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Chronic Pain MEGA Thread

LOL maybe so. I am hoping that I can get some kind of relief.

That makes sense that they test, I suppose. Kind of a violation of privacy, I guess. So what, they send a letter and then I have to go the ER to see if its in my system? Or will they come by my house and be like SHOW ME YOUR OCS NOW! and then take each one out and count them?
 
Well today didn't go well...They want me to try neurotin again. All the doctors think I am crazy and I have anixety. Only my neurologist who today showed me films, showing atleast 250 tumors inside of my body. It really sucks :(

I am going to try the pain clinic now. I'd atleast like to try Lyrica.
 
Hi,

I am new to Blue Light and am looking for some help. I have severe psoriatic arthritis. This is my story. It's a little long and probably tedious, but I could really use some assistance and advice.

Back in 2003 6 months after I lost my baby shortly after giving birth I suffered from either an acute stress reaction or post-partum psychosis. I did not know what was happening to me at the time... I did not understand that you could actually go "crazy" from too much stress in your life... All I knew at the time was that my husband and I were arguing way way way more than usual and my thinking (to him) was becoming more and more irrational. The episode lasted for 6 weeks until I was hospitalized (committed) for 10 days. Anyways -- I only bring this up because it's a factor in the overall health situation I am currently dealing with.

After I was discharged from hospital from the "nervous breakdown" - I was put on risperidone as a preventative anti-psychotic. This was prescribed to prevent me from relapsing back into another breakdown.

The thing is -- that's when I first noticed the symptoms. I recall very clearly about 2-3 weeks after I was out of the hospital that I had "slowed down". I don't know how else to describe it.. except that ordinarily, and before I got ill that year, I was a very very active and vital person... Always busy and on the go. I was not the kind of person that meandered... I was always rushing from place to place. And all of a sudden... I found that I did not have the energy to walk from my car in the parking lot of the building I lived in, and the elevator to my place.

My husband was away on business during this period of time, so he didn't see it, but my landlord and my friends -- they noticed. They noticed that something was seriously wrong. I walked... about 1/4 or slower from what had been my usual pace. If I was walking more than a couple of blocks... After just a couple of minutes of walking I would have to focus... I mean really really concentrate hard on just keeping putting one foot in front of the other.

I also remember that I was having a hard time getting out of bed in the morning. I would wake up... and instead of bouncing out of bed , like I used to... I sort of had to roll myself up and sideways off the mattress.

I kept trying to figure out what the deal was. I figured maybe I was just tired, or had the flu or something. My joints ached.. especially in the morning... and especially if I had been sitting in one place too long -- I would get stiff and sore. I used to be the kind of person that didn't even own a TV because I never had time to sit around watching TV. But during that 6 month period after my hospitalization... It took everything I had to get up each morning, make my boy a breakfast, walk him to the car, drive him to school, come home, and then I had no energy beyond being able to watch TV or read.... and I would arrange the couch so that once I had settled I wouldn't have to get up over and over again... because it was painful and hard just to rise from a seating or prone position. So before I would sit down I would gather up juice, water bottles, medication, light snack, reading material, remote, laptop...

It was such an odd feeling in those first few months... being so tired like that all the time - so sluggish. I would remember debating whether I had the energy to go to the bathroom and make it back to the couch... or whether I should try and nap first and try later - or save the bathroom trip for when I had to get up to get going to get my boy home from school.

And I felt so guilty... so terrible that I couldn't properly cook anymore. I couldn't stand at the stove... for more than 10 minutes without it being a real problem... and I LOVE to cook... absolutely adore making delicious home-cooked meals. That winter... I made a lot of soup and sandwhiches and we ate a lot of microwavables and pizza pockets.

It was odd really - because I didn't notice the pattern at first. I did not notice how slowly -- bit by bit, parts of my life were slipping away -- because I racked my brains trying to figure out what was wrong....

I tried to tell my doctor about the problem. I told him about the joint pain and the chronic terrible tiredness... I asked him if perhaps it was possible that all of this was being caused by the anti-psychotic medication. Or, I reasoned in asking him... was it possible that the drug was somehow simply making me more sensitive to normal aches and pains... and causing me to feel so worn out. My doctor completely pooh-pooh'd the questions and said it was ridiculous.

