Posted by BarbaraCat on February 28, 2002, at 13:37:05
In reply to Re: Has anyone had costochondritis? » BarbaraCat, posted by shelliR on February 28, 2002, at 12:49:26
Hmmm, I've been hearing alot about buprenorphine here, especially from Elizabeth. I never considered taking it myself, but now I think I'll consider it. The hurdle will be getting my pdoc to agree. Is that what you're taking?
The fibro manifests as much more than just pain. Major fatigue, flu-like aches all over, depression, insomnia. I'm usually in bed for 2-3 weeks when it hits, then in remission for a few months. You definitely don't want it.
Your chest tightness is very interesting. I primarily feel my depression in the central part of my chest and upper solar plexus area. It's like a visceral expression of the psychic pain, almost a feeling of a hard emptiness, or a tight black fist is how I've described it. The reason I find it interesting is because of all the recent work being done on vagus nerve stimulation for refractory depression. Stimulating the vagus nerve seems to have the capacity to increase noradrenergic and serotonergic transmission to the brain. One of it's major nerve plexes is in the diaphragm area. My theory is that a spasm in the vagus nerve would translate into disrupted neuroendrocrine transmissions and perhaps vice versa. I've always thought there was a strong correspondence between diaphragm/chest pain and depression, but have never heard of any significant studies on it. - Barbara
> > Yes, I was diagnosed with costo, but the pains eventually spread to all over the body (were probably there all along) and now it's been upgraded to fibromyalgia. Unfortunately, there's no cure for fibro except to treat the symptoms and get a hell of a good nutritional support going.
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> Have you tried buprenorpine for the fibromyalgia, etc? I would think that might be a good drug to try for both pain and depression.
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> > Tell me about how your depression is so physical. I'm very interested in that aspect, since mine is very much so. In fact, always starts out with a general achiness, then tiredness, then the sleeplessness then depression.
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> I just feel my depression in my chest. Sometimes my head feels very clear and "up", but I'm very aware of a horrible tightness in my chest. Most of the time it isn't commected to any thoughts, but other times the chest pain is connected to minor things coming wrong, really minor. For example, I won't feel the pain and then I'll misplace something I need, then immediately my chest will tighten and I will feel depressed, rather than just annoyed or disappointed.
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> Also, my muscles seem to ache easily. Like after a short but brisk walk. But its not horrible pain, and it's not all the time, so I don't think I have anything like fibromyalgia. I can say that opiates take away the aches as well as the depression.
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> Shelli
poster:BarbaraCat
thread:95431
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020222/msgs/95839.html