Gina, I saw a really good pain specialist about 15 years ago. She encouraged me to try acupuncture and massage after I told her I really didn't want to take narcotics if I could avoid it. She was a professor at a medical school and was very smart as well as being open to alternative medicine.

I lived in a large city at the time and was able to go to a school of acupuncture for treatments. They were much less expensive.

About a year after that, I was diagnosed with a form of autoimmune arthritis. I had it for about 5 year before it was diagnosed. I kept being told all my pain was coming from fibromyalgia. Not that fibro can't hurt an awful lot, but it took an entirely different kind of immune suppressant med to treat the arthritis.

Now I take the med for the arthritis and I take Cymbalta for the fibromyalgia. I confess to limiting my activities pretty severely now. I avoid most things that trigger severe joint pain and swelling. I gave up gardening.

I have a friend with interstitial cystitis. She follows a diet for it and she says it helps a lot. It is extremely restrictive, though.

I wish you luck in finding your answers. New things are constantly being invented. If you'd told me 15 years ago that I'd have only moderate pain now, I don't think I would have believed it.