Around this period of time (my son remembers this clearly) I developed this terrible rash on my hands... I called my husband and begged him to come home early from his work down South. Halloween was coming... Halloween has always been a really special and fun time for me and my son especially... and this year I was frantic with worry because I knew I wouldnt be able to walk my son out on Halloween night... and I kept telling my husband this... I told him over and over that I needed him to be home on Halloween to take our boy out.

Again, let me emphasize that this was so *not me*. Our usual Halloweens involved starting out at 5:00 sharp and trick-or-treating for 2 hours, grabbing a bite to eat, another hour of trick or treating by visiting friends and relatives - and then going to a yearly weenie/marshmellow roast and fireworks display at my Uncle's home that started at 10 and then relaxing around the bonfire with the rest of the family. That year... I was able to only walk for about 25 minutes and the rest of the time I waited in the car... and then had to be dropped off while my son and husband went to the family event. It was the first big family holiday that was impacted by this weird malaise...

Everybody was concerned... my uncle was so concerned in fact, that without my asking him, he would drop by with his daughter once a week and go grocery shopping with me and he then paid one of his foster kids to do a light housecleaning in our apartment because I was starting to fall behind and it was getting to me.

Anyways... I became convinced that it must be the anti-psychotic medication I was taking.. so I slowly (without doctors knowledge or permission) tapered them off. I had been ordered to take 6 months off work after the breakdown and I figured I couldn't be on this stuff when I went back to work anyways... so I just slowly tapered down till I was taking 1/4 of the prescribed dose... and after I had been at that dose for a few weeks I told my doctor and he said that at the dose I was currently taking it it was ineffective anyways and thus he agreed to allow me off the medication.

I complained about the pain - but he told me I just needed to excercise more.

Oh yes... I had started to gain weight during that period of time. A weight increase that would eventually balloon up to 100 pounds when all was said and done....

I lived in Canada at the time and so getting OTC pain medication T1s was no problem. I started to take 2-3 about 3 times a day. It wasn't providing a whole lot of relief, but it was the best I could manage....

Ok -- I am going to post the rest of the story a little later.
My hands are killing me and so is my back and I am pretty tired.
Don't worry about responding till I post the rest, thanks!
 
part 2

Hi - I'm back. I'm on 12 mgs hydromorph contin 2Xs a day (1 per 12 hours) - I also take 4-8 mgs dilaudid on days that I work for breakthrough pain. On days that I do not work I don't usually need the dialudid unless the weather is very cold and damp (like it's just turned in the past month) OR I've been very active or have been run down. Psoriatic Arthritis is an auto-immune disorder and I definately notice flare-ups when I get run down or start to feel under the weather.

Ok.. back to the progression...

We ended up moving to the United States when the 6 months was up. So that was the end of being able to try and manage pain with T1s. That's part of why I wasn't too worried about getting addicted to the T1s... I knew that I would be out of the country and not able to get any so... I enjoyed the little relief I got. The T1s didn't do much. I was still exhausted all the time, but after I had T1s I would enjoy maybe 30-40 minutes after they kicked in when I could function somewhat normally... I found myself planning my days around those doses... I'd wait to do laundrey... or cook, or even shower.

That's how bad things got at a certain point... I'd have to debate with myself whether the energy required to get up and get going and take a shower vs doing the dishes was worth it.

The rash on my hands got worse and worse and kept getting bigger. Then it started to appear on the bottoms of my feet. Itching all the time - flaking skin... I wasn't able to do dishes... soap bothered me terribly.

Also other aspects of my life had begun to change. Before all of this my husband and I enjoyed a very active and great sex life. We both noticed that in the months after the skin flare ups occured when he had come back home from his business -- I couldn't rub his back...
It's hard to explain the process... But I used to love giving him back rubs... and I just didn't want to do it. I would start up -- but then my hands would hurt and be too tired after only 5 or so minutes.

