Body Project part II: Lyrica

I have always been angry when I go to the doctor looking for a real solution for this pain, and all I get is a slip of paper with some new name of the same old pill that just causes me more problems than it solves. I have tried so many things: Desipramine, Amitriptyline, Paxil, Prozac, Midirn, Morphine, Methadone, Hydrocodone, vitamins, minerals, a myriad of "natural" treatments... I'm sure I've left out half of the pills I have tried.

I am about a month into my 6(ish) month project to heal my body, and get ready for baby number two. I have been on Lyrica, and for the first few weeks it worked really well. Some of the pain was still there, but it was much easier to distract myself from it. Rather than being a constant thought behind everything I did, I could actually go a few hours without thinking about pain. That hasn't happened to me in almost 20 years.

Then I got the Flu. My body takes even the tiniest amount of illness as an open invitation fall to pieces. My pain levels have been pretty severe and unchanged by the Lyrica for almost two weeks now. I don't know if it's just the flu even though I'm not sick at all anymore, or if this means that my dose has stopped working and I should take more, or that Lyrica has entirely stopped working for me.

In other news, I read a book. It's called The Fibromyalgia Solution by David Dryland MD. I haven't gotten to the solution part, but the first section which explains the causes and symptoms of FMS felt like having a conversation with an old friend. Everything was so familiar and reassuring. I have to set up an appointment with a rheumatologist to find out more about it.