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Happy New Year to everyone.
Deb, sorry to bother you with this but you are the obvious expert on this topic, anyone else is free to answer as well. Since October 2005 I have suffered with balance problems, stiffness, irritable bowel.headaches and most importantly severe myofasial pain. I've had these same symptoms off and on since I was dx in April 2004. However, they have gotten worse in both years in the fall. Every medicine they have tried has failed to work, even IV steroids. I began to do some research and for the life of me I swear my symptom are Fibromyalgia. No one has mentioned this possibility. I do have brain lesions but apparenty not very impressively. Could it be that I have fibro or am I the lucky soul with both diseases? My final question is, does Fibromyalgia exhibit brain lesions? I have none on my spine. There are currently sending me to water therapy and have prescribed
a new pain drug called Lyrica. Sorry to be so long winded.
Terry

Hi, Terry!

I have to admit, it sure does sound like Fibro to me, too! Of course I can't diagnose anything (as you know), but yes, there are several other things that can cause lesions, especially if they are unimpressive like you mention, to appear on MRIs - headaches being one of them. I don't believe that Fibro itself will cause brain lesions, though. At least it is not known to. I have no lesions in my brain (don't know about my spine), but all of my other symptoms mimic MS to a "t" with quite a few extra symptoms thrown on top, and cause me excrutiating pain sometimes (like these last couple of days. The weather, especially as it turns cold or a weather front comes in, can literally knock me down with pain, headaches, stiffness, etc. etc., even in spite of the meds I take that work wonders for me. I just suffer through those times now as I know they WILL pass.) Without the combo of meds I'm on, I would NEVER be able to walk. That's the truth. I have severe Fibro. And I have to keep my muscles stretched, etc. It's on ongoing battle.

And yes, it's also possible to have both Fibro and MS. And you can have Fibro without the "traditional" sensitive pressure or tender points (Vanderbilt explained all that to me, and I have to say I do agree), as I have specific tender pressure points all over my body in many places - and they also tend to come and go. Some days much worse than others.

Myofascial pain (i.e. trigger points, which are somewhat different than the pressure or "tender" points of Fibro)..........that's a weird one, isn't it? When they did the EMG test on me to rule out ALS, I would laugh at times, because sometimes when they put the needle in the muscle in one spot, I'd feel the actual pain or the muscle would twitch in another spot! I had my back rubbed just last night on a particularly small painful trigger point, and I could feel it in my ankle!

I suffer from both - lucky me. Well, I guess the statistics are that about 72% with Fibro also have myofascial pain syndrome with it.

Water therapy should help you a lot. The physical therapy I took for a while helped me a lot, also. The thing with Fibro, though, is that you can't do TOO much, either. Watch out for that! If you do too much one day (and you won't even know you've overdone it), then you'll feel it about two days later! It's a delayed reaction with Fibro. Then you have to rest completely for a couple of days (or more) to recover. There is a fine balance you have to try to keep. And that can really only be learned by trial and error.

Surprisingly, what helped me regain my balance was Keppra. I was constantly bumping into walls and walking like I was drunk half the time, BUT I wasn't "dizzy". Just off-balance. Since Keppra (which I took first alone, so I know that's what corrected that for me), I haven't had any balance problems. At least none that I'm aware of.

Fibro is no picnic in the park, I can tell ya. And in some cases, even though it doesn't cause ACTUAL physical deterioration, it can cause disability unless you get relief, because the pain and stiffness, etc., can get to where it is so bad that you literally cannot walk or function well at all! Not to mention the balance problems, "Fibro fog", i.e. cognitive problems, etc.

BUT............with hard work, Fibro can be controlled, unlike MS which has the unfortunate tradition of eventually and continually causing more and more permanent damage.

You're not long-winded. Look at ME!

De

P.S. I don't know much about Lyrica. But if it is a traditional pain medication of some sort, it won't help with Fibro pain. The best combo they have found that works for Fibro and its associated pain, etc. is an AED (for neurological pain) and a low dose anti-depressant - usually a tri-cyclic because of their effective properties for relieving neuro pain. (It has nothing to do with being depressed. The dose taken for pain relief is no where near to being effective for depression anyway.)

Lyrica is a new drug for treating neuropathic pain. It is called Pregabalin. It is an anticonvulsant and the literature that came with it states the following; "Lyrica is the first and only medicine approved by the FDA to treat two of the most common types of nerve pain. These are; Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy and Postherpetic Neuralgia. Lyrica helps relieve painful symptoms such as burning, stabbing, shootin and electric shock- like pain." Since I share many of the same symptoms you do, I hope it will work as well for me as Keppra did for you. I mentioned Keppra but she wanted to give Lyrica a try as I guess they are starting to see very good results with it. My pharmasist said they could hardly keelp it in stock. Maybe just because it's new but I'm hoping for the best. Anything beats the meds I'm currently on.
Thanks for answering my post, you are and incredible resource and also thanks for all the amazing research! In your posts you seem as giddy as an expectant mother and well you should.
Terry

Thanks, Terry!

Oh, and "giddy as an expectant mother" That cracks me up. You wouldn't want to be around me when I'm in pain and GRUMPY, that's for sure!

Ask my former neuros............

I wish you all the best! Hopefully, as you said, Lyrica WILL give you some relief. Then we can both be giddy.

Keep us posted.

Best!

Deb