I have tried it all - the medications, the massages, the physical therapy, surgeries, the entire gambit. Over a million dollars spent on my body between chronic pain management, surgeries, alternative therapies (lots and lots of massages, acupuncture, etc.).

Gapapentin and psychotropics are the worst things I ever took. Some helped, most made me tired and stupid. But this is my body - not everyone is me, so they might help you. I have had the rheumatologist put me on medications that make me so sick that I couldn’t move. I agree with the person who posted on here that it is all in the gut. Cleaning up one’s diet, getting rid of inflammation causing foods including sugar, and eating fresh, healthy foods is key. I recently went to a naturopath who is treating me for Lyme, which I was finally diagnosed with after being told it looked like I had it by my orthopedic surgeon 25 years ago. Getting a Lyme diagnosis is difficult unless u walk into the doctor’s office with a bullseyes rash with a tick hanging in the middle of it. Pardon my pessimism, but like I said, I have been through it. When I first started Lyme treatment I thought I was going to die. But now I’m over the initial die off and I have energy for the first time in years. I don’t know if it will last because I also have Behçet’s Disease (a rare vasculitis) - I don’t know if it will ultimately cure me - but I’m going to keep working with my naturopath and PCP. Also, CNN posted an article yesterday where the pentagon has requested records from the military, saying they found information that the US military weaponized ticks to carry diseases between 1950 and 1977 in New York. Interesting that is where the majority of Lyme cases are. We are seeing them in Oregon now. I will be watching this closely since this is such a hot spot topic for the cdc.

Also, I have seen the ads for the new test for fibromyalgia. I always question new things until they are tested tried and true because there is a lot of money to be made for the companies who have a “94% totally accurate test”. Are there false positives, negatives, do they know? I’m taking a wait and see for that test before I take it. I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia in 1992, when it was all in my head, they said. That’s when I started five years of physical therapy, massage, Rolfing and other treatments five times a week, which kept me moving, until I couldn’t afford them and all the pain came back.

The horrible thing is that the only drug that has ever really helped has been opioids. And they are being criminalized now, as we all know.

I have been struggling with these issues for so long - I get hope, I get worse, there’s a new drug, there’s this and that - but I personally find diet, exercise, and non-western medicine help the most. When I can afford them! Pessimism is me as so many of these treatments have ruined my life.