Just a retired 65 year old female who lives in Texas. Hoping to find someone with any of my like illnesses to talk to.

I was diagnosed with hypertension in 1995 and also with Fibromyalgia.  I started going to a rheumatologist in 2002 and she put me on several different medications.  During this time I was still working and everything I took every day interfered with my job performance.  At least I thought that way.  I was on Celebrex for my osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia and I was on Ambien for sleep.  I was on Hydrocodone(very low dosage) for pain.

All of this new medication for Fibromyalgia would have not been necessary if my new Primary Care Doctor had not changed me from alprazalom(generic of Xanax)to Lexapro.  I was on the Xanax for 7 years and there was simply no reason for him to put me on something else.  I moved far away from my best Primary Care Doctor who gave me the Xanax and unfortunately he passed away so I couldn't go back to him again.

I was exhausted every day and not a day that went by was a good one.  By 2004 I was taking those pills like candy and they were not helping me at all.  My pain all over my body increased and my sleep decreased.  I was not taking the Ambien because I had horrible side effects with that medicine.  I asked for something different but never got it.

By New Years Eve 2004 I was at work and felt great that day.  After I left my job to go home I was awake and never could go to sleep for 5 days.  I finally went to the ER and the Doctor there gave me 1 pill and told me to take it only when I got home.  I took it and still never went to sleep.  My pain and thoughts kept me going in my mind; so that I finally had to go to a Mental Health Doctor.

Thank God I went to those Doctors because I received enough of the medication that I ended up taking 200 mg of the same medication the ER Doctor gave me before I finally slept and rested.  The medication helps me and after all those years on everything else I can swear by this one I have now.  I guess it just depends on the person.  I would rather take something that is not going to put me in a Coma(so to speak)

When something works for people like me, why change them?  I have never been able to understand that.  I guess you might say it is because the ones I took before were considered narcotics?  Well, thank God the one I take now is not.  They will probably try and find some reason not to give it to Patients, even though it works.  I went from more than 10 prescriptions to less than 5.

I am having a Nuclear Stress test done for my heart on May 4, 2012.  I have been having some shortness of breath and swelling in my legs.  I have had it done before and my heart was always good.  Fibromyalgia can make your body swell and you will also have all the symptoms of heart disease, kidney disease and irritable bowel.  I know this from experience with the dreaded Syndrome I live with.  You will also have such severe pain all over the nerves in your body that you feel like you have a terminal disease.

Good luck to all of you who suffer with Fibromyalgia Syndrome and all those with other illnesses.  I wish you the best.  Thank You for reading my Biography.