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Re: How to treat neuropathic pain ? pleae help

Posted by kpo2002 on May 13, 2002, at 16:14:49

In reply to Re: How to treat neuropathic pain ? pleae help, posted by ben on April 2, 2002, at 11:58:27

There is no answer as to why what medications work for neuropathic pain. It is all trial and error--benefits versus undesirable side effects. Today I didn't take methadone but I did take 1/4 of a concerta. But I took methadone yesterday, 2 doses, so some of it is still in effect. I have taken a lot of drugs including TCAs, they didn't provide any pain relief and they made me feel like shit. It is not worth my time telling you all of the drugs that I took if they didn't give me any pain relief. Yes, I took Ultram (tramadol) for 2 years. I was allergic to it but I was forced to take it because it got me out of blinding pain. I had been in blinding pain for a year and a half, so it was a welcome relief. As I increased the Remeron and got a few doctors to give me a few oxycontin or percocets, I weaned myself from the Ultram. I still suffer with the allergies given to me by Ultram. Occasional hayfever, itchy eyes, runny nose, sinus headaches, and cannot were any earrings except real gold, and cannot wear any makeup without itchy eyes and runny nose. Also mixing Ultram with Trazedone produced Seratonin Syndrome which was awful. Coudn't sleep or eat for 4 days, horrible headache, nausea, vertigo, tinnitus. Just horrible. Then I had two chronic pain people blessing me with a few methadones from time to time, and I knew that it was the best. My son had to be sent to a county shelter before I got methadone. I suffered horribly for 3 1/2 years and when I took my son to a doctor's appt. I pleaded desperately to him, "If I don't get some painkillers soon my son is going to be sent to a foster home." He gave me 2 months supply of Fentanyl patches, 50 mcg. but I didn't use them the way you are supposed to. I figured if I hadn't gotten addicted yet, then why should I? Remeron had gotten me out of the french-fryer. I finally figured out that the only way that I could use the patches was to put it on at bedtime and take it off upon awakening (approx 12 hours.)I got the best pain relief (and almost always complete pain relief) from the Patches, but I was high as a kite, plus it is a pain in the ass pulling those patches off and trying to get them to stick again. I have saved some patches for special occasions, like vacation (snorkelling/ice skating) or big housecleaning or a much needed vacation from the pain. As for the dexedrine and concerta, every other boy on the block is diagnosed with ADD/ADHD. If you read the fine print on the Adderall drug info you will see one line that says that it increases the action of narcotic analgesics. You must keep trying pill after pill. Narcotics will not work alone. Antipsychotics work but have horrible side effects. I have a theory that Cogentin would work against Neuropathic pain, because it has only one use in pharmacology, and that is to undo the horrible side effects of antipsychotic drugs, and I figure if it's action is to undo unwanted random neurological actions then why would'nt it undo random pain impulses? As for the Neurontin - I had to start with 30 mg. (dumping out the capsules) It took me about 10 months to get up to 1,200 mg. 4 x day. The increases were equivalent to being shot out of a cannon into a brick wall. Increases should be made at bedtime so that you sleep through it all. Even with all of these drugs I am still in a lot of pain, but I am able to stay vertical for whole entire days, and I can think clearly, although I'm not my normal self. I can have days of immense pain relief by skipping days on the methadone, keeping the methadone doses low, and having about 4 days a month in which I take lot of methadone so that I can do all-day affairs. Only now, after adding the Effexor XR do I feel well enough to get on the internet and read and write. The Effexor XR 37.5 gave me immense pain relief for one month, then when the unusual side effects subsided so did much of the pain relief. I am still getting 20% of the original pain relief plus I am calmer. I lost 5 lbs. during the first month but gained it back in 2 weeks. I have lost my appetite for sweets. (Except Pepsi!) I have bi-femoral compression neuropathy, from being improperly positioned and/or left in the stirrups too long (two hours) during a vaginal hysterectomy at the VA hospital in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, and the surgeon was Dr. Kathleen McIntyre Seltman from Magee Women's Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I am in pain from my belly-button down, everything inside and out. I gained 40 lbs in 4 months after taking Remeron. I don't really like it, but it is a small price to pay to be able to walk and wear clothing. I hope that I have helped you and would like to warn everyone out there of this horrible injury. Men can get this injury too from prostate or hemmorhoid surgery. The way to prevent this injury is too have it written in the pre-surgical agreement that the legs have to be taken down for a few minutes and repositioned during surgery, or in the case of a hysterectomy the woman can opt to have the organs removed through an incision in the abdomen. Roxane 5 mg. Methadone seem to be stronger than Roxane 10 mg. and Methadose 10 mg. Sometime the binders in the drug can affect the action and the binders in the 5 mg. may be different. PLUS if you are paying for your drugs you would be interested to note that a month's worth of Duragesic Fentanyl patches is over $200.00 and the equivalent in Methadone is about $10.00. PLUS Methadone is not highly desired by junkies (if it were, there would be no heroin traffic as all of the junkies would be at the Methadone clinics)so it may be easier to get, but I don't know-it is still a narcotic. I recommend Methadone as it has great pain relieving qualities and few side effects, and if you are not addicted to it when you do take it subsequent doses are smaller than the first because of its long-lasting action. For instance, I get up, take 10 mg. Methadone, lay in bed for a while, get up get going, and decide that I didn't take enough, an hour and a half after the initial dose, take another 5 mg. An hour and a half later I'm doing OK but not great, I take another 5 mg. and I'm set for 4-6 hours and after the 6 hours I still have 50% of the pain relief for the rest of the day. Then the next day when I wake up I may only have to take two 5mg. doses to get comparable pain relief of the day before. At first I tried 1 day on and two days off, but after a few months I couldn't stand the pain anymore and now I'm usually two days on and 1 day off. Occasionally I go three days in a row, and occasionally I skip two days in a row. If I skip two days in a row, one of those days is likely to be augmented by 5-10 mg. of dexedrine. My other posting said that I took dexedrine every day but I don't, I just put that in to simplify my posting as I did not know when I'd feel well enough to write a more complete description. I sort of alternate drugs so that I don't become hopelessly addicted to narcotics but since I have been on Effexor I have not had to use alcohol once (yuck). Sometimes I have been able to double the effects of methadone just by having two drinks. However I don't really like the taste or effects of alcohol. Chronic pain patients who are friends of mine say that sooner or later I will become addicted to narcotics so why not just do it and get it over with and have a better life? I would love to do that if it guaranteed me a better life, but I am fearful that I will live another 60 years and become so tolerant after 30 years that they don't work and I will live another 30 years in hell. (No I won't,I'll kill myself first.) Plus I am just terrified of addiction itself because I have seen first-hand what narcotic addiction is like. Plus by staying sensitive to narcotics I can get pain-free hours or pain-free days, and I know that my methadone buddies get a lot of pain relief on a regular basis, but they never even have a pain-free moment.


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poster:kpo2002 thread:99846
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020510/msgs/106225.html