Update

Sorry it's been a little while since my last post. Fibro, again. It's interesting to try to write a blog about fibro while suffering from it and being sidelined by it. :-p

To update, I'm on a variety of different meds now.

I'm not taking Lexapro anymore due to still having anxiety issues, so I'm now on Prozac which is supposed to aid in keeping anxiety in check. I'm on what used to be the highest dosage, 20 mg, but just recently, as I was told by another doctor of mine, the highest dosage has been upped to 40, and I see my psychiatrist (who prescribes the Prozac to me) and I may just talk to him about upping it.

I'm on Trazadone, which I don't know if I've mentioned before. It's an old antidepressant, but to get the full affect, you'd have to take such a large dose that you would be asleep 24/7, so it's now used as a sleep med. I'm on the highest dosage of that, I believe. I'm also on Sonata (20 mg, highest dosage), to help me fall asleep faster, while the Trazadone is supposed to help me sleep through the night. My psychiatrist had wanted me to stop taking the Trazadone because he felt the Sonata might be enough, but I completely forgot about that until last night, AFTER I had taken the Trazadone. So I'm going to start trying that tonight, even though I see him in a few days. I'll let him know then, and see if he wants to see me in like a week or two again to see how that's going or if I should get back on the Trazadone.

I'm on Keppra for my migraines, but it doesn't seem to help all that much. I mean, my headaches didn't seem as BAD as they usually were, so it seemed like the migraines are maybe dulled, but I'm still having headaches that are persistent and painful, and annoying, but not super bad like my migraines usually are. They still debilitate me and make me not want to do anything because I'm afraid to make them worse. :-p So I might be changing that med when I see my neurologist later this month.

I'm also on a med called Librax (generic Clidinium) for my IBS, which is an old old med, and I'm lucky to have doctors who KNOW a LOT about meds and can help me stay on the cheaper side with older meds that don't cost nearly as much as newer ones. It says to take 3 times daily, with each meal, but for me, taking it once a day, in the morning when I take all my other meds, really helps me.

Still on the Ritalin/Concerta. Also the CoQ10. Both are supposed to give me energy, and WERE when I was taking them later in the afternoon when I woke up so late, but I've been trying to get myself back on a "normal" sleep schedule, like going to bed around 9-10, at latest 11 or 12. But I wake up early, like 7-9 or so and can't get back to sleep, so try to "doze" for a few more hours, but never really sleep. So I'm still not getting much restful sleep, which sucks. But when I take them in the morning now, I don't feel any more energetic during the day, like I did at night. It's strange, and baffling.

Still on the Lamictal, now on 200 mg (not sure if that's the highest), and don't really feel moody, so I guess it's helping?

I've also been doing a lot of growing mentally and emotionally on my own, so it's hard to tell what's meds or just my own growth. :-p Sometimes I wonder if I really need all the meds I take because I'm improving my mental state. But that's something that I will have to talk to my doctors about.

I also take Vistaril, for anxiety, occasionally, when I used to take Xanax. But I didn't want to end up addicted to the Xanax, because I was having severe anxiety a LOT and was taking more Xanax than my doctor prescribed for me to take. So this new med is supposed to be less addictive but still helps. What's strange is that I've also been having issues that seems like vertigo, which I've been diagnosed with before, and my primary tried to prescribe Vistaril to help the fluid behind/in my ears drain out so my vertigo symptoms diminish, but I don't know what HIS instructions for taking it were. :-p

I also have Meclizine prescribed by my primary to treat the vertigo symptoms, and he also prescribed me a nausea med, because I've been dealing with that too, almost every day, but I don't know if taking it every day is okay.

My fibro-fog has been SERIOUSLY bad. I'm having such cognitive issues that are frustrating and really getting to me. I can't focus, can't concentrate, can't follow even slightly complex conversations, and constantly have to ask people to repeat themselves not because I didn't hear them, but because I couldn't comprehend or process it the first time. I honest to God forget what I'm doing AS I'm doing it, and no matter how hard I try, I CAN'T remember why I was doing it. I forget what I'm saying as I'm saying it and have a hard time trying to pick up where I left off, and sometimes I can't even remember that either. I wander around aimlessly and can't remember what I'm thinking sometimes, losing my "train" so easily. I have to write myself notes only I forget about the notes completely. It's just mind-boggling. Not pun intended. Though that is pretty funny I thought of that particular phrase while writing about this particular topic. ;)

I might have to have brain scans and analysis JUST to make sure it IS fibro-fog, but even if it does end up being fibro fog, I'm kinda screwed, because I don't know if there is any way to treat this. I have been wanting to try to go back to school, starting out with online courses, and I'm not sure if I could handle it with this kind of cognitive issues.

I wish more research was being done into this particular "condition" but sometimes, it's even hard to find DOCTORS who actually BELIEVE that fibro EXISTS! Sigh. And trying to get on Disability or anything like that is almost impossible with fibro, because most "experts" the "court" will call on (since you will probably have to get to the court stage of disability filing) will deny that fibro exists or is "psychological" and "all made up" in our "heads". Because there is no "definitive" tests that PROVE fibro exists. It's pretty ridiculous.

But don't lose hope or give up. Don't EVER let fibro get the better of you. Fight it until your last breath. Because this condition is not worth letting your life be ruined. Yes, it will be hard. And yes, it will drag you down. But there are GOOD days and BAD days. And you just have to accept that and keep on keeping on.