Hi, so sorry to hear you're another member of our Fibro Club! Yes, it is difficult to adjust to the concept of a chronic illness with no cure. The process of dealing with that is very similar to the grief process, because you are grieving the loss of your "healthy" self. So give yourself time, feeling all the feelings, denial, anger, bargaining and sorrow, and you'll get through it to a place of acceptance, where fibro doesn't dominate your life, it's just part of it, like dentists and car repairs and other routine maintenance of life!
DON'T RESIST THE DRUGS!! They are extremely important to you now. If you had pneumonia you wouldn't resist penicillin. If you had diabetes you wouldn't resist insulin. If you broke your leg you wouldn't resist a painkiller or two. It's okay to take prescription drugs that are medically necessary. And there are a number of excellent medications that can help you manage your fibro symptoms quite effectively, and new ones coming on the market all the time.
Elavil is the gold standard of fibro treatment. I've been on it for around two years, since just after I was diagnosed. It promotes deep Level 4 delta sleep, which we don't get due to something called alpha-EEG anomaly sleep disorder. You are absolutely right that none of the other symptoms can be effectively addressed until your sleep disorder is managed and you erase the HUGE sleep deficit you are walking around with. (That's why it's so common for us to wake up feeling exhausted or like we've been hit by a Mack truck during the night! The technical medical name for it is "unrefreshed sleep.")
I also take other sleep meds, some every night, others just as needed (like Sonata). It's really a matter of trial and error of what your doctor thinks might work best for you. Everyone is different. (Okay, before you ask, my other sleep meds are generic Benadryl, the antihistimine that makes you drowsy, and Xanax.)
As fair as pain meds, studies have shown that the most effective, lowest side effect med for fibro type nerve pain (as opposed to muscle or tissue pain) is Ultram, generic name tramadol. I take it together with Extra Strength Tylenol generic version, and it helps me tremendously. I can always tell when I've missed taking a dose on time, because my back starts getting that fibro achy flu-like feeling.
There's a ton of info on the Internet when you're ready to start researching and there are several excellent books about it too.
Good luck to you and hang in there, it DOES get better.
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Laura
Keep it simple!
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