I was put on Amitriptylene when I had involuntary muscle movement (mostly restless legs at night). I tried going off my meds at one point to do a more natural approach a few years ago. I first did a candida cleanse diet for 13 weeks and then later when mostly RAW. I improved with both these strategies and felt so good eating so much produce. But motivation decline with illness and I never got back on track. I felt that with my Depression, I am never stable and I needed to stay on the diet to not decline. I get very exhausted from all my attempts to improve my condition and then collapse when I run on adrenaline too long. I take meds because it is all I can consistently do. I also was not working when I did the diets. I work full time as an Occupational Therapist and it takes everything out of me. Then I come home to two kids on the spectrum.
BluePuppy wrote:
Finally got that info from my sis. She says a particular drug is helping a lot. Copying and pasting from her e-mail:
"When I was first diagnosed I was told fibromyalgia had to do with inflammation in muscle tissues, I was treated with anti-inflammatories. Recently the understanding of fibromyalgia has changed- its now considered to have to do with the central nervous system interpreting normal signals as pain. There is no actual tissue damage in the muscles.
A specialist in London put me on something called amitriptyline hydrochloride at night (like Lyrica, it works on the central nervous system.) Theres been a massive, improvement in my pain (wearing a watch again after all these years, my arms were too sore before).
Lifestyle changes very important, and I agree different meds work for different people and can have side effects, but this has made a major difference to my pain and quality of life. The pain management clinic I went to (this is a growing field in the UK doing some really interesting work on pain and the brain) suggested a holistic approach with medication being part of that. "
Thanks BluePuppy, that's exactly the information I am curious about especially the part about the pain management clinics. I certainly agree, medication works differently with everyone. It's nice to know her pain has lessened with the medication she's taking.
Unfortunately for me Amitriptyline and Lyrica have both caused involuntary muscle movement and weight gain. I'm been off of Amitriptyline for years and I'm going off of Lyrica now only taking 150 mgs. I see my pain specialists this afternoon.
I want to start travelling to the UK, Europe and Asia but I'm concerned about my medication and being able to stay on it while I'm travelling. I would like to be able to be gone three to six months out of the year. So I will have to see foreign doctors no doubt while I'm away from my doctors here in the States.
30 Mar 2011, 8:37 pm
