Update - had an appt with GP today

Hola folks,

Well, to start with, my incision looks fine, just got to wear the dressing for a few more days and that'll be dandy. Secondly, I've decided to stop my antidepressant because it just isn't working anymore, I'll probably change to amitryptaline (Elavil) in the near future.

I've also had my gabapentin increased to 900mg 3x daily. If that doesn't do anything then we might look at a stronger anticonvulsant for neuropathic pain, but I'll deal with that when it comes to it.

And saving the best news to last, I've had my main pain medication changed. I was on Vicodin 10/500 about 8x daily, tomorrow I will be starting Extended Release Morphine (MS Contin) 30mg 2x daily.

They haven't invented a word for me to describe how truly happy I am with this. I'm hoping that it might knock the pain out enough for me to start playing sports again, but if it doesn't then my GP said we can play with the dose a bit (I was a professional fencer, and I'd rather like that back).

We're having a medication review in two weeks time to discuss any changes that might be needed, and possibly the addition of a breakthrough pain medication. I just wanted to leave it at this and not make too many changes at once, so I knew what was working and what wasn't etc.

I'm so happy with this, and it's so rarely that anybody in chronic pain gets good news like this that I just had to share it


Love&Hugs


Chris xxx

Chris,

I'm glad to hear that things are looking up. Good luck with the new meds, I hope they make a huge difference for you!

hugs,
Skeye

Glad to hear things are working out for you and hope the MS Contin does the trick at keeping your pain levels on a more even keel. Do be careful when stopping the anti-depressant cold turkey, alot of them recommend tapering off so do let your doctor know of your situation.

Oh, maybe I typed that incorrectly lol. My doctor and I have discussed it, and he thinks it's safe for me to come off of this one immediately because I was off of it for three days in hospital with no adverse effects whatsoever. He told me to ring if I had any problems. I trust this doctor with my life, he is my best friend's father and he knows his stuff :)

And yes, the breakthrough meds are PRN only, so they don't have to be taken all the time. I'm trying without any for two weeks to see how it goes. My doctor and I don't like to make too many changes at once so that we know which is causing a certain side effect, as an example, and other things etc.

Thanks for the support everyone - I took my first dose at 11am today GMT, and the pain is still there, but it's much more controlled than it was before.

Love&Hugs xxx