Common Pain Meds....

I am seeing a Dr Monday. I have lived with chronic pain long enough. I have never had the guts to out right say, I need help with this. I am in severe pain and need help controling it. I have tried soooo many natural remedies with no help. Flexeril is a joke. I have been on Lyrica and Cymbalta, both approved for Fibromyalgia pain managment. Neither worked. I'm done.

So please tell me what you use. PREscriptION ONLY. I appreciate natural remedies, but I am looking for prescription help.  I have tried countless methods. I am not deficient in anything. Therefore alot of the traditional vitamin and suppliments just dont do anything for me. So the whole deficient theory just doesnt fit me. (leave it to me to be the odd man, err woman out).

I want to have an educated list so that I can say "this is the reserach I have done. These are the meds commonly prescribed. Based on side effects, these are the ones I am most interested in, what are the ones the You (the dr) are comfortable prescribing?"  Hopefully, hell see I am not Dr shopping for drugs. If he does think that, oh well, i tried. Seriously I need something and cannot handle waiting longer and longer.

Thanks everyone.

I've only been prescribed one, and it worked for me... amitriptyline. It was prescribed mostly for my facial pain, which was always worse than any of the other shooting, burning type pain around the rest of my body. It does nothing for the aching/flu type pain, but I control that with exercise. It has also helped me sleep, so probably helped with fatigue in the long run, but I still hit a wall at times.

The side effects that bothered me were grogginess the next day. I had to take it very early in the evening to be able to function the next morning. This side effect took almost a year to get over.
Dry mouth. My dose has been increased in the last 6 weeks or so, and that is really bothering me. I'm hoping it will get better, but it's still a small price to pay.

Good luck with your case! I hope you find a doctor that will listen to you and a script that will help you.

Thanks everyone!! maybe I should be more specific with my pain.

I do have muscle tightness, mostly in my back and neck.

My actual pain is mainly in my legs. It starts in my hips and goes through my legs. It feels like the deep bone ahcing pain some of us experiance and is HORRIBLE. On a scale of 1-10 I'd say it's around a 7-8 most days.

Hi Mom...

And your question and ideas are very valid. I will share with you some things I've learned from others on the forum and from my own experience. If something in there helps then it will warm my heart and hopefully lessen your pain.

1) Keep a pain journal!! This will prove to your doc just how serious you and and also give him a very clear picture of what types of pain, where, when, what helps, etc... you get the picture. Here's a link to a great journal page. Copy one page for each day. I usually staple a week's worth together. Then when you go to any of your doctors just hand it over and ask them to review it. Let them know that you are keeping the journal to aid the medical care they will give you and to see the progression of your pain. Here's the link...

http://www.painfoundation.org/learn/publications/files/TargetDailyLog.pdf

2) Let your doc know that you've been reading about different types of treatments, including pain relievers, BUT...I would suggest do NOT ask for a specific drug. Then he WILL think you're drug shopping. I know, it doesn't make sense. You and I would think that if we had taken the time to research that we are seriously in need of help and not about to sell the stuff to some junkie. BUT, doctors don't know you and me that well and all they hear is a request for some specific medication. Be general!

3) Remember, if the doc starts you on a pain reliever and/or narcotic medication he has no idea exactly how much it will take to reduce your pain to a level you can tolerate. You will likely never be totally pain free, but after living with severe chronic pain for a long time, even lower level of pain can be tolerated. Actually they are wonderful!! So the doctor is likely to start you on a low dose. It might be enough or too much but often it's low and only alleviates some of the pain...not enough. So keep in touch with him and let him know how the medication is working. If he sends you off with a prescription and tells you to come back in 3 months, I would certainly call and let him know how it's working or NOT working in the first 3 weeks or so. Otherwise he will assume it's just the right amount for you. They aren't any better at reading minds than husbands are...lol (OK Chutzie, time for you to go to bed...lol)

4) Always, always, always be honest with your doc...and especially honest with anyone who is prescribing pain medications. Always take only what is prescribed, follow all the rules..yada, yada, yada... .you know the drill. Any hint of distrust and you're done. Besides, why would we want to mess up the one chance we have at some form of pain control.

I do hope this helps...keep in touch, OK?
Chutzie

(I fixed the pain journal link so it should work now)

Hi , in the begining I took tramadol , before I found out I had lupus , It and flexaril worked wonders for me , am very senitive to meds , could work with it and everything , Then from there he gave me darvocet , which works very great on muscle for me . MY rumey has been moving me up in small steps , cause like all of us we will need somthing forever. Don't think anything really takes away all the pain but does help greatly . Hope I helped you out . TC and good luck.
Crystal

Tramadol is supposed to be the best for fibro pain. I've been taking it 6 years. It got rid of the pain that felt like I had the flu, you know, those aches in the back.

The brand names are Ultram for plain tramadol and Ultracet for tramadol plus Tylenol.

I take loretab 10 i know i spelled it wrong but i tried to break my ankle and am to lazy to go see, right now it is doing so - so i have an appoint tuesday will tell lady then i still ouchy. I tried ALOT of non-narcotic things first, but finally the pain really took over my life. My familky doctors no help so i go to a pain clinic, to be honest in just 2 weeks i have taken alot of my love for life back, and gotten off of all the psych type drugs that aren't meant to treat fibro anyways, and weight gain is not the prize i want at the end it looks bad on my 4'9 frame lol. I hope you find something that will work for you too.

I have Crohns Disease as well as Fibro. I take Percoset 1/2 tab 3 times a day, and that helps to keep the pain to a lower level. Between the two chronic health conditions as well as osteoarthritis, I am in pain all the time. But the Percoset keeps things in check. When the fibro gets super bad, I will add in Robaxin a muscle relaxer for a few days and that helps alot. Believe it or not my tolerance has built up so much, I can take these meds at work and still function. Sad isn't it??? Hope your doc helps to give you some relief.

Hugs
Gail*Nanners*

I take Nabumatone every day, and Vicodin on the bad days. My meds work pretty well. I still have pain, but not like I used to.