Hysterctomy and Fibromyalgia

I've checked some of the old posts but was wondering if there are any newbies with fibromyalgia or any of the other ladies that can shed light on horrible pain flares after surgery. My fibromyalgia has been manageable for three years with medication but I am noticing that the problems I am experiencing seem to be more related to severe fibromyalgia pain flares and not side effects from the surgery - or is it a double whammy? Who do I talk to about that - my GYN or my GP who has handled my FMS for 10 years?

Thanks,
Sherry

Sherry,

I posted a question similar to this on the road less traveled forum, mainly out of curiosity because it seemed like a lot of sisters were being diagnosed with FM.
From the responses of other sisters who already had FM, they did tend to have flares after surgery.
I would make the first call to your FM doc and start from there. I hope you start feeling better soon.

I am only one week out, but have noticed that my restless leg has returned. I have been sleeping really well so I'm not having other pains, except for hips and neck (from surgery and pushing up with my arms, I'm guessing). I would definitely contact the doctor who handles your FMS problems...that would be my first line of defense. My Gyn was very aware of my condition and assured me that she made sure not to put my legs in any wierd positions to avoid post-surgery issues. I'm funny though...I've always healed from surgery easier than muscle strains and lack of sleep. Feel free to PM me if you want someone to chat with!

I just did a search for fibromyalgia and hysterectomy hoping to find someone else who may have been through these two things together. I'm so glad I found this post. I'm 2 weeks post-op (LAVH) and I just couldn't figure out why I've been feeling flu-ish, with lots of body pain until the light went on I realized that everytime I've felt like I was getting the flu in the past it's been the beginning of a fibro flare-up. The symptoms fit the bill! I know it's common to have a flare up with extra stress (and I've had plenty of it- emotional and physical- as we all know), but it sure feels crummy to have to deal with it on top of the hyst recovery. Does anyone have any coping strategies? I was off my pain meds (percocet) for a few days, but now I'm finding I need a dose around 5 pm just to finish the day out. I'm still taking my 800mg ibuprophen- that's kind of a main stay for me. I wish I could call my fibro doc, but since I'm breastfeeding my baby, there aren't many things he can do for me. I miss taking those long hot baths that help my fibro pain!
Will this slow my recovery??? How have others made it through? I guess I should have been prepared for this, but I wasn't expecting it. I was just getting rid of one pain- I really don't want it back! YUCK.

I dont know if i can be helpful at all but I was diagnosed with fibro about a month ago.The ironic thing was that I was being treated for pain management for orthopedic issues and the things that I was blaming on side effects of pain pills were actally fibro things.
Anyway, that is off subject. I had TAH in Nov 04 and I am assuming that the fibro was present then because my symptoms were the same and I healed just fine. My hyst actually hurt less than some of my ortho surgeries. I did have strange muscle pains but that is a daily occurence for me so I just ignored it.

good luck
missy

I've had fibromyalgia for nearly 5 years. For me, increased stress = increased pain and fatigue. Ditto for lack of continuous restful sleep and physical exertion.

I am going into this fully expecting a flare up, but knowing that it can be handled with rest and care. Wow - isn't that how I'm going to heal from the TAH? I will probably do myself more harm in terms of fibro by panicking or obsessing over whether I'll have a flare, so I'm just accepting that I will have the flare and move on from there.

Maybe that's not much help, but I guess what I'm saying is rest and avoidance of added stress are two of the things you can do to alleviate your flare-ups. No way to avoid stress in this case, but you can avoid making it worse. Take care of yourself - you've found a family of concerned sisters on this site! cj