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| Fibromyalgia Trigger Points |
As I posted Tuesday, I've been titrating off Zoloft and replacing it with Amitriptylene so I'm able to take the Fibromyalgia drug Savella. According to drug interaction information, Savella should not be taken with an SSRI so this change, as inconvenient as it is, was necessary.
Late last year, while conducting yet another of my countless experiments with regards to curing this dismal disease, I also weaned myself off Zoloft (as well as all other medications) in order to follow the Alpha Nutrition Diet for Aching and fatigue (
original post). I noticed when I was completely off Zoloft, that some of my symptoms, which had been absent for some time, returned. I started again to feel as though I had the flu. I felt feverish, sweaty and my entire body ached as one does when afflicted with a high fever. I attributed it, simply, as another phase of the ever changing disease, however, I did make a mental note that the symptoms had appeared almost exactly to the day that I stopped taking Zoloft.
I hadn't read anywhere that Zoloft was being used as a treatment for Fibromyalgia or ME/CFS so I didn't put much stock in the idea that the timing was significant. The flu-like symptoms did go away, though I can't remember the relationship with when I began taking Zoloft again.
Last night my two year old daughter had one of her infamous sleepless nights which, of course, meant I got very little sleep as well. Anyone who has Fibromyalgia or ME/CFS knows that lack of sleep is a killer. Last night, as I lay next to my daughter in her small bed, afraid to move a muscle or even breathe too deeply for fear she would awake, I felt my leg muscles begin to throb and ache, then, the pain slowly spread throughout my entire body all the way to my finger tips. In what seemed like minutes from when my body started aching, I felt sweat begin to form on my upper lip and the fever-like chills began. I thought, "Oh shit! It's back!". I'd been fortunate to be rid of these flu-like symptoms for some time and it hardly seemed coincidental that I had taken my last Zoloft two nights before.
I've discovered through reading others' experiences, that treatments for both ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia vary greatly from patient to patient. One of the strangest and most baffling things about these diseases is the drastically different ways they effect each sufferer and therefore, the methods of treatment that are used. Zoloft! Who knew? If my experiment with Savella doesn't pan out, I'll be going back on Zoloft for sure! If I can't be completely cured, at least I know some of my symptoms can be relieved.
