Pain

[Jimmy1]

Everyone knows living with chronic pain causes depression and can also cause aggravation. Well my pain meds have either stopped working or the resistence to them is too high.

I was on Codapane Forte. It has 500 mg of paracetamol and 30 mg of Codeine in each tablet. I take two of those in the morning just to get moving and then take them as required. Well they are required at the moment. I don't know what I have done, but it hurts. Anyway, I can only have a max of 8 in a day.

I had some Oxycontin in the cupboard, but I have developed a nasty reaction when taking them. Rapid heart beat, profuse sweating, and generally feeling like shit. So the tried MS Contin. It had worked, but now the same side effects. I think its codeine.

Do anyone know of a good pain killer, or should I aim for a muscle relaxant??

 

[Ned]

The one recurring physical symptom (directly stress/PTSD-related that I have had) is spasming muscles. In the UK there'sa thing called Voltarol Retard (I kid you not) that magics that away. You MUSTN'T mix it with an anti-inflammatory like Brufen, it's one or the other.
Combat doctor I knew said it was the first thing he gave to malfunctioning Paras (bad landing), I can vouch it's Billy-Wiz at back spasms and stress muscular head-aches too.

PS, it is a (anti-spasmodic) muscle relaxant

 

[Jimmy1]

Thanks, I will look into it.

 

[Jimmy1]

They are going to give me an anti epileptic drug call Lyrica. It's meant to target the neural pathways. I am crossing my fingers. I will keep you posted.

 

[Brokencop]

I know this is a rather dated thread, but I do have an extensive knowlage base of medications. As well suffer from cronic pain, RA and many spine issues.

You discribed side effect or reactions to taking MS Cotin (morphine sulphate "COTINuouse" releise), OxyContin is time release of oxycodone (semisynthetic form of morphine 4 to 6 times more potent than morphine)' and codeine. Both morphine and oxycodone can cross the blood brain barrier and have a direct effect on the brain and CNC to change the whey we experience pain they can be given many ways IV, sublingual, oarly, supasatoriy. Codeine and many other drugs can not cross the blood brain barrier and act directly on the brain or body. They must first be passed though the gut and ultimately the liver. In the liver some of the drug is removed frome the body, and some is changed into "Matabolites". a matabolite is just a generic term for a drug that has been converted. In the case of codeine, it's converted matabolite is....morphine. So IVing coniene will not work since it has to be converted to morphine first in the liver.

Your reaction are very tippical of any opiate drug, it is a histamine release that causes it. You can lessen it by taking an antihistamine 15 min before the pain meds with opiates. One antihistamine that work very well is called hydroxizine. It is a first generation antihistamine that also potentates the opiate (making it more effective) thus lowering the amount of opiate needed to relieve pain). I personally have no such reaction and have been on chronic pain med for years, the main one is fentanyl...approx 100X more potent than morphine.

I am also on Lyrica, you mentioned that as well. It is nurontons big brother so to speak...the same thine just approx 80X more potent than nuronton.

Hope some of that helps and you are in less pain.

 

[reddevil1111]

Jimmy, I deal with cronic pain as well. I tend to mix a pain killer with a muscle relaxer at the same time. I have had tylox, morphine -you name it. none remove the pain even 50%. I have learned to deal with it and on the days I cant I take a small amount of hydrocodine 325/10 (I might take one or two) and a light muscle relaxer like cyclobenzaprine 10mg.
Recently I have used them and had dismal results. I can up the dosages or just try to go 4-5 months without the meds and see if they go back to working better. I am scared to go back to the heavy stuff (for example I had a Navy doctor giving me 1000mg of tylox every 2 hrs back when I was recovering from the landmine) It was great stuff as it kept the pain down and I slept a lot. It ruined my kidneys and I fear addiction to the medication.
Getting back on track, I tend to take a nap when I take my pain medicine and then deal with it after I wake up. It seems to work better at dealing with the pain, I find myself getting a bit of good rest as well. If I take it during the day it just doesnt work as well.

 

[Jimmy1]

Well the Lyrica does nada towards the pain, but Margaret says I am a way calmer person being on it. Isn't it amazing how drugs do some things for some people and other things for others.

I spoke to my spinal surgeon and he said because my spinal cord was all compressed for so many years it will take an aweful long time to repair. They say nerves grow back at like a centimeter a year. :sick:

Guess I will have to suck it up and not do too much to aggravate it.

