Chronic Pain Support Group
Physicians and professionalsdefine pain as chronic if it lasts longer than three to six months and is persistent. It's distinct from acute pain that is a direct result of injury or trauma. This support group is dedicated to those suffering from chronic pain. Discuss treatments that have worked for you, find advice for your specific experience, and find support. You're not...
Back in June I was down to less than 30 minutes a day of being interactive or moving. It was in June or July that the Pain Management team actually did something and added Gabapentine (which I may or may not have spelled correctly). The very first night I got my fight full night's sleep in years... Since then my dosage was raised over time to 1800mg a day.
At first it was great. I could sleep the night without getting up every three hours to take hydrocodine. I was almost immediately able to extend my 'functional' time to two hours a day and it slowly was increasing.
I don't know when the scale tipped, but I am back to only about 30 minutes a day of functionallity. The crushed part of my spine does not hurt, but everything else does. Every part of my body that I have ever injured, and as a horse trainer that was a lot, aches constantly. All of my spine aches (but at least not so many shooting pains) and honestly all of my joints hurt.
So I still hurt, just dull aches rather than sharp pains - most of the time.
What is getting me is that I have zero memory. I can't remember details of what happened an hour ago... ever. Yesterday is a blur and two or three days ago is a complete loss. It is like my head is stuffed with cotton 24/7 complex thoughts can't happen and I have the attention span of a fern. I was going to post this this morning, but could not remember what I was going to post by the time the website opened.
Nausea is combined with a constant hunger which lets me eats a few bits at a time, but never more than that. Of course then there is the part of blacking out, falling from losing my balance, and just feeling rotten. Sleeping has gotten really weird. There are days I will sleep for 14 hours and days I can't fall asleep to save my life. But all of the time I just feel slightly ill and off balance. For the last 5 or 6 days I have not even wanted to go ride my horse - which is completely unheard of for me.
As per my Dr instructions, if the 1800mg did not agree with me, I am slowly taking it back down. For the next week I am taking only 300mg at mid-day rather than 600mg. I want to get back to less pain and still functional and not feeling sick all the time.
Here is to hoping to recognize the right point to reduce my levels too... Hubby and daughter are thinking it is back around 900mg to 1200 mg a day.
yadlim
As of today I am taking my dose back down.
At first it was great. I could sleep the night without getting up every three hours to take hydrocodine. I was almost immediately able to extend my 'functional' time to two hours a day and it slowly was increasing.
I don't know when the scale tipped, but I am back to only about 30 minutes a day of functionallity. The crushed part of my spine does not hurt, but everything else does. Every part of my body that I have ever injured, and as a horse trainer that was a lot, aches constantly. All of my spine aches (but at least not so many shooting pains) and honestly all of my joints hurt.
So I still hurt, just dull aches rather than sharp pains - most of the time.
What is getting me is that I have zero memory. I can't remember details of what happened an hour ago... ever. Yesterday is a blur and two or three days ago is a complete loss. It is like my head is stuffed with cotton 24/7 complex thoughts can't happen and I have the attention span of a fern. I was going to post this this morning, but could not remember what I was going to post by the time the website opened.
Nausea is combined with a constant hunger which lets me eats a few bits at a time, but never more than that. Of course then there is the part of blacking out, falling from losing my balance, and just feeling rotten. Sleeping has gotten really weird. There are days I will sleep for 14 hours and days I can't fall asleep to save my life. But all of the time I just feel slightly ill and off balance. For the last 5 or 6 days I have not even wanted to go ride my horse - which is completely unheard of for me.
As per my Dr instructions, if the 1800mg did not agree with me, I am slowly taking it back down. For the next week I am taking only 300mg at mid-day rather than 600mg. I want to get back to less pain and still functional and not feeling sick all the time.
Here is to hoping to recognize the right point to reduce my levels too... Hubby and daughter are thinking it is back around 900mg to 1200 mg a day.
yadlim
As of today I am taking my dose back down.
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So mad at Xfinity! They're trying to charge me $115 per month for the same service I had been paying $50 the last four years. I took the equipment to UPS for shipping and cancelled my subscription today! Next door was a cookie shop called Crumbl. I had heard of it before but never went in until today. I don't need one more sugar fix, but maybe it will help with my sad) grieving heart....$15...
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I know this is stupid, but after not being able to find a job after graduation for almost two years, I ended up just taking an online teaching job because I couldn't find anything in my field. I was trying to get out of teaching and I feel so devastated. I felt this crushing feeling when I signed the paperwork and when I was in the meetings. I know that sounds so dramatic but it is how I felt. It...
Gabapenten, memory problems, weight gain and not being able to function. I've heard that so much that I refused to take it when my Rhuemy suggested I try it. One friend, could not hold a conversation because her memory got so bad. It returned once she stopped using it. I hope they find the right dose and you get a resolution to this soon. It would be so difficult to live with all those side effects that you described.
I hope this helps.
Today was my third day taking only 1500mg instead of the 1800mg I was taking. I have noticed two things...
1) OUCH! Yup, pain is back. That horrible stabbing pain from between my shoulders (where it is crushed) that shoots through my chest and stops my breath is back. I had not missed that pain in the least.
2) I am back up to almost three hours of functionality today, though not all at once. I still took an afternoon nap, but I had to get up because I hurt, not because I was not tired.
Monday I will have to call the PM doc and get in to see them. This is not really working at all.
Yadlim