And as for sex... well - we were in rough shape financially at the time. We could not afford proper furniture and so as a temporary measure we were sleeping on an air mattress. And I really did believe that this was the problem. I would wake up in agony in my joints and I would be stiff and sore all over. I just assumed that it must be the mattress. I would find it hard to sleep through the night... my aching joints would wake me up. And getting back to sex... It was excruciating - especially in my hip joints... I would find it almost impossible to walk after - and be so sore for days at a time that I became reluctant to initiate sex - didn't want it... and I would make whatever excuse I could to avoid it.

So -- consider all this... bits and pieces of my life were slowly being stripped away... and I could not understand why it was happening. And for the longest time I carried around this huge huge guilt... because I told myself.. "Well -- this is what happens when you get older -- you get sore and you ache a bit. Other people must go through the same thing - and they don't complain about it. They suck it up."

I really really beat myself up about it. Because I tried to do everything my doctors had told me to do. I would force myself to go for walks. I would force myself to do things even when it utterly exhausted me. But I began to start to isolate from my family because as things progressed... and the pain was constant... and and I was so tired I would find myself being snapish and grumpy all the time - and I didn't want to inflict myself on my husband and my son when I was not in a good mood. And at the same time -- both of them were starting to really resent me because in their view, I was just this lazy person, who wasn't doing much - and was miserable all the time, and they had to do more housework because I couldn't or rather they thought I didn't want to do it...

And I certainly bought into that mindset about myself as well... As I mentioned before - my weight ballooned up 100 pounds. I had not started to eat more, but my level of activity had decreased so much that the intake of calories no longer matched my output of excercise... And of course the extra weight made me feel even worse about myself and even more self-conscious... and definately played into my perception about being a fat lazy slob, that couldn't even be bothered to shower daily.

I used to be the kind of person that would never stand around waiting for an elevator to reach my floor - I'd just run up the nearest steps 2 at a time. Now I would find myself going to a mall parking lot for groceries where the video-store was about 500 feet away at the other side of the parking lot. And I would get back in my car and drive in the parking lot to the other side of the parking lot so i could avoid the walk... and I would feel so guilty and ashamed about doing this... I was often in tears... because I knew what it must look like to people... that fat lady - who can't even be bothered to walk across the parking lot and back.

This situation went on for 3 years..If I told a doctor about it, they just urged me to get more excercise. I bought a bike... and I would force myself to ride... but things started to come to a head...

I finally figured that there must be something seriously wrong with me psychologically... that I must be seriously impaired that I could not "snap myself out of" what was happening. So I went to a psychiatrist. I had begun to experience agoraphobia and panic attacks. I told the psychiatrist what was going on... I was prescribed seroquel and something else... I can't remember. Pretty expensive stuff. And the seroquel did not do anything to help. I am actually pretty shocked now that the shrink didn't bother to do ANY kind of physical tests or diagnostics to see if there was an organic or metabolic cause... He just believed I was suffering from severe clinical depression.

We could not afford the meds.. I came back to Canada... And then - a miracle happened...
The Rash on my hands and feet got worse and worse and worse... My fingernails and toenails started to pop off. I started to find it difficult to walk. It was too painful to touch paper with the tips of my fingers...

I ended up going back to school - rather than working as because of student loans and programs I was able to get funding to support myself and my family while my husband took care of the house and my son and we applied for his work visa to Canada. I managed to drag my ass to classes 3 days a week... It was brutal... I would get up, go to class and then come home and have to sleep for 12 hours solid to be ready to do homework or go to the next class. I still managed to pull off a A- average. I ended up transfering to a different city to continue my studies and I got a new doctor.

This doctor suffered from psoriasis himself... and he was the first doctor I had seen in quite literally YEARS that treated me like I was a decent human being and took me seriously. Maybe it was because I had been treated so poorly by other docs -- but by the time I got to this doc... I had just given up on the idea of even mentioning that I was in pain.

In any event -- as a routine matter, per his knowledge of psoriasis, he ordered a routine MRI. I was shocked... unbelievably totally utterly shocked when I came back to his office. He explained that the MRI had revealed severe arthritis throughout my whole body... particularly in the hips - but also in the shoulders..in the small bones of my hands, in my ankles... elbows...

