Posted 11/15/2016 10:05 PM (GMT 0)
Well Today is my first day as a new member to the forum and decades of anxiety, depression and panic attacks.
In August of 2015, I decide to stop putting off having Cervical Spinal Fusion Surgery (T4,5&6) and at 53 yrs of age, with a ton of fear went forward with what was described as a "no brainer" quality of life surgery. The surgeon reported to my wife that it went picture perfect and I was fitted with a neck collar that I wore religiously for 9 weeks and all seemed well for another 3 or 4 months.
Then the original pain in my neck, the head aches, radiating pain down both arms (which now feels like a hearth attack) returned xxx and is just currently horrible. For years I was on 60mg of Cymbalta and 5mg of Abilify and the combination worked well about 95% of the time for mgmt of my GAD. When I did have an issue I had 10mg of Valium to knockout any on coming panic attacks.
So, back to today, I hate Opiate's as they scare the hell out of me. I don't like the way the make you feel, I don't like the evil stomach issues with them et etc, but I was suffering as BOTH fusions failed completely and I'm currently wearing a bone growth stimulator which is a voodoo device that I hang my neck for 6 hours a day that trick my body into growing bone in the empty spaces.
So, here is my most recent medication challenge; A solution to the normal opiates like Percocet as an example is oral Morphine Sulf in both extended and immediate release. No weird highs or feelings, doesn't make me sleepy and works well on the pain. Draw back is this; the 10gm of Valium or any Benzo for fast action panic attack relief is an interaction respiratory risk and my Dr has replaced it with Atarax at a dosage of 50mg every 4-6 hours.
My question to the Team is; does anybody have experience with Atarax and using it or a antihistamine for panic attack mgmt. Sorry for the long post! It felt good to write all that noise down!
Thanks in advance!