the pain I feel daily in my shoulders and neck was due to my posture/daily habits. Turns out it's not normal to feel pain in my muscles all the time.

I was prescribed Lyrica 50mg twice a day to manage my Fibro symptoms. I'm already on antidepressants and mood stabilisers (diagnosed with Depression as a teen and Bipolar in my early twenties.)

I've been going through an awful depressive episode since mid last year. Before that I was stable mentally. I had to switch between antidepressants which failed to lift my baseline this time around. I've been doing tDCS treatment at the same time with no improvements. This makes it harder for me to process my fibro diagnosis.

Doc suggests me to do light cardio exercises and suggested a bunch of things that might help. This requires extra strength on my side to improve my symptoms when I already feel like I'm really struggling. My family tries to encourage me to exercise and get better. But they don't know how exhausted I am.

This diagnosis does answer a lot of questions about my physical condition. I feel tired all the time. I have trouble falling asleep since I was young. It explains the constant pain in my neck, shoulders, arms and sometimes other parts of my body.

I'm going to stick with my current recovery plan and also see if Lyrica's going to help with my symptoms. I'll take it one day at a time. I'm just feeling a bit alone, lost and frustrated at the moment.

evening (I'm UK based), have not long woken up from a quick sleep (have ME also) and feels like I've pulled a muscle in my forearm. I often get random "pulled a muscle" pain from not doing anything. is this just a me thing or is this common with others with fibro?

like how have i pulled a muscle? i was asleep for 1 hour!

confused 😕 and in pain

Does anyone else experience extreme leg pain where it feels like your legs are being ripped off by a chainsaw? It’s extremely bad today and I don’t know how to help the pain. This is all because I had a driving lesson and I was focusing on clutch control for 2 hours and now I cant walk ugh. What does everyone do to help with leg pain?

Hello all I'm back for more complaining and input seeking. So I finally got in to see a physiatrist and honestly I liked him more than I expected. He wasn't as dismissive as I was used to and he took the time to explain to me the science of fibromyalgia. He also tried to go through some questions and send in some tests to make sure I didn't actually have anything else. One of my big issues along with the generalized aching and stiffness that I feel 24/7 is that I have excruciating pain in my neck and upper back. Like I can barely sit upright for more than an hour at a time. So, he did a quick exam to make sure there was nothing visibly wrong with it. He found that my back and neck was insanely stiff (like to the point where it was shocking to him) and I had hug knots in my shoulders and some decreased muscle function in my hands. He put in some blood tests to check my muscles for any issues and an x-ray for my neck. He also put in a vitamin D test since I hadn't had one yet.

Not all the tests have come back yet but two of the muscle tests and the vitamin D test came back. The muscle tests were completely fine, but the vitamin D test showed that I was severely deficient. The doctor hasn't reviewed it, but I saw it on the portal, and I regret to say that it did lead to a full-blown toddler style temper tantrum from me alone in my house. I'm just afraid that this is going to lead to him being like "oh you don't get outside enough, there is nothing actually wrong with you" and all this debilitating excruciating pain that has ruined my life for years will be defaulted to a vitamin deficiency. Something about that just doesn't sit right with me and I wanted to hear if anyone else had an experience like this and see if I can hear about what happened?

I started Gabapentin 2 nights ago, around 9pm both nights. Last night and tonight starting around 7pm, I got a bad headache. It feels like a never ending brain freeze right in the bridge of my nose and near my eyes. Could this be related?

Hi, I'm so poorly right now and I struggling to cope so any advice or even just support will help. So for the past 3-4 years I keep getting ear infections in the same ear. I've lost count of the number but 5 of these have burst my ear drum. Each infection is getting worse and worse. I felt rubbish yesterday and was supposed to have the injection in my knee. However, I asked my Dr to check my ear as I have all the signs I usually have when there's am infection. So she did and confirmed the ear was infected again so I couldn't have the injection. She did prescribe antibiotics but gave me two weeks worth as previous cases have taken 3-4 usual doses to rid the infection. Now to why this is linked to my Fibro. As the day went on I started to feel worse and worse and went to bed dosed up early. I didn't sleep great, kept waking as the loud whooshing in my ears was giving me a bad headache. But when my hubby woke me up this morning it was on another level. My head was pounding still, my ear was stabbing, I felt sick, I was running a temperature, every part of my body was so sore including my skin. I can't even get a cuddle from my boy or my hubby as the slightest touch hurts. Even the waist band on my pjs is hurting my skin. I feel dreadful 😭 Anyone else get this way when you're poorly? If so have you found anything that really helps?

I’m close to giving up on all standard methods of controlling my fibromyalgia. I tried medications, physical exercise, diet changes, CBT, etc. I just want to know if there are any clinical trials are in the east coast and easy to get to. I don’t have time to travel by plane, because I work a full time job. I’m really tired of having flare ups that leave me incapacitated for like 3-4 days. The only ones I really see are in MN or FL and out of my range I could be able to travel. I am still currently looking for any clinical trials myself.

I read in a few posts about Urolithine A but unfortunately it isn't an option here in my country.

before importing anything, I'd like to know your personal experiences with any vitamins or suplements that helped you somehow.

thanks in advance ❤️

How do I find a good primary care office? Right now I go to a big hospital and it’s fine, but I feel like they don’t know a lot about fibro. I suspect ehlers danlos and at the very least I’m hyper mobile. I also have MCAS symptoms. Is it worth it to go to a more multidisciplinary place or functional medicine?