I was in a car accident years ago and as a result of that I have a crushed spine (T3,4,5,7- 5 being the worst) and also herniated discs (L4 L5) which one specialist thought was the cause of my peripheral neuropathy.
I have really had to fight from the very start to get this treated.
After the accident they cut me out of the car and took my to hospital, where they told me there was nothing wrong with me and to go home at 9pm, despite my telling them I was in extreme pain.
I was lucky to have a close friend who works at that hospital come in and take me to the toilet and notice their was blood in my urine.
After I went home, she kept insisting the doctor re-check my x-rays. At around 2am the doctor finally did and he noticed I had a cracked pelvis, crushed spine, broken wrist and foot, and herniated discs. Not sure how he missed it the first time. I was wrapped up and taken up to a bigger hospital to be treated.
I was told coldly that my spine would never heal, nor my wrist and the discs.
The peripheral neuropathy didn't start straight away but when it did, it was horrible to live with. My doctor at the time had no idea what was causing the constant pain and burning in my feet and I had all sorts of tests and x-rays. This went on for 2 years and I was begging my doctor to please help me as it wasn't a pain that came and went like my back pain, but it was all the time. I already had insomnia but I was up all night putting ice packs on my feet.
Finally, after 2 years I went onto a forum and put in my symptoms. About 2 minutes after I posted, I got the reply of peripheral neuropathy. Finally! I got my doctor to arrange the tests and it confirmed the problem. I had to fight hard to get it treated but I am now on neurontin which has changed my life. After all that time, the burning sharp pain went down to pretty much nothing and I am so grateful for this.
However, I still had my chronic back pain. That does vary. I find in summer it is a lot less painful than in winter. This has been so hard to treat. I had been with the same doctor for over 10 years and because I was in there fighting for the pain in my feet on so many occasions, he was getting exhausted with me.
I had been on mersyndol forte for many years to treat the pain and in the winter, it just didn't even make a difference. Eventually he put me on Fentanyl 50 patches which completely got rid of my back pain. I could do pretty much anything with no pain. However the side effects were horrible and I had to weigh up if it was worth staying on them.
My doctor then moved his practice further away from my home and I decided to find a new one. I came across a lovely new doctor who put me on Endep. That was a good anti depressant and helped with sleep, but it did absolutely nothing for the pain.
I went to see a specialist while on them, asking for an alternative because at that point, I just wanted to get off the patches, and so he put me on Targin 40. It was very expensive to see him and I needed to find a regular doctor so I went back to the lovely one closer to home and I was kept on Targin for all this time.
The Targin slightly helps with the pain, but the side effects are quite harsh. They make me nauseous and slightly dizzy. At this time, I decided to take matters into my own hands and got into trouble. I had taken Valium a few times in the past and it not only helped with insomnia but muscle pain, and anxiety which Ive had forever. Because of my experience with my old doctor, I decided to go to medical centers to get Valium so my new doctor wouldn't get exhausted with me as my old one had. I am now on the naughty list because of this and now it will be a struggle to treat the pain in the winter time.
I don't want to stay on Targin. It is a slow release drug that I must take daily. What I would prefer is a quick acting pain medication that I take only when I need to. I can cope with the normal chronic pain, it is the crippling pain in my spine and my discs in the cold weather that is so hard to manage and I'm finding Targin just doesn't help all that much, even mixed with panadine and anti inflammatory which Ive given up taking.
I would love to get some advice on this. If anyone else has the same or similar issues could you please share your pain management program with me?
Thank you.