He said "You not only should not be running around trying to excercise your way out of this -- but I do not want you walking more than a city block. I want you to get a scooter - and you must start using it when goint to your classes and anywhere else that requires long mobility."

He encouraged me to drop my studies for a time and to apply for disability. I declined.

I still did not mention pain. In fact -- my experiences with docs was so bad - that I really didn't want to complain about anything... because I thought they would send me to shrinks and I would be put on some different kind of psychotropics... I hated the Seroquel that I had taken faithfully.

The doc in the States that had started the Seroquel said that he felt I was probably bi-polar - hence the seroquel. It's now been 5 years 2 docs since him and 3 psychs since him that agree that I do not suffer from bi-polar. They say it's a "tricky diagnosis" because you can only diagnose what you are seeing at the time of the diagnosis... What my docs and shrink say now is that I am prone to suffer problems when confronting prolonged and intense pressures and stress.

Around 18 months ago, as i continued my studies I had a series of horrific health crisies... not related to the arthritis... My liver started to go wonky.. slight non-viral hepatitis.. I was in and out of hospital for gall-stones and non-stop vomitting... And the seroquel I had been put on... was causing this and other problems. I started to experience several episodes of sinus tachacardia if i administered my prescribed dose. Was taken by ambulance to hospital 6 times... and kept telling docs that it was the seroquel that was doing it -- but they didn't take it seriously.

Finally... when I was IN hospital because of the gall-bladder stuff - so they were able to monitor everything... when they gave me the seroquel (after I warned them what would happen) - the sinus tach occured again... and FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY, my doc took me off seroquel.

So instead, I was put on Valproic Acid - since it acts as a dopamine antagonist which prevents a recurrence of the breakdown (if I start to experience major stress again) -- and as an added benefit, Valproate also seems to help with the nauseau and vomitting problems.

In any case... I was in the process of taking classes for the summer which are much much longer than the regular classes in fall and winter. I found it to be excrucuiating to sit for several hours in those hard little chairs and so I mentioned this to my doc. He prescribed supedol (in a very low dose) for me. Up until then - I had not had anything, except diclofenac and t1s as a means of combatting the arthritis pain.

It was amazing... My life changed as a result of this. I started to get my life back. In a few short months I was walking without a cane most cases. I could actually walk up stairs... I WANTED to take my boy to the park... I could cook... we even started to have sex again.

It wasn't back 100% -- about 30% back... in the sense that things were not getting worse. My muscles had atrophied in the years I had been incapacitated... and it has taken quite some time to get muscle tone back - and stamina... I started going to the pool regularly.
I'd go and soak in the hot-tub at the rec center to relieve the pain at the end of the day.

t by bit - things started to get back to normal.. and it was amazing. Just a tiny little pill did that. I was still tired a lot - but the pain in my joints was manageable...

I still was not up for working -- but things were getting better.

Ok... that's the end of the second part of this story...
I'll finish it up a little later tonight.
My hands need a little break again.
thanks
 
wow, lol, you sound like my unfortunate sister!

i always complained of arthritic pain, shin "splints", extreme hip pain, joint swelling, a psychotic breakdown, adverse reactions to several medications, then... after the post-psychotic depression, and subsequent alcohol frenzy, the diagnoses started coming in.

its been two plus years of waking up screaming, dozens of doctors, many diagnoses with many more to come, and i just now out of mercey am being prescribed a very small amount of oxy-codone, its just amazing.

i am also very limited in how much moving around or physical activity i should allow myself, but if i dont move, and move right as my joints/spine are constantly trying to fuse together.

my main defense against fusion and crashing my immune system is; TNF alpha pain blocker; opioids which i haven't reached a manageable level with yet for general pain/constant rib pain; medical marijuana for inflammation, constant GP, nassau, regulate immune system, thought balance, daily life living.

i would definitely see a physical therapist, a suggestive/hypnotherapist to learn healthy mental detachment techniques, acupuncture, or a masseuse to help with blood flow(it has almost stopped and the veins are filling with calcium in some places so this can be important in the long run or stroll rather.

i have a TENS unit that can be a day maker
;)


anyways, thank you for sharing, and update us for any reason, or if find anything unordinary that really seems to help.
take care, take on one day at a time.
 
