Hello there. This may be a stab in the dark as every person's experience with this illness is different but I am wondering if any of you could answer a few of my questions.

Firstly, let me explain the situation. My friend mother apparently suffers from Fibromyalgia. She has apparently been suffering from it for about four years. Her medication is morphine.

Now I am wondering, if you have Fibromyalgia, will they put you on morphine? How much and for how long? She claims she is on this dosage of morphine for the rest of her life, but I do not know anyone who has been put on morphine for this amount of time. The dosage has gone higher since I first met her.

Also, because she is on morphine, is it okay for her to drive a car?

I know this is an unusual post, but I am hoping for some answers as this does not seem to add up. I am quite worried about her. I thought it's best to ask people who have been through this and deal with it daily. Please note, I am in the UK.

Many thanks in advance.<br /><br />Post edited by: Sirius, at: 2010/06/28 15:51

Hi,

Thank you for posting. It seems your friend's mother has a guardian angel as her treatment does seem extreme and you did the right thing by doing some research and posting here.

Basically morphine is SOMETIMES used for fibromyalgia but only as a last resort when other painkillers and non-drug treatments such as water-based exercise have failed.

Perhaps more &#305;mportantly morphine and similar opioid drugs have been shown to be in the most part ineffective for fibromyalgia pain as described by this news article so you have to ask whether any slight reductions in pain are worth the risk of addiction and other side-effects.

Has your friend's mother been through a lot of treatments that have failed to help or was she just put on morphine and told that was that? I would be very surprised &#305;f NHS doctors went straight for morphine.

My adv&#305;ce would be to ask your friend to encourage her mother to seek a second opinion and try alternative methods of pain relief such as pool exercises especially for fibromyalgia, acupuncture, hypnos&#305;s etc.

Please let me know how you get on or if you have any further details.

Again, well done for spotting some may not be quite r&#305;ght here.

Tare care and good luck.

Hi Sirius,

I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia 5 years ago and have tried all kinds of drugs and excersises and am now taking morphine and have been for the last year, It is the only thing that relieves the pain.

The driving part of your question depends on the strength of her medication, I have been advised not to drive without a qualified driver with me.

I hope this helps.