WOW Luckyflowers,
Our medical conditions are so similar, it's almost scary. I too suffer from chronic pain due to back issues almost identical to yours, also have chronic migraines, am also post RNY gastric bypass (with issues taking/absorbing meds), and have depression and anxiety issues to round out my medical profile. Oh, wait, add bad knees to the list...think that must balance out for not having any kids.
The differences...you get much better pain meds than me, your migraine meds were miserable failures for me, as were your psych meds. I have to mitigate my pain with bottom basement Lortab 5/500's, but usually only get 30 about every 10 days, which would be laughable if the situation was actually funny. I also get some Ultram, likewise basement level dosage and frequency...50(50mg) every two months. UGH! For my migraines, I take Zonegran and a minimal dose of Atenelol as a preventative, and Seroquel as an abortive, with some hydroxizine for nausea. For psych meds, I take Symbyax(3mg/25mg), with a little extra Prozac, Klonopin(1mg x 2 /day), and Buspar(15mg x 2/day). Throw in some Flexeril as a muscle relaxer twice a day, and that pretty much covers the picture, with the exception of my bad stomach, which has become permanently raw from shoving all those chemicals into such a tiny space left over from the gastric bypass. I've been taking Nexium since it came out, but it's not doing the job anymore. I've been taking Calaphate as a buffer for the past couple of months, and just recently started substituting a new medication, Dexilant, which I'm hoping will do a better job on keeping the stomach acid down.
Lately, I'm just so sick and tired of being miserable all the time. This spring has been rotten for my migraines, since weather changes are my biggest trigger, and the weather here in VA has been changing several times a day for months now. I'm tired of arguing with my family over all the medications the doctors have prescribed, especially my mother, who is always making comments that I need to stop taking so many meds. Of course, when I ask her what she thinks I should do without, she doesn't have any answers. I haven't had any medication even come close to making me loopy in a very long time, including the shots of Nubain and Phenergan I have to get about once every two weeks when I can't get a migraine to break with my regular meds.
I just spent four days straight firmly attached to my TENS unit, using the electric shocks to mitigate my back pain, since my DR didn't get my Lortab prescription called in to the pharmacy before the weekend. Needless to say, I haven't had much sleep in the past several days hooked up to the juice box and wires. My "pain management" doctors won't prescribe any medication for me at all, only doing procedures like lumbar facet joint denervations, which I have to get done about every three months. They are excruciatingly painful procedures, and since I go to a "teaching" hospital, they always make me go thru the testing procedure first, so the student doctors can learn how the whole sequence of procedures work. I really need to find another pain management center, but I'm already traveling over an hour away from my home town to go to my current location. My hometown only has ONE pain management doctor, and he was strictly a "steroid shot" in the spine kind of guy. That's all he ever does for anyone. My Dad usually takes me to all my DRs appointments, since there are some days when my memory is really bad and I don't communicate effectively(a permanent side effect of too much TOPAMAX). The PM DR saw a bunch of scratches on my legs and decided I was a "cutter", even though my Dad explained that I got them from my three CATS! There was no changing the DR's mind, so I had to switch DRs, in order not to be treated like I was a total head case.
Anyway, I forget where I was going with all of this, other than to let you know that you are not alone...there are people like me who can totally identify with everything you have to go thru on a daily basis. It's not an easy life, but as a friend of mine always tells me, every day above ground is a good day. Some days I have really have to remind myself of that, and I know that as lousy as I feel on any given day, I know there are people that have it worse than I do. Maybe you can try to keep that in mind yourself, and check in here with us whenever the going gets rough.
{{{HUGS}}}
Leigh Ann 