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Question about Neurontin and new to CP Board

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Posted 6/10/2013 1:33 AM (GMT 0)
Hello, I am new to the CP board and have some questions about Neurontin. I have had 3 abdominal surgeries in the past 5 months in which I had a portion of my colon removed, was given an ostomy, and recently had the ostomy reversed.

Everything went well except I have severe pain at my incision site which is about a foot from my lower abs to right below my chest. I have been using Oxycodone for the pain but the pain is crippling when not taking the meds.

My doctor switched me to Neurontin last week and it significantly reduced my pain to the extent I do not need to take Oxycodone. It still hurts but it's manageable.

I know I should be happy about this but basically it confirms I have nerve damage. I'm currently 5 weeks out from surgery. My question is has anyone that has taken Neurontin or other similar meds improved and tapered off of the meds or will I need to be on them long term?

Thanks for listening and hope everyone is having a good weekend.

Mossmi33
Posted 6/10/2013 2:20 AM (GMT 0)
Hello and welcome to HW CP, Mossmi

You have been through a lot recently, cant help you on the medication question itself. I had Ostomy surgery 3 years ago in the form of an Urostomy. There is a good HW Ostomy site, if you aren't already familiar with it.

Good luck ahead, someone should be easily able to answer your question for you.

david
Posted 6/10/2013 5:50 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks David, I'm on the Ostomy board and they are great! Unfortunately, I seem to be the only one with possible nerve damage. My doctor said that nerve damage can improve 6 months to a year after surgery. He said I should only need to take the Neurontin for a month as it will relax my muscles and nerves. Crossing my fingers it improves over time.
Posted 6/10/2013 8:34 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Moss and glad you stopped in the CP forum.

Not exactly sure why the extent of nerve pain your having but in general anytime they make an incision they are naturally going to severe nerves of every kind. Anyone with a scar feels the effects in getting strange or painful sensations when its touched.

Many times if you touch a incision your pain from the touch will be felt entirely elsewhere. I've had numerous surgeries but my emergency c-section scar which runs from my naval to my pubic bone and was entered twice gave me problems.

So to answer based on what I know sometimes a more intense problem with a nerve occurs and you get the nerve pain versus just that weird feeling. I've heard Neuros explain it as inflammatory reactions and yes it calms down as the damaged nerves heal in whatever way they do. Its a slow healing however.

As I'm sure you've heard there are isolated cases where some people suffer from post-op nerve pain years later but luckily that is rare.

Im glad the neurontin is working for you and that from the success of that I would say your body's healing and that your not going to need the meds forever.
Posted 6/10/2013 8:49 AM (GMT 0)
I have nerve damage called intercostal neuralgia. It could be from shingles or from another disorder that I have. I am on a similar med called Lyrica. I was taking the Lyrica and Cymbalta and Oxycodone and was still in pain. I got a nerve block. I no longer take the Oxycodone and we are about to start lowering the nerve meds. Used to be if I slept too late in the day w/o taking my meds I was in severe pain. Now I am much better and have full confidence I can start to taper.
Posted 6/10/2013 9:09 AM (GMT 0)
nvrthesame98- Thank you for the welcome. I'm hoping that my pain isn't longterm but am just preparing in case it happens. Time will tell. Thanks again for your response.
Posted 6/10/2013 9:16 AM (GMT 0)
Teddtlove- I'm new to nerve pain but am trying to research as much as I can. A neuralgia is one of the things I've read about in my case where damaged nerve ends could get caught in scar tissue and cause nerve pain. The one thing that is odd is I don't have intense stabbing pains, did you? My pain is a dull/heavy pain. It makes me feel like the incision site is not part of me if that makes sense. The longer I go with out pain meds the worse it would get until it felt like a level of ten. The Neurontin has helped to control this but I wonder if it is just masking the pain rather than fixing the cause of the pain. Thanks again for your response. I'm happy to hear that your nerve pain has improved after the nerve block. Where was your pain located? Mine is soley in my abdomen where my incision is and does not affect other areas.
Posted 6/10/2013 9:35 AM (GMT 0)
I am relatively new to this as well. This all started for me in January. My pain felt like it was at waist level . Like if you sat the bottom of your hand on the top of your hip, it would be where the top of your hand is. But the doctor said the pain was really between my ribs. I didn't realize ribs went down that far.

The pain was a burning sensation. Sometimes it would stab but mostly it would burn. It kinda felt like heartburn but in the wrong place. I had problems with my gallbladder once. It felt exactly like that but on the opposite side. Sometimes it is a pressure feeling. Also there is that even when it isn't hurting per say you can feel it where as normally you are not aware of your body parts unless you think about them. Like how you breath unconsciously but if you think about breathing all you can think about is breathing and you can't do it unconsciously anymore.
Posted 6/10/2013 1:37 PM (GMT 0)
Moss,

I visited some with the Ostomy board shortly after my Urostomy surgery, but they weren't able to help me much at the time, seems like I was literally the only one with an Urostomy, while most of the members were dealing with Colostomy issues.

Hoping your nerve damage is short term.

david
Posted 6/10/2013 5:48 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Moss & welcome to the chronic pain forum. I think its encouraging that the Neurotin is helping you with that awful,nerve pain. I have experienced many different types of pain ion my life, but I think nerve pain is one of the very worst to have to deal with.

I wish we could tell you how long this will go on but we have no way of knowing this since everyone is so different. Please keep posting & let us know how you are doing....Susie
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