It's been a month since I found out I have Fibromyalgia. There are only 3 drugs approved for Fibromyalgia. I tried 1 pill of Cymbalta and it put me in a tailspin! I lost 8 lbs. of fluid in one evening (not in a good way), and spend the rest of the weekend trying to get myself rebalanced. Diarrhea throws my electrolytes out of whack and puts me in a crisis. That was fun... NOT!
So, I called the doc on Monday and let them know. Next drug. I took 5 pills of Lyrica before I said enough is enough! My brain fog was even worse. I had a very hard time thinking at all! I felt like a drunk! I staggered around in the night when I had to go to the bathroom, etc. No fun! I called the doc again. I went in to see him. Well guess what people? I'm sensitive to drugs! ;) So the nice doctor said he'd be too afraid to try any other drugs on me, for fear I'd go into an adrenal crisis. Good enough for me. I didn't like those drugs anyway!
I would encourage anyone with Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue, MS, or autoimmune diseases to look up Low Dose Naltrexone. It has helped me a lot, and I've only been on it a couple days. Is ALL of my pain gone? No... not yet, anyway. But, I'm not laying it bed 24 hrs. a day and feeling depressed and feeling like crying because I hurt so bad, either! I can still feel places that hurt at times. I don't notice my knees hurting until I try to go up or down the stairs. They are still tender, but nothing like they were. At my worst, I was laying in bed, feeling my whole body throb with pain. I couldn't do anything, and nothing was helping with the pain!
Naltrexone in it's full strength of 50 mg. is used to help drug addicts. In low doses, it works totally different in the body. It helps the body produce more endorphins, the body's natural pain killer. It can be taken in liquid form, or pill form. The normal dose is up to 4.5 mg. The beauty of the liquid is, you can start slow, and find out what dose works best for you. Since I'm so sensitive to medicine, I started at .5 mg. That seems about right for me, for now. Hopefully, in time I will be able to work up to about 3 mg. or so.
LDN is usually taken at bedtime. Some people take it in the daytime. About the only side effect is sleeping problems in the first week of taking it. Some people have trouble falling asleep. It makes me sleepy after I take it. It does that for some other people I have read about. Once you are asleep, you get into a good deep sleep. It can also cause vivid or bizare dreams. I have vivid dreams, but not bizare. As I increase dose, that may change. I don't know yet.
One other thing I've found to help with the brain fog is a product called "Thinkfast". I also put D-Ribose in my drinks when I can remember. I'm finding these things to help with the fibromyalgia as well.
