• Welcome to Crohn's Forum, a support group for people with all forms of IBD. While this community is not a substitute for doctor's advice and we cannot treat or diagnose, we find being able to communicate with others who have IBD is invaluable as we navigate our struggles and celebrate our successes. We invite you to join us.

Crohns and Fibromyalgia

Just curious if anyone has both. I was just diagnosed with Fibromyalgia today after excluding and ruling out everything else. I am starting cymbalta. I have been struggling with pain all over and beside myself because I didn’t know what was going on. I am at least happy to know that this can be treated and am not losing my mind. Anyone else on cymbalta? Any side effects or issues? Did it help with the muscle aches and pains? How quickly did you start feeling relief I am desperate to feel better. As always, many many thanks for your advice.

Beth
 
my mom has fibromyalgia..maybe thats who i inherited this great disease from
she gets magnesium infusions every couple months i think
 
Fibromyalgia is often undiagnosed Lyme Disease.

Dropping Magnesium levels is normal among Lyme patients, as the Borellia Burgdorferi bacteria uses Magnesium, and depletes it from the body.

Most bacteria use Iron, so BB is somewhat unique in this respect.

The quick and dirty way to see if it is a Lyme infection is to try a natural antibiotic such as Cats Claw, and see if you develop Flu like symptoms. This is the normal response to bacterial die off of BB.

Dan
 
Thank you Dan. Lyme Disease has already been ruled out, among many other things. It has been a long process of ruling everything out and tracking my symptoms.

Best,
Beth
 
yea i just asked my mom if they ruled out lyme disease and she said yes..but supposdly its extremly hard to detect. you cant even see it in blood work or something? someone with more knowledge please share insight
 
My wife has Lyme Disease and has never been diagnosed by a doctor. It was ruled out. She has failed to produce a positive Lyme test on at least three occasions.

In her case it was pretty obvious, as she was bit by a Deer Tick just prior to her symptoms starting. She had the tick, and brought it to the doctor, and also had the characteristic bulls eye rash.

Only the worst doctors could dismiss this as a coincidence, but that is what two of them did because of the negative test.

As a result of this, I am the one who has treated her for six years now. By the time we were done trying to get professional medical help, the disease was well entrenched, and now is unlikely to ever be totally cured.

The crippling Arthritis pain, fevers, mental problems are gone now, but she had all of these symptoms a few years ago. She is not cured, but I have managed to eliminate one co-infection, reduce another, and reduce the Lyme to a minimal amount. All of this has been determined by the elimination of the symptoms, from the treatments used.

Misdiagnosis is not as uncommon as you would think, and ticks are not the only vector for this disease, although they are the most common.

Dan
 
there are several types of arthritis associated with crohn's I have Ankylosing Spondylitis. Many people with this are co-diagnosed or first diagnosed with fibro especially in woman.
I have pain across my ribs and in my hips
 
HIghly unlikely I have Lyme disease. Not only because I tested negative, but because I live in New York City and the farthest I venture out is to the mall in New Jersey. Not too many deers in midtown Manhattan :) Very interesting to hear all of this though. Seems to me like misdiagnosis could happen very easily. Still would like to hear from people who have actually been diagnosed with fibro and have Crohn's?
 
I have both. Took awhile for me to find the right med that I was not allergic to. I am taking Miraplex, without it, I can't even sit on a toliet seat. LOL
------------------------
MEDS
Humira, multi vitamin and 5000 vitamin d
 
I was just recently diagnosed with Fibromyalgia too. I too was on Cymbalta, it did nothing for my pain. I have recently stopped all of the meds for depression and cymbalta for the pain because I don't know what is going on with my body right now with the symptoms that I am having. So I am seeing if it makes the pain any worse without it. I have been without the cymbalta for about a week now, still no change in the pain threshold. I hurt so bad that for the first time ever, I actually snapped at my bf when he touched my hip. Thought I was going to hit the roof. Went in the other room in tears. This pain is horrible and sometimes, I don't know which disease the pain is coming from the Crohns or the Fibro. This really sucks.

I sure hope that I get answers soon as to why my symptoms for both have become so horrible that it is now hard to deal with.
 
I have fibro too, diagnosed a couple years ago. I take Flexeril (a muscle relaxer) so I can sleep at night, during the day if I need it I take Ultracet (tramadol/tylenol combo).
I used to get trigger point injections through my rheumatologist, I really should start getting those again, they really helped. My issues are mainly in my neck and shoulders, and I also get headaches.
I get massages regularly, which helps a lot with muscle pain. Make sure your massage therapist understands fibro patients, as not all of them do and can work you too hard!
I don't take Lyrica or neurontin, a co-worker of mine with fibro and lupus has and she didn't really care much for them. I am thinking about asking for amitriptyline though, there are several people on the boards here who take it for headaches.
 
Top