 

[Brokencop]

Yeh, nerves are a funny thing, I had caught shrapnel in my face from an IED, it sliced half my nose off. I remember after it happened, looking down at the cut on my left forearm and thinking f*ck I gotta get stitches!! Then blood shoot out of my face with every heart beat. Remembering in boot camp they taught us that veins "ooze" and arteries "spirt" well I'm guessing that was an artery lol. Anyways after they sowed my nose back on (extremely well might I add). The next day when the doc came to see me. I said that the novacaine he used still hadn't worn off...then he said unfortunately the IED cut the cranial-5 nerve in my face. He further went on to say that nerves don't always heal, or heal kind of screwed up. Sometimes (in my case) another nerve in the surrounding area compensate for the loss to a degree.

Also I suffer from chronic back pain. And have had a procedure called "radio frequency ablation". One time I saw my pain management doc I said "can't you just kill the nerves causing the pain" "I mean if the nerves don't control something important like my bladder or bowels! That is.!" he said sure it's called radio frequency ablation. Well it helped in relieving some pain... I'd say about 40-50%. Hey I'll take anything!...anyway the nerves there DO grow back, but as you said..it's very slow. So I go in for the RF every 6-8 months. ....they tend to grow back slower the more times I kill off the mother f*ckers! I later learned that RF can be done for chronic pain all over the body..not just lower back. Perhaps it is something others would want to look into. As I said, I had to ask my doc. I wish he could of mentioned the procedure a bit earlier that mofo...er!

 

[JarHed]

Hey another group I can relate too, guys with chronic pain. When I was wounded I was like a jig saw puzzle to put back together. I've had pain in varying degrees since I was wounded. I've recently had a severe recurance of nerve pain in my right arm, which I almost lost. I usually don't use anything as most stuff just doesn't agree with me at all.

The doctor game me tylenol with codenine. It kinda' worked at first but now it doesn't do anything. That's how most pain meds are for me. Acupuncture helps and warm compresses. I feel for ya Jimmy as chronic pain is the worst. Hope you find something that helps.

I was also told that they could sever the nerves to the affected areas but heard too many horror stories about that to be willing to try it.

 

[Brokencop]

@jarhead

I don't know about severing the nerve. Nerves as you can imagine are fairly complex...nerves have a sheath around them called "myelin". The purpose of the myelin sheath is to act as insulation as the myelin sheath is dielectric. Now if it's severed (by surgery, or in my case by shrapnel) when the nerve begins to regenerate it grows out of the myelin sheath. When it does this, it no longer has the insulation of the myelin and thus picks up all the stray electricity in the body and can falsely report it as pain. Think of a speaker wire with some of the insulation striped...you would hear extra distortion in the speaker. So simply severing it could make things worse...now in the case of the radio frequency ablation, both sheath and nerve are "burned" away together, as they heal, they heal together, avoiding the former problem.

Also, before the actual ablation part, they inject lidocaine to the suspected nerve while you are under a fluoroscope, so they can see it and the needle "real time". If you get relief from them numbing the nerve...than they know exactly what nerve to fry. You come back in a few days to make sure them numbing that nerve will cause no collateral damage and they fry the bad boy. I have done it at least 6 times. Don't get me wrong! It's not a magic fix, but it did reduce pain a lot! I still have to use fentanyl patches but I went from 200mcg to 100mcg.

 

[JarHed]

Hey 5150

Nice post. I'm actually aware of all that you've mentioned. I've had a ton of surgery and drugs. I try at this point to avoid both the best I can. I can actually reduce most of my pain by 'meditating' on it. I've been doing it so long that it's become a viable method for me. I've had more than 40 years of practice.

I still don't trust cut crazy surgeons. Seen too much shit go south with them. As you can see, I'm a cynic. :rolleyes:

JarHed

 

[Brokencop]

@jarhead

Hum..meditation..I've of course heard about it, I spent 2 months at RIC (rehabilitation institute of Chicago) learning such techniques, as biofeedback, Feldenkrais Method. All with varying degrees of success. I just seems to take a lot of time, and not always practical in every setting. But then again you are further down the road than I. Perhaps one day or another life, I will get there.

Who would have thought that when we all signed the dotted line....we all would end up amassing enough knowledge to rival that of individuals at the top of their professions in pharmaceuticals, alternative medicine, psychology, and pain management amongst others. Lol