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Hello everybody,

I thought I'd report on my doctor's appointment today. I have been diagnosed

with fibromyalgia and she prescribed Flexeral for that. I was able to get

across to her how much pain I have in my lower back and hip. She even looked at

it this time. I have been taking Celebrex, but it did almost nothing for my

back so she changed it to Naproxen. I've had edema in my feet and legs since

Easter, so I asked for a test on my heart which I will be getting in the next

few months.

Someone asked what medications I was taking for bipolar. I take Lamotrigine,

Effexor, Trazodone, Risperdal, Epival. The combination of these could be

causing the edema according to the doctor. She wants to get my back pain

stabilized before decreasing any of the meds. I was originally on eight meds

for bipolar and walked around like a zombie. I changed doctors who took me off

three of them so far. I hope this new meds for pain will help. I start them

tomorrow so I guess I'll find out then. : - ) Thanks to those who replied to

my post, it really meant alot to me.

Norma in Genelle, B.C.

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Norma,

Make sure as you talk to your doctors you let them know that you have

already been on those drugs. Even though the primary use is

generally for depression/anxiety, some of those drugs are used to

minimize pain. I know at various points they have tried me on

Effexor and Elival (I am assuming that is a typo in your original

message). Especially since those are drugs that take a while to

build up in the system and they need to be gradually reduced, I would

hate for you to end up back on them to realize what you already know:

THEY DON'T HELP YOUR PAIN!

Hope you feel better.

Bekkah

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There have been studies which show that Effexor and Elavil are two of the

anti-depressants which actually can help with pain, although they don't help

everyone. Part of the reason is that they target one of the brain's sources of

" feeling good " .

I know that if I'm getting low on my Effexor and drop just one a day for a

week, my pain will get worse.

There's some evidence that people with fibro have low amounts of serotonin,

which is why anti-d's may help them. The new med for fibro is also an anti-d,

named Cymbalta.

Years ago, Trazadone, which is an anti-d, was the preferred med for fibro.

It's a lousy anti-d, but does help with the sleep problems associated with

fibro.

The initial clinical studies showed that over 50% of people taking Effexor

found that it helped their pain. That's certainly not as many as the number who

found Percocet helpful, but it's till a good, valid number.

There are also people who have written in to the net saying that Effexor and

other anti-d's are no good for pain relief, and they find parts of studies to

quote out of context, which gives a false impression about the effects of these

meds.

I don't think that anti-d's should be the first med of choice for pain, but

since pain itself can be depressing, and painkillers are CNS depressants, it

makes a lot of sense to add an anti-depressant to counteract those effects, and

if adding one, to add one that studies have shown helps some people with their

pain. I'd add one more thing; I don't recall any of the studies I've read

saying that anti-d's are nearly as effective for pain as narcotics, but for

people who can't take narcotics, or are limited in how much they can take, it's

a good addition.

Hugs,

Dix

drseuss8675 wrote:

Norma,

Make sure as you talk to your doctors you let them know that you have

already been on those drugs.

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