Provigil and fibromyalgia are two terms you are starting to hear mentioned together more frequently. Some people are surprised at how successful a stimulant drug can be with a chronic pain disorder, but fibromyalgia is much more complicated than that. It consists of a cluster of symptoms.
Why do people get fibromyalgia?
Science is also discovering more about why people develop fibromyalgia. It is no longer considered a “woman’s disease,” but can affect men too. It can be a result of a traumatic brain injury, stressful childhood or a likely inherited condition.
What are the most common symptoms?
People who suffer from fibromyalgia most commonly complain of an overall and pervasive pain in the joints, muscles and bones. They also suffer from fatigue, sleep disturbances, mood swings, depression, weakness and digestive issues. For years, fibromyalgia was not considered a definitive diagnosis. New methods testing for markers in proteins and changes in the brain structure have now elevated fibromyalgia into the classification of a recognized, and serious, chronic disease. There is no known cure for it, but much has been discovered about how to treat it.
How is it treated?
Fibromyalgia is treated with a full range of therapies that are inclusive of medications, alternative methods and lifestyle changes. There is no known cure for fibromyalgia, but much has become known about how to improve the quality of life of those who have the disease. Not every medication or treatment is going to work effectively for everyone, discovering the right balance of all of the treatments is something you and your doctor work together to find.
Can the treatments for some of the symptoms make others worse?
The problem with all treatments for fibromyalgia is that they all come with a side effect, or price. Even the all-natural treatments come with the cost of having to do them every day for the rest of your life – as well as having to make time to do them.
With some of the most common pain and sleep medications used to treat fibromyalgia, they come with side effects of drowsiness and cognitive clouding that can make life hard to manage. This is why more and more doctors are starting to prescribe Provigil for their patients who are suffering for fibromyalgia.
Why more doctors use Provigil for fibromyalgia
Provigil is being prescribed by more and more doctors to help those with fibromyalgia, but not as a primary medication. Primary medications are generally considered to treat first line symptoms – such as pain, sleep disturbance, and digestive disorders. These are considered to be first line symptoms because they impact your ability to maintain your life and physical health.
Secondary symptoms, such as fatigue, fibro fog and stiffness – are important, but not as detrimental to life functioning. Pain medications, sleep medications and anti-emetics are first line medications. Provigil is a secondary medication used to help those with fibromyalgia. It is a stimulant medication that is not used to combat fatigue so much as it is prescribed to combat the side effects of the pain medications and other medications that can add to the fibro fatigue too. It has also been shown to improve cognitive function in some people with fibromyalgia too.
What should you be aware of
Why Provigil is well tolerated and can bring some needed energy back into your life, there are some cautions associated with it. You should not take it if you are experiencing uncontrolled high blood pressure. You also need to talk to your doctor and your pharmacist about whether or not it will interact with any of the other medications you are on. You also need to pay attention to when you take Provigil and how it affects you in order to better understand how it cycles in release through your body.
If you take it too late in the day, it could keep you up at night and that will only increase your pain and fatigue. A careful trial of the medication, along with the use of symptom cards for the first 60 days can help you and your doctor define when it is best to use the medication.
Why would a stimulant be a good idea
One of the most common complaints that people have are the cognitive issues that come with fibromyalgia. People experience everything from confusion to memory loss to an increase of anxiety and depression. These cognitive issues are very real, but they may be a result of a number of different trigger points associated with fibromyalgia.
For one, there is a very real change in the brain that is now visible on CAT scans – along with other detectable changes in neuro brain chemicals and blood balances. There is also the cognitive issue that is going to get triggered from a loss of sleep and the stress of chronic pain.
Even if one of your symptoms is not the “fibro fog,” chances are the experience of the chronic pain will be enough to lower your cognitive levels too. Provigil can be just enough to let your metabolism start up again and overcome the natural cortisol hormones and other stress reducing hormones that depress the sympathetic nervous system and neuro-chemical balances. The stimulant properties can help to reduce the fatigue associated with fibromyalgia, but also the side effects of some of the other pain medications that can cause CNS depression.
The rest of the treatments that then become available to you
Adding in Provigil and fibromyalgia treatment can begin to open up more doors for you. Many people stop taking other medications to control their pain and other symptoms because they make them feel too tired. When you add that on top of the general fibromyalgia fatigue, life can look bleak. With Provigil, you can combat the fatigue associated with fibromyalgia, and that comes as a side effect of some of the most common and effective medications used to treat it.
Further reading:
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/329838-medication
http://www.rxlist.com/provigil-drug.htm
http://www.everydayhealth.com/fibromyalgia/fibromyalgia-painkillers-and-fatigue.aspx
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