← Return to Gabapentin and duloxetine
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Chronic Pain | Last Active: Oct 19, 2023 | Replies (14)
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Replies to "Are you taking gabapentin for Fibromyalgia? I am trying to decide which medication, if any, I..."
I don't know what advice to give... it seems the nature of the pain beast is that it's not well understood, there are many causes/reasons for it, what treatments there are have undesirable side effects (sometimes serious ones) and what works for some doesn't work for others.
There are treatments from acupressure/acupuncture through yoga and Zumba and none work for everyone - most work for only a minority of pain patients.
The impression I get is that it all is trial and error until you find something that works - without causing other problems. Then you hope that stays working.
The only thing I've found helpful is to pay attention to things that trigger FM pain flares and then avoid them. Mine is consistently between 2-3 on a 10 point pain scale, but flare-ups can bump up to 9 and last a week or longer. Pain relievers do nothing during a flare-up. Those flare-ups cause pain literally everywhere, which is why I think the nervous system is wacky.
My biggest trigger is excessive bending like doing fall yard cleanup. I don't know how much is too much though until 4-6 hours afterwards.
I don't think my note here was very helpful other than to say to go ahead and carefully experiment. Some people swear by gabapentin or duloxetine, others swear at it. Keep in mind that dosage is also a trial and error situation.
All the best. Good luck.