Healing from Fibromyalgia Step 2: Finding the Right Pain Medication

The often long and arduous journey towards receiving a fibromyalgia diagnosis is, unfortunately, just one step in the direction towards restored health. After I received my diagnosis of fibromyalgia, I was elated and felt a great sense of relief. Finally! Now the doctors would be able to give me some sort of prescription or treatment plan than would catapult me back to health. Oh how I wish I could go back in time and warn my young, naive self - the self who still believed in the omniscience of doctors - that there was still a long way to go. Upon receiving a diagnosis with fibromyalgia, I soon found out that there is no treatment plan, and that the main way most physicians treat the syndrome is through prescription pain medication. Althought, as with all fibromyalgia treatments, finding the right pain medication was trial and error. And boy, did I have to try A LOT of prescriptions before I found the one that worked for me.

From the onset of my illness in 2009, I immediately began receiving prescriptions for pain relief, and it took me two years until I found THE medication for me. Luckily, all of that painful trial and error was worth it; however, I do not wish that long of a wait on anyone. Finding the right medication to relieve pain is a crucial step in recovery. Until I received the proper pain medication, I felt as though I were waiting to die. I had no hope, no specific treatment plan to follow, and lived in continuous, excruciating pain. When I finally found that one, specific prescription to help ease my pain, I felt as though my life were back on track. Within a few weeks I was able to get up and move around. And as the pain faded, hope returned. Pain medication can be the key is restoring a sense of control and mobility in life. With the decrease in pain, I was then able to start forming a plan to treat the overall health of my body. I was able to get up, move around, and begin working towards regaining strength and stamina.

So, how do you find the right medication for you? 

Currently, there are three FDA-approved medications for the treatment of fibromyalgia pain.; Lyrica, Cymbalta, and Savella. Lyrica (Pfizer Inc) was the first medication to recive FDA-approval in June of 2007. Originally, "approved to treat seizures, as well as pain from damaged nerves that can happen in people with diabetes (diabetic peripheral neuropathy) and in those who develop pain following the rash of shingles," Lyrica was found to also be effective in decreasing the level of wide-spread pain in fibromyalgia patients. Now a popular drug, often seen in television commercials, Lyrica was the beginning of FDA-approved drugs which had positive responses in some fibromyalgia patients.

The next drug to be approved by the FDA was Cymbalta, which received it's approval one year later in June of 2008.  Like Lyrica, Cymbalta was not originally created to treat fibromyaliga patients. The original use of Cymbalta was to aide those who suffered from depression, anxiety, or diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Cymalta works to boost the brain chemicals serotonin and norepenepherine. "Serotonin and norepinephrine work together in the brain and spinal cord to tone down pain-related messages" *  Increasing serotonin and norepenephrine aide the body's ability to fight pain.

Similar to Cymbalta, Savella also works as a serotonin and norephenephrine booster. Savella was the first drug whose original purpose was created to help fight the pain of fibromyalgia patients. Recieving FDA-approval in 2009, Savella acts similar to those drugs used to treat depression and anxiety, but is not prescribed as such.

Each one of these FDA-approved drugs has the possibility of helping fibromyalgia patients, but they also have negative side effects. Typical side effects include:

1. Lyrica: "sleepiness, dizziness, blurry vision, weight gain, trouble concentrating, swelling of the hands and feet, and dry mouth. Allergic reactions, although rare, can occur."*
2. Cymbalta: "side effects include nausea, dry mouth, sleepiness, constipation, decreased appetite, and increased sweating ... Like some other antidepressants, Cymbalta may increase the risk of suicidal thinking and behavior in people who take the drug for depression" *
3. Savella: " Side effects include nausea, constipation, dizziness, insomnia, excessive sweating, vomiting, palpitations or increased heart rate, dry mouth and high blood pressure" *

Although Lyrica, Cymbalta, and Savella are the only three prescriptions that have received FDA-approval for the treatment of fibromyalgia, there are many other prescriptions which have also been helpful in fibromyalgia patients. Muscle relaxants such as Xanaflex or Flexeri may be prescribed, as well as other serotonin boosters like Prozac, Lexapro, and Zoloft. In my experience with prescritption medications, serotonin boosters were unhelpful and created the most uncomfortable side effects of all those I had tried. Unlike Cymbalta or Savella (which boost BOTH serotonin and norepenepherine) prescriptions like Prozac only boost serotonin levels, which may increase energy - but does not decrease pain.

Overall,finding the correct pain medication is as hard of a journey as was getting a diagnosis. Often the medications will give you adverse reactions and side effects, and you will have to go through many until you find that one pill which gives you none. For me, it took two years, but I am hoping that for others their wait will be much less. Finding the tools to decrease wide spread pain is a fundamental building block towards rebuilding your body to total health.

This blog was sourced from the FDA website and the Fibromyaliga Network. If you would like to read their articles or look for further information, please follow the links below

1. FDA
2. Fibromyalgia Network

 Until Next Time,
Feast From Within