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When I Took Control of My Fibromyalgia Treatment

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You are in control of how you deal with your pain! Yep, that’s it! It’s not complicated to write, but so hard to learn.

I took every medication and trusted the doctors when they said to up my dosage, even though it wasn’t helping. My fibromyalgia got worse and worse and we just kept adding more. I did what others said was best and didn’t listen to my body.

Then my husband told me I was worse than when I started! This broke my heart. But it got me thinking. I was in pain and not happy. Before, I was in pain but happier.

So I sat down with my doctor and told him I was stopping the medications with or without his help. He was surprised. But helped me stop them one by one until I started feeling better again. This took a year to do. It was very slow, but in the end I’m down to just one pain medication and it does help.

I learned to trust myself and take control of my treatment. Now I try only one medication at a time and set time limits with the doctor if I’m not seeing improvement.

Treatment can be what you’re comfortable with, not a commercial or what your Aunt Emma’s son’s friend did. You don’t get to control when you get a flare or what new thing will hurt next. But at least you can have a say in how you deal with these things.

Sometimes you have to think out of the box. The hardest part of living with something that will never get better or go away is learning how to keep the things you enjoy. You may have to change how you do them and when. But when you give them up entirely, you may have an even harder time getting them back. For example, you don’t have to lose a love of camping. But you may need to upgrade your air mattress and stay someplace you can get a good hot shower to ease sore muscles.

It is very easy to lose how you see yourself and to get depressed when you can’t be the person you were. You can’t get back what you had. It’s gone and your life is changed. It is not, however, over! I still need more rest and have to take pain meds. I have flares and get angry over the pain sometimes. But I’m happy again. I am finding the joy in the things I can do, not pain from the things I can’t.

Editor’s Note: This is based off an individual’s experience. Please see a doctor for medical advice.

The Mighty is asking the following: Describe a moment you were met with extreme negativity or adversity related to your disability and/or disease (or a loved one’s) and why you were proud of your response — or how you wish you could’ve responded. If you’d like to participate, please send a blog post to community@themighty.com. Please include a photo for the piece, a photo of yourself and 1-2 sentence bio. Check out our Submit a Story page for more about our submission guidelines.

Originally published: March 31, 2016
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