Howard Berdowitz wrote...
"Does your doctor have you also taking either cyclobenzaprine
(Flexeril),
possibly several times a day depending on how sedating it is, or a
low-dose tricyclic antidepressant like amitriptyline (Elavin) at
bedtime
(25 to 75 mg)?  By low-dose, I mean less than the dose that is used
for
depression.  Both the cyclobenzaprine (which has no antidepressant
properties) and the tricyclics related to amitriptyline appear to
raise
the level of serotonin in the muscles and peripheral nerves. No one is
quite sure what is happening, but there is some evidence of a
correlation between low tissue serotonin and fibromyalgia.

Low-dose tricyclics are generally very helpful for chronic pain
sysndromes and may help with sleep disturbance and chronic headache.
They are in no way habituating. Another possibility is using the
atypical antidepressant trazodone, which is especially sedating, at
bedtime.

If things continue, a formal sleep study in a sleep lab may be very
informative, detecting things like sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome,
etc."

Thanks Howard!  Yes, my doctor has me on Zanaflex as a muscle relaxer.
He also had me on Wellbutrin, Effexor, and Neurontin, (among other
things - I was taking 26 pills a day!!) but I stopped taking all
medications except Ambien (and occasionally the Zanaglex, e.g. once
every three weeks or so, when I get restless leg syndrome).  I stopped
all meds cold turkey!!  I went through 3 weeks of HELL not able to
keep anything in my stomach, having cold chills then hot flashes
minute by minute, feeling something like electrical shocks going
through my body, etc., etc., etc. - I felt like a heroine addict going
through withdrawal!!!  After that, I am now so "pill shy" that it
would take a diagnosis of death before I would get on any other
long-term medication again.

I did this against doctors orders (he wanted me to stay on everything
and not even TRY to get off), but two things were happening at the
time.  First, I had been laid off from my job and didn't know if I
would find a permanent job with insurance benefits and if I didn't I
knew I couldn't afford the thousands of dollars a month for
prescriptions.  Second, I was scheduled for gastric bypass surgery and
knew I would be on a liquid diet for at least 3 weeks after surgery
and wouldn't be able to take all those pills.

What I found, to my surprise, was that the pain I felt was not any
worse than when I was on all those pills!!!  Losing 70 pounds did more
to relieve my pain than the pills ever did (and being able to exercise
45 minutes a day has helped build up muscle tissue that also helps
relieve the strain on my joints).

I only keep taking the Ambien because I really don't sleep without it
and will *literally* go days and days without sleep unless I do.

Really, I think that living with the pain is not as bad as what I went
through getting all those meds out of my system, so I'll just accept
what life has given me to bear and just bear it.

However, all that aside, thank you so much for caring and for trying
to help.

Hugs,

CatNipped

CatMom to:
Bandit, (a.k.a. "Bitch Cat From Hell"), 14, DLH Tabby
Demi, (a.k.a. "Ghost Cat"), 5, DLH Pure White Beauty
Jessie, (a.k.a. "Jet Ski"), 4, DSH Tortoiseshell
Samantha / Sammy, (a.k.a. "Mini Me"), 4 months, DLH Tabby

http://www.gcmensa.org/Cats.html (Jessie, Demi, Bandit)
http://www.gcmensa.org/Sammy/ (Sammy and Bandit)
http://www.gcmensa.org/Sammy2/ (All my fur babies)
http://www.gcmensa.org/Sammy3/  (Sammy and Jessie)