Living With Fibro

For Fibromyalgia sufferers, the cost of medications to treat the symptoms of Fibromyalgia can be outrageous. Prescription drugs that are helpful for treating the symptoms of Fibromyalgia are often muscle relaxers, steroids, sedatives, and pain killers that are not covered by many prescription drug insurance plans. Additionally, $4 prescription programs fail to cover these vital drugs making it nearly impossible for individuals without insurance to afford their prescriptions.

Fear not however, for there may be hope for those of you without prescription drug coverage. Help may come from the strangest of places, in the form of a product that you might already have in your medicine cabinet at home. What is this amazing over the counter product? It’s called Guaifenesin.

Guaifenesin is a rather recent treatment option for Fibromyalgia symptoms. Unlike many other Fibromyalgia treatments, Guaifenesin does not cause FibroFog, drowsiness, weight gain, or other unwanted side effects. In fact, Guaifenesin is safe enough to be used on children who suffer from Fibromyalgia in smaller doses.

Some of you may be familiar with Guaifenesin and some of you may not. It is commonly found in cough and cold problems and is used as an expectorant to relieve access mucus and excessive cough. In Fibromyalgia patients, they are not exactly sure how or why Guaifenesin is so successful in treating Fibromyalgia symptoms, but one theory is that they actually cause the lumps, bumps, and pressure points to become less sensitive decreasing the amount of pain the patient suffers.

The ingredient Guaifenesin can be found in just about every cough and cold product. However, don’t run to your local drugstore just yet and pick up a bottle that lists Guaifenesin as an ingredient. The type of Guaifenesin that is helpful in treating Fibromyalgia symptoms, is the type that does not have all the dyes, chemicals, and other things that cause Fibromyalgia symptoms to flare up.

There are a few brands of products that contain Guaifenesin that are said to be approved for treating Fibromyalgia symptoms. These brands are Mucinex 600MG, Pro Health 400MG, and Gua-Aid 600MG. If you opt to purchase a different brand of product than those mentioned here, look for 400-600MG of Guaifenesin and the key words “dye free”, “chemical free”, or “pure” on the products label.

Once you have selected the Guaifenesin brand that you plan to take, it is important to talk to your doctor. You, along with your doctor can decide on how many milligrams of Guaifenesin you should take a day to best treat your Fibromyalgia symptoms. Generally, patients begin taking 300 milligrams (half a 600 milligram tablet) twice a day for the first week, and 600 milligrams a day twice a week thereafter.

After reading all of this information, you are probably wondering if something so simple and affordable could really be helpful in treating Fibromyalgia symptoms. While I cannot speak for anyone’s symptoms but my own, I can tell you how taking 600 milligrams of Guai Aid brand Guaifenesin twice a day every day has changed my life for the better.

When I first began taking Guai Aid I felt really run down all the time. I actually felt worse than before I started taking it. I later found out that the awful feelings that I felt like aching all over and stomach pains were a normal reaction to my body trying to adjust to the medication. I found myself using the bathroom on a regular basis, and having less problems with my I.B.S. with diarrhea shortly after the first week of use. From there, things went uphill instead of down as my pain slowly started to lessen, and all though it was still very present, I was able to come off the steroids, the sedatives, the muscle relaxants, and the prescription pain killers, and settle for Tylenol and Aspirin instead.

Once I got off of all the “heavy medications” like those I mentioned earlier (sedatives, pain killers, and steroids), I noticed that my other Fibromyalgia symptoms lessened as well. I was less tired, because medications were not making me tired. I suffered from FibroFog less because I was not on medications that clouded my judgement. I didn’t want to stay in bed all day because I was not on medications that relaxed my muscles. Little by little I saw improvements. Together those improvements turned out to be enough of a change to help me feel like I was regaining my life.

I think it is important to tell you that your pain will not go away completely when you take Guaifenesin, no matter how pure of a form you take. It is also important to tell you that you will not feel any pain relief for awhile, until your body gets used to taking the medication. If after six weeks you have not seen any improvement in your pain level, than you know without a shadow of a doubt that Guaifenesin will not work for your Fibromyalgia.

If you would like some relief from Fibromyalgia pain, even though the relief will occur gradually, then I suggest that you give Guaifenesin a try..I know I did, and I am sooooo glad that I did!

Hugs to all, and remember to talk to your doctor before trying Guaifenesin for treating your Fibromyalgia symptoms.

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