Medication side effects - Fibromyalgia Video Transcripts
Video 1 Transcript
A lot of people with fibromyalgia take a lot of different types of medicines. I am on the lowest dose of Cymbalta. It not only is meant for bipolar, but what they do, they are finding that a lot of the bipolar medications that are used also help fibromyalgia. It deadens the nerve endings and the synapses where all the pain happens. I've been on the lowest dose for over 10 years. I found that my diet is the main source of getting rid of, stay away from nightshade vegetables, eat lean and green, green vegetables, and I'm not talking eggplant because that's nightshade. I'm talking lettuce, spinach, broccoli, celery, those type of green vegetables, green beans, and lean meat.
Video 2 Transcript
I've tried multiple different kinds of medications for the pain I'm in. We've kind of settled with just painkillers right now because there is no nerve pain killer that works on me. I tried the gabapentin and they made me so drowsy that I couldn't... Like, we've already got fatigue and then there's that added onto it. I'm just, like, unbelievably, like, stuck in bed. And then you get amitriptyline, which does the same thing. I'm on duloxetine now, but not for pain.
Video 3 Transcript
When you're starting to take medications, especially for the first time, you want to make sure that you pay very close attention to the medication side effects and probably would be beneficial to make sure that you register all of your medications on the website drugs.com so that you're able to see if any of your medications do interact with the others and then to make sure that you know if they're heavy interactors or if they're not, it's not that big of a deal. And then those that are pretty significant interacting medications, you want to make sure that you get back with your doctors very quickly so that you don't have any serious side effects from those medications. Some of them can be pretty rough on your bodies. So I would encourage that you, I encourage you to make sure that you register your drugs on those.
Video 4 Transcript
I've been lucky, I should say. I'm on Cymbalta, and that helps. And then I also take Flexerol every day, and that definitely helps. If you don't like a med, tell your doctor immediately. I was put on Lyrica, gained 50 pounds in five months. That was four years ago, and I still haven't lost it. I'm trying, but it just doesn't want to come off. That's usually a side effect for everybody is the weight gain, and that just makes you hurt more. It really sucks. So just talk to your doctor if you don't like something. That's what I've done.
Video 5 Transcript
Recently I had a side effect of sensitivity to smell in which I actually ended up dry heaving so hard that I thought I was going to throw up but I didn't and this happened a few times. I posted on Facebook just to see if anyone else had this reaction and multiple people said that they did. So I talked to my doctor and it did end up being a side effect of the medication and I talked to my doctor and he changed the medication and it's only been a few days but they have not had the reaction and I always say check with other people to see if they've had the reaction. Don't just trust what you're reading online and when you talk to your doctor let them know what's going on and see if there's a change because what happens for one person doesn't always happen for another person.
Video 6 Transcript
So I'm fairly new to my fibromyalgia diagnosis. I was only officially diagnosed about a month ago. However, this has been a long ongoing journey for me and what I have found to be one of the most frustrating but also most important aspects about medication is being really clear on what the side effects are and how they can affect you. I'm on anxiety medication. I was on Prozac and now I'm on Lexapro and I found that the side effects of the Prozac, particularly the nausea and the side effects with sleep sweating, were almost impossible for me to handle and my doctor was not willing to speak with me about that. And so I went and found another doctor within my network and my primary care physician was actually very quick and very helpful to get me off the medication that was causing harm. So definitely be on the lookout for those kinds of medications and if your doctor is not willing to talk to you about it, talk to one of your other doctors.
