Chronic Pain Support Group

I have Neuralgia and Sciatica among a handful of different types of pain. One med I take is Neurontin and that helps the nerve pain more than the other meds I take. Also, my friend bought me a roll on pain reliever called DMSO, I had never heard of it and was using it for Fibro and joint pain. Once when in a bigtime nerve pain flareup I rolled that stuff on wherever I had nerve pain and to my surprise it worked well. I told my doctor about it and that my friend bought it at....she said, "the feed store?". Evidently it is used on horses for muscle pain. I really need to do some research on DMSO for as long as I've had it and have been using it, I don't know anything about it really. I do hope you find what works for you. Take care.

Sherry

You need to see a Pain Management Doctor or a Neurosurgeon and asked them about a spinal cord stimulator. The SCS is used specifically for people that have issues with nerve pain/radiculopathy and it works!
I had mine installed in Jun of 08, and it has been the magic bullet for me!

You will need to go through a trial of 4 to 5 days first to see if the device is something that will help you, and then after that, a surgery were you stay in the hospital overnight will take place to installed the device inside your body. To me, the SCS was a live saver.

Do a Google search for Spinal Cord Stimulator's and you will find several brands and information on them. Mine is a Boston Scientific/Precision model, and like I said before, it rocks!

Tipper, thanks for the info but if you recall my post, I have a spinal cord stimulator (since 10/15/09) and it does help, just not significantly enough for sanity. I had multiple trials both is spine and directly implanted along the damaged nerve past. I found better relief with the direct implant. Thanks again.

Steve, how long were you on the pain meds, and did any of them work, even in large doses? I know you have to work to support your family and I really admire men who have this attitude. One things to remember is that as your body gets used to the medication MANY of the side effects disappear, so you can usually (if the pain is somewhat under control) do your job.

Can you talk to your neuro about perhaps adding some medications to your stimulator? Perhaps that will help with the rest of the pain (or at least enough of the pain so you can function) and within a month or two, the side effects may be under control.

Good luck.

I tried many meds over the course of two years. Methadone was the best for pain but made me a raving lunatic and I could not function. All the others worked for a while and then my tollerance levels increase rather quickly and I max out on the allowalbe dose and or I cease to be able to function; long and short acting meds alike. I have tried and am on Neurontin as AzSherry suggests and this also has helped but nothing reduces the pain enough for sanity. It may also be the area of my injury. It is at the core of my body from my testicles on into my abdomen which is hard to desribe to someone without testes. It is different than pain in most other areas of the body, not to diminish others areas of pain.

Does sitting on ice packs throughout the day help? For me it numbs my tendons and hips it's temporary of course. I too get tolerant of pain meds to fast. So I have to use ice and pain patches. Good luck I hope you find relief soon.

Ice is of no help but thank you for the suggestion. Hope you have some releif from pain soon.

Steve, I too have a rapid tolerance to meds and cannot take anti depressants or sz meds due to terrible reactions. I never know what is what, as they all say side effects are agitation, dystonia (tight limbs, and trouble with movement and tone), etc..I get all that and more, and the problem is, the side effects last for months to years. I am so sorry for your pain, and the concern about tolerance as that is happening to me too, some people do not have that problem. But I think stress, and anxiety increase it tremendously. How do you get through your day if your meds are not working? I am alone, I am glad you have your family although I know you want to support them, and I admire that, I understand that. I am sorry I am not much help, just to let you know I am going through the medication issue too, and how scary it is. If you have faith in God, prayer definitely helps, and I will pray for you. Raindrop

SteveRS,I take Lyrica 75mg twice a day and Oxycontin 40mg 3 times a day and my pain levels have been greatly reduced. Sometimes I even feel close to being normal. Even just a bit but it is so far the best relief for my cp in almost 7 and a half years.

Steve,
I suffer from severe pain, but when I read your post, I realized that I might not should complain so much. My prayers are with you.

I'm not sure if this would help you at all - you already have a Spinal Stimulator - my doctor gave me a device called an Alpha Stim. If I use it as directed, the decrease in pain actually decreases more with time. It has helped more than most anything else.

While I do not understand the teste pain completely, I do have two sons and I understand it enough to know that 24/7 pain in that area is something that I will never fully understand.

I hope you find relief soon. I admire you for standing by your principles and honor in providing for your family.