I have suffered with Chronic Pain issues since 1993 with Fibromyalgia. I was tested for Lupus, Lymes, as well as MS, to have several doctors agree that I have fibromyalgia. If multiple doctors have come to the consensus that I have indeed Fibromyalgia, why then is it a complex issue to be prescribed the needed medications to alleviate my horrible pain issues? Even Texas pain specialists will not help if a ssubstantiated medical history isn't identified in records. (Though this is not my issue, I have seen it multiple times in my support group!)

I have been classified by the government that I am disabled, unable to work. I can not be counted on to wake up clear headed and hold a job in a respectable manner. I can not balance my checkbook and/or be counted on in legal documents due to my inability to think clearly. The meds I need, cloud my decision making and driving skills. Yet over and over, I have seen others refused medications needed to help them live more comfortably with FM pain issues.

Also, how does the medical community come to firm conclusion whether FM is a disease, a syndrome, or a "condition"? So many still argue, it's all in our heads!

Discouragement and depression become added issues to my health, when the medical community won't even agree about the painful diagnosis I (and others) must endure!  How do we get the needed medical care to help us live not richly, not in a high fashion, but just comfortably, when even animals are given more humane ways of coping with their pain!?

Ditto everything you just said. I get so frustrated with fibro pain and meds are scarce. I have severe headaches so I do have pain meds but it is only because of that. My dr says pain meds don't work for fibro. It may not solve the horrific pain but at least some relief. I understand animals get humane treatment. Humans need it also.

I do not get relief from most pain medications but one thing does help alot,Tramadol-apap 37.5-325 MG Tab (ultracet) Twenty four hours a day pain from head to toe wears on a person. Any help at all gives us a break.   

There are probably multiple reasons why patients don't get the treatment they need. Among the reasons are: (1) Most doctors were never trained to treat fibromyalgia in medical school and aren't experts in it. (2) Even with an expert doctor it can be complicated to treat, often requiring a lot of trial and error and many months of effort. (3) The medications that have been approved by the FDA to treat fibromyalgia are not the most effective drugs, but are the most heavily promoted to doctors as well as the most expensive. (4) Certain treatments that some doctors have used successfully are viewed as controversial by other doctors and therefore not tried -- see the book, "From Fatigued to Fantastic" for one in very informative view on this, and (5) If when asking about pain relief you are referring perhaps to opiates, the scientific literature tends to claim that opiates don’t work or even make fibromyalgia worse. The studies and experiences that led to that conclusion may not be applicable to some patients. In one widely referenced study, morphine alone was used with poor results reported. That should probably come as no surprise, since opiates are not a good primary treatment for fibromyalgia, but may be effective when used in combination with other medications and therapies. In addition, other pain medications such as hydrocodone or methadone may work better for fibromyalgia as compared to morphine -- this has not been studied so far as I know.  Despite the prevailing dogma, some doctors do use opiates on selected fibromyalgia patients and believe that in those cases the benefits outweigh the risks. However, this still tends to be a treatment of last resort after other options have been exausted. 

I could go on and on about this, but will leave it here.