Welcome to BL tiddly.....
I'm sorry to hear about what a rough go of things you've had.
I read and reread your two posts here- Is arthritis the final and only diagnosis?
I'm not trying to diagnose you in any way but your story sounds a lot like part of my story and part of my husbands.....
(Just to throw out there- the risperdone side effects could have caused some of the things you described in the beginning)
Anyway.......
I lost a baby and my husband had a nervous breakdown- I think the stress, both physical and mental for me during this time caused my fibromyalgia to appear. Have you read anything about Fibro? A lot of times people with other physical issues (like arthritis) will have fibro, which often flares up after a stressful period or a trauma of some kind. (Physical or emotional).
B/c of my fibro I can really relate to the fatigue, the muscle aches and bone pain.......
I feel for you <3
I hope to hear more from you and that things look up.
 
part 3 - the problem -- needing advice

Ok - so, I'm back.

I did not understand how pain management was supposed to work. It has only been through trial and error and learning along the way and asking a lot of questions that I've gotten a better quality of life back.

One thing I did not understand about pain management was that it is best to not wait till pain levels get to the worst -- before starting to medicate. A doctor in the ER told me about this. He said the problem with doing that is that once the pain gets really unbearable it's harder to deal with -- harder to treat and manage. So rather than wait to see if things get better on their own - while letting the pain get worse (which is what I thought was the way I was supposed to manage the pain medication) he said that by taking a low dose when the pain was just starting to get uncomfortable, I would be in better control.

I had some weird ideas about taking the pain medication to begin with... Like I should be strong enough to just take it and push through. It's silly now and definately something that I have gotten over -- but I definately spent a good year being very cautious about things because of that perspective... A year that in retrospect probably would have been much better for me and my family if I had dosed myself as often as I would now for pain management.

For me -- it's not just about the pain... It's the never-ending fatigue that goes along with it... I don't so much mind the weird amnesia... Like.. I'll be sitting down at the dinner table, engrossed in a long conversation... and then go to stand up and it hurts so much when I go to stand up that I often gasp or groan unintentionally... And in that brief period of time... I have forgotten about the arthritis... and I kick myself for not remembering to take a few minutes every 20 minutes or so to move around so I don't get stiff and sore.

And other weird things keep happening too... like I go to the grocery store - and since I was in my 20's I try to avoid all impulse spending by only getting a little basket instead of a cart -- the psychology being that you can only fit so much into the basket and so it forces you to more carefully consider what you are putting in your basket than if you could just toss everything into the cart.
But I am constantly over-estimating how much I can carry or how long I can carry it. My husband is constantly frustrated that I won't use a cart -- but it feels like giving in to the disease to adjust like that... So many many times at the store -- I end up having to put the basket down and then go fetch a cart because I've found that the basket has gotten too heavy and my shoulder joints, elbow joints, finger joints are hurting too much to keep carrying my basket through the rest of the trip. I know, logically going into it that I should just take the cart -- but I keep thinking that I won't make the same mistake again...

So it's lots of little things like this that keep the arthritis an issue for me.

In any event -- things improved amazingly for me after I was put on pain medication. Remember that 100 pounds I put on? Gone inside of 2 years without dieting. I was just able to.. um... you know... walk, and do stuff - and have my life back.

At some point my doc switched me to oxycontin ... I think it was 10 mgs every 12 hours... I can't remember. I didn't like it. We switched to some weird thing... (it began with a T... tramadone I think) and I was on that for a couple of months last year after the oxycontin... I had been having pretty bad problems with nauseau and vomitting so my doc was considering a fentanyl patch -- but issues with insurance prohibited it.

I ended up here at bluelight for the first time because a nurse friend of mine told me about plugging -- because of the severe nauseau that I was having.

Anyways -- Things really really really got better - turned a corner for me in about Feb of this year. I decided to start back at work part time... My job involves physical activity. I was going to start out slow to build up my strength -- and work my way up.

