Sleeping Beauty/Zombieland

Hey everyone,

I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving. I have lots of updates to share.

First, I had my pain clinic follow up a couple of weeks ago. Thankfully, I've realized that my memory has gone down the tubes so I now carry around a journal to make sure that I document all of my appointments, as well as how I feel every day. Anyway, here's what I wrote in my journal from that visit:

Current symptoms:

• All over pain, primarily in my wrists, ankles, fingers, lower back, feet, clavicles, left shoulder, and sometimes neck
• Trouble sleeping (2-4 hours at a time max)
• Increased migraines due to lack of sleep
• extreme fatigue 3-4 days per week where I can't find the energy to do ANYTHING
• Bladder pain resurfacing

New info for Doctor:

• Joined the Y--started water walking and Aqua Zumba classes
• Found a massage therapist that specializes in fibro pain

Questions:

• What are the differences between Cymbalta and Lyrica for Fibromyalgia pain?
• Can I discontinue Gabapentin?
• Tizanadine is not effective for sleeping or pain any longer...what else can be prescribed to help me sleep/reduce stress and fatigue?
• Can I get a prescription for the Y? (so that my Health Savings Account can foot the bill)

The results:

• I was referred to a Urologist/Gynecologist, which are extremely rare and hard to get into, though I was able to get a January 27th appointment
• We decided that Cymbalta was the better of the two prescriptions for me to try for Fibromyalgia
• I have a year-long prescription for the Y. (YAY!!!!!!!!)
• I received another Percoset refill...90 pills for 30 days
• I received a prescription for Amatryptaline to help me sleep
• A DVD was on its way to me in the mail so that I could check out the recommended next step of spinal stimulation (Implantable stuff...yikes, yikes, YIKES!)

So, onto my blog title, which usually takes me forever to get to in my posts. I started Cymbalta and I have been doing almost nothing but sleeping since the day I started taking it. Every time I start getting used to it, I have to increase the dose!!!! The Amitryptaline made my sleepiness even worse, so I've stopped taking that for the moment. The kicker? I STILL can't fall asleep at night because my pelvic pain sets in during the evening and then I can't relax enough to catch my Z's until late into the night. So, while my husband somehow thinks I'm cute and Sleeping Beauty-like, the reality is that I'm a drooling, make-up free, smelly, tangled hair mess just about all of the time. Fortunately, I'm at my max dose now and I've been able to stay awake for an entire day and evening, though I haven't left the house yet because I feel like driving would be unsafe. I can't wait until next week to see if I'm feeling any better.

Until next time,

-S