Originally Posted by romanojg

I want to share with you something that happened to me personally. For years I'd have all of sudden all over body pain; to the point that I had to go the ER but no one could touch me or help me in the car because it hurt so bad. I go and they'd run test and shoot me up with laugnem and send my home with pain pills and it would be two or more weeks before I recovered completely. Then in Feb 2008; I had this happen (for the last time). When I got home from the hospital and finally made it back to work I had an email from my DIL about aspartame poistening. The symptons was what I had been experiencing for years. I ordered the book Sweet Poisining; and even though I'm a hard sell on many things this book made a believer out of me. The stuff it does to your body. I had drank diet drinks for over 30 yrs and aspartame came on board in the 80's which when I really thought back to it was when my problems began. I went off of aspartame and I have had no bouts of unbearable pain since then; baring my arthritis and degenitive back disease but that is heridity. When I told the specialist he asked me to talk to his group that have fibromyalgia because he can't get them to understand. Aspartame has three ingredients in it and one of them is formalgahyde; I know when I die they will put in me but I don't want it before hand. This stuff is made overseas by a country that doesn't use it in their diet drinks but they sell it to us. I don't know if you use aspartame but it's bad stuff and now I read everything because I've found it in things that don't even say it's diet. I found it in cherry flavored Blistex of all things. Please pass this on from someone who hasn't had to deal with this pain since I made the decision to stop using it. On top of that after 10yrs of using thyroid meds; I no longer have to take them. I feel for you because I kind of know what you are going thru and even with the arthritis I know that the weather has a lot to do with how our bodies work.

Originally Posted by IBQLTN

Since I switched from Lyrica to Cymbalta my 'mind' problems (as watterstride put it) are much better. At one point on Lyrica everyone thought I was having a stroke: garbled words, slurred speech, etc. but it was the Lyrica. Also the neurolotist placed me on Vitamin D and B as I was 'extremely deficient' in both. Both effect the brain.

I do find that heat and especially humidity make it worse but frankly it's all I can do to keep working. I don't have health insurance (turns out you can't get private insurance if you have fibro -- turned down by everyone I applied with). I don't get sick days, personal days etc. DH had a disabling stroke in 2008 so I can't quit work. Fibro isn't a recognized 'disability' from a social security standpoint so basically, I'm in a no win situation with the fibro.

I have my computer remind me every hour to get up and walk while I'm at work so I don't stay in one position all the time which helps. My arthritis is also a lot worse when it's hot and humid. I actually do better in cold weather (Florida cold, that is-LOL).