My doc put me on 12 mgs Hydromorphcontin 2xs a day - with 4-8 mgs dilaudid for breakthrough pain... He gave me the breakthrough stuff originally because I finally broke down and told him about the problems with our sex life.

Now.. I know that we aren't supposed to encourage people about how to get a doc to Rx --- (I read the rules) -- but I thought this was funny... My doc is in his mid-50s - very old fashioned. I told him about the lack of sex. His suggestion was that we try "different positions" -- My husband came with me to the next appointment and sort of set him straight that... "It's been 6 years since we've had sex more than once every 6 months or so... believe me.. if there was a position that would make things work.. we would try it"

So.. I told my doc that it had actually gotten to the point where I was seriously considering having my husband seek out an extra-marital partner...
He was really horrified. I said "I want really really badly to WANT to have sex... but it's so uncomfortable and it hurts so badly in the days after in my hips and sometimes other places.. shoulders etc -- that I can't relax, enjoy.. or desire it"

That was the fastest time I ever saw my doc whip out the narcotics RX pad in the 4 years I've been his patient! He gave me 12 doses of 8 mgs and told me to take 1 or 2 about 20-30 minutes before we were going to be intimate, and enjoy!

The whole thing was so embarrasing... that I could never work up the courage to ask him for sex pain medication again.

But back in Feb - I did bring it up... I told him I wanted to go back to work and that the long-acting stuff was ok for the non-rigorous day-to-day stuff... but extra stuff was really knocking me for a loop. So that's when he prescribed the 4-8 mgs dialudid.

I take the meds about 30 minutes before work (orally) and I am ME again.
I don't know how else that explains it. I... have MY body back for those 2-3 hours at work. I love it. I zoom around and I get stuff done. I have energy. The difference between having the dialudid and not is like the difference between say a 40 watt bulb and a 90 watt bulb.


And that's been going really really great at that dose ever since feb. In fact... I've managed to increase the amount I can work from 1-2 hours to 5-6 hours.

Anyways... Everything has been going on the up and up since then... I have been feeling so good about life and being productive again and contributing financially to our home -- and just having energy.

For so many years I didn't have the energy to go out for coffee. I didn't have the energy to let my husband take me out to dinner.

And I've started to be social again. It has to be something really special that I would use my work-pain medication for... but I am actually sustaining relationships outside of the home and work again for the first time in years.

But here's the rub...
in the past 3-4 weeks, the weather changed. Winter's coming. It's getting cold and damp... and I am slowing down again.

And THIS really really scares me.
I can't go back to the shell that I had become.
I can't let that happen. I've worked so hard to get my life back and get this disease managed... but I know how chronic pain can rob you of so much of anything worthwhile in life.

So I remembered reading about plugging a few months back because of the nauseau -- and I remember being cautious about even trying it because when you take the meds that way -- it's stronger.

And my thinking is -- if I take the medication I have -- but take it stronger...isn't that just exactly the same as simply increasing my dose?

I am worried about doing this without my doctor's knowledge... but I am equally afraid of what happens if I start slowing down... and my doctor doesn't agree with my assessment that it is time to adjust my meds up slightly to deal with the fact that I have built up tolerance.

I am really really worried about doing anything that would cause me to be dependent upon larger doses of medication than I would be prescribed for.

But the longer that the flare-ups and the fatigue starts to wiggle it's way back into my life... the more I feel like I should be more pro-active about treating it -- even if it means doing this without my doctors help.

I don't use any other kinds of narcotics. Occasionally - because of the nauseau and vomitting... I will lose a dose of either the Hydromorphcontin or Dialudid because I will vommit it up within 10 minutes of ingesting.. and then I will supplement with Tylenol..

And that's partly what's also worried me is that I've found in the past that I might use T1s (2) a couple of times a day -- when it was getting around that time that it was a month to 6 weeks before my meds would be adjusted up.

I would know it was time because instead of finding myself sometimes a couple of hours past the 12 hours after last dose... and finding myself starting to twinge again... and saying "oh.. yeah - gotta take my meds" -- in those period of time before adjustment... I will find myself staring at the clock... waiting for 2-3 hours before my next dose... and starting to ache in my lower back especially... and shoulders... And so that's when I would take 2XT1 to get me through till the next dose.

And I definately worry about that because of the risk of trashing my liver.

So that's what I want help with..
I want to figure out a way to adjust my meds up slightly so that they keep working - until such a time as my doc decides to adjust them.

So one thing to consider is -- I don't want to adjust too far up -- because if I do, then when I get my new RX - I will probably simply be in the same boat I am starting to get into now -- only this time, I won't even be able to enjoy the 4-6 month period where the meds were working perfectly and I had no worries.

So - any help any of you could shed on any of this would be so greatly appreciated.

Thanks
 
I have chronic back pain...the doctor says its nerve pain but I refuse to allow them to prescribe me SSRI's because 1. they do nothhhhing, and 2. SSRI's make me depressed 3. No more "fun" drugs so I am prescribed 15mgs oxycodone 3x a day (due to financial reasons I'm not prescribed Oxycontin). I've been having some financial problems and have started selling a MAJORITY of the medication...

it sucks. I'm either miserable because I have no money for even things like food (top ramen every day is making me sick) or my back hurts...

I've started developing this "restless leg" type syndrome but it seems to be in my right arm...
 
tiddly winks

I would suggest that you look into alternatives to opiates to supplement your current medications. Acupuncture has done alot for me (please search my name for past posts on acupuncture) and interventional pain management may do even more - doctors can give depot epidurals in areas where you don't feel it, but it blocks the pain for a long period of time. I didn't even know this existed until recently, and it has allowed me to not only need more opiates, but to be at 10% of my previous dose.
 
I am at my wits end with my doctor! I have been experiencing this god-awful deep itch on the outside of both my thighs. I'd been on gabapentin for awhile and it was working, but at a higher dose than prescribed. I wanted off the opiates, so I asked to discontinue those. My doc felt that I was having an allergic reaction to the gabapentin, which I know damned well it isn't! I looked in a PDR book and this itch is not listed as a side effect. I've had this itch problem off and on for years. It was REALLY bad during my pregnancy. And as of late, I have had it so bad that I have bruised myself from the itch.

I called my doc today about this... Again. Guess what she wanted to prescribe? Ultram. I flat out said no. She also felt that perhaps my anxiety was causing the problem and suggested I increase my Xanax to 0.50 mg tid. Not gonna happen there, either. I don't need a benzo addiction!

I want my damn gabapentin back! But I have no clue as to how to talk to her about this. I work in the medical field, but with animals. She knows I know about medication and such. But without coming off as an asshat or even med seeker, I don't know how to tell her to give me the gaba back and at a higher dose. 1200 mg tid seems to be really effective for me and even lifts my mood a bit.

I made a copy of the PDR on gaba, but should I bring it with me to the appointment tomorrow? I'm guessing she knows little about it and is leery. But if it works and isn't a friggin narcotic, why not? Right??

Instead, I've been sitting here for days relying on ibuprofen and heating pad with little relief. Weather's been crappy here and when it gets cold, I hurt like hell! My whole sacrum feels like I've been kicked there with steel toed boots. And then the itching. Goes hand in hand.
 
Wow my pain got so bad yesterday that the morphine wasent working and neither was the gabapentin. I got my shrink to give me some chlorpromazine which worked wonders for the nausea and boosted the morphine alone. Im definetely going to ask my doc about a script for atleast a few of those cause 25-50mg's of that knocks nausea right out.
 
I just got back on PM after quitting another place because I was so fed up with the shit. New place was cool, I started acupuncture at the same time, and then like 4 days ago I got an L4 nerve block, which are the nerves in your inside ankles. I have a gnar ankle injury, so I was on a heavy dose of opiates until I quit and switched.
The nerve block eliminated 75% of the Pain. I would highly recommend it.
Only problem is I got switched from Opana IR (fuckin awesome) to Dilaudid 4's (boo)
but oh well. feeling much better so I'd probably enjoy them too much anyways now.


ADD girl - You should check this out, it may work well for you given the type of pain you are describing. It is designed to block the sympathetic nervous system while letting the memetic (active) by, so it like numbs the area but you retain full control of your body, and all this originates at your spine. And no, they want take away your opiates, haha.
 
I'm 21, and have only recently (last 1.5 years) accepted that I have a chronic pain condition. I think it started when I was around 16 or so, but I didn't fully realize what it was until years later. During that time though, the pain flare-ups wrecked with my emotions, and tanked at least 2 intimate relationships of mine.

My pain is localized to my back, mostly lower back, and so far is idiopathic (unknown cause). Right now I'm stabilized on 60 mg of Cymbalta and 25 mcg of T-3 hormone (to help with fatigue issues), as well as ibuprofen as needed, which recently has been 800 mg 3x daily.

I'm worried because recently the pain has seemed to come back a little recently. I'm worried that I will need to continuously increase my medication, and that I won't ever find a long term solution. I also don't want to start high dose NSAID therapy at my age, especially since I want to be able to use NSAIDS effectively for any breakthrough pain.

I also have some abuse issues with painkillers, which I believe is at least partly due to my chronic pain. Regardless, I do not want to start opioid therapy at this point, because I know it will only be downhill from there.

As far as a diagnosis goes, I've been told it's a back strain from one doctor, which I know is total bullshit, and another test indicated that I have a gene associated with ankylosing spondylosis. Unfortunately, the x-ray showed no gross changes, so I was deemed 'negative.' Whether I have this disease or not, I can't say, as I don't like to self-diagnose, but there is definitely something more than 'back strain' going on.

Next time I visit my doctor I'm going to try and continue getting tested for any physical reasons for my back pain, as I'm worried that I may be damaging myself more without knowing about it. I just hope that I can find something to control my pain long-term, because it seems to be especially detrimental to my romantic relationships. When my pain flares up, I withdraw, which makes my partner try to hold me closer, which makes me withdraw more, and so on.

Anyway, if anyone has suggestions for non-opioid pain relievers, I'd appreciate them. I try to incorporate exercise and healthy habits into my routine, but it seems like as I increase my activity level, my pain level increases as well, so I generally need more pain relief to establish healthy habits. However, I'm trying as best I can, and trying to rely on non-medication methods, but it's really difficult to motivate myself when I hurt and I just want to lay down and relax. I try to take breaks throughout the day, but as a student, this is not always possible, and I rely on medication to get me through the tough times.

Thank you for listening <3
 
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I was in a motorcycle crash 4 months ago. My pelvis and legs were shattered and crushed a couple of disks in my lower back. My medical insurance dropped me, so I haven't been able to do physical therapy, get any more ops (spine & hip) or get any pain relief.

i don't know what to do anymore... i have no more money :(

how do you guys without insurance do it??
 
I just want to say that this thread is inspiring to me. I have a chronic pain issue, but it's almost completely under control with gabapentin. Some of you are so much worse off, I just don't know how you all manage to stay so functional. I'm going to resolve to get up off my ass and actually do something meaningful today; I'm virtually pain free, so now is the perfect time.
 
There are few things that piss me off more then living so far away from my doctor that i can't go see him. I was supposed to go see him after seeing my chronic pain doctor but since not having a car and since i live in a place where there is no public transport since i'm outside the city, and i have noone to give me a run really i am fucked for abit. I was supposed to go get some decent anti-nausea drugs for when i am in alot of pain and get sick but right now i don't have anything but dimenhydrinate and a old bottle of methotrimeprazine. The methotrimeprazine (canadian brand name) works but it makes me feel zombish for a long time after since it has a long half life. It might be only about half as potent as chlorpromazine but no way could i take 50mg's of nozinan like i can with the largactil/thorazine because i would be out for about a day and a half.

Lately it has been very shocks of trigeminal neuralgia, stomach problems (that's nothing new Ive always had that) and aches and pains in my joints that have been bothering me. The arthritis type pain can be managed with ibuprofen and exercise as well, but the trigeminal neurlgia is not only god awful pain that makes you want to die. It is the absolue worst pain i have ever felt but then again i guess it is not called the suicide disease for nothing :\ . Thankfully between the morphine, gabapentin, clonazepam (prescribed to me for anxiety but is used for TN) and weed the pain is much less frequent then it was before i was put on meds.
 
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