Aronia,

I don't know what it even is. I can't imagine the lidocaine injections hurting more than the drilling though.. YIKES. Maybe there's another post and I missed it. I'll look.. or I'll google it.

Hugs~

LMT

It is basically a theory that once you had severe pain and/or took drugs, you develop exaggerated response to any painful stimuli.

Hmmm. Interesting theory. Thx for explaining it to me. Not sure how I feel about that.

I don't know about that one. I only hurt in three places, my leg (whole leg from foot to buttocks on the right side, my chest left side, and constant headaches on the front of my head and eyes like someone is squeezing a rubber band over my head. All other areas of my body are fine. I have been off pain meds for 5 days now and only those three areas still hurt. My sugar has been almost 200 for days, and days, and days, so that is what's causing the headaches. Being pain med free for me just means not being able to stand up for very long, no house work, and maybe having to use a cane (to be decided). I am fine if I just sit or drive though. Any how, that is my personal take on it. I hope you're feeling better today Ariona.

I wanted to say that I'm getting off the hamster wheel of pain management. I'm not putting another pill in my mouth until I go to level 8-9 pain. I have to try and manage within my limitations. For me the pills make it possible for me to stand longer, walk farther, and even work longer, but they do not fix me. They do not allow me to be nearly as functional as I used to be before my leg got jacked up. There are not a fix all for me. I can manage with my Tylenol and by moderating my movements. I hope the rest of you all are managing well. Hugs!

I've read several Journal articles on it, it's not really a new thing. It's caused by various chemical reactions in the peripheral nervous system. It can be kind of hard to understand but basically it kind of works like "tolerance"

In the same way your brain builds up tolerance to narcotics/opioids. Your nervous system releases chemicals that cause pain when affected by your Platelet Activating Factor. Your brain/nervous system just gets bombarded with narcotics for so long your systems get off and start sending out "attack chemicals" to deal with the 'invader meds'.

It doesn't mean that your body completely exaggerates all types of pain or makes every little pain way worse than it is.

I do remember working with heroin addicts years ago and they were just so pathetic if they caught a cold or had the slightest pain or inflammation. Unbearable pain. Looking for a 'fix'.

I was never sure if it was psychological or physical though- back in those days the teaching was that their addiction was permanent and withdrawal was the worst thing ever.

I don't believe that now, most people aren't affected so dramatically, and telling people withdrawal is unbearable- probably makes it worse.

I know it was done to try to prevent new addicts but I think the truth is more powerful.

Thanks for the info OLD. I never understood this syndrome other than some people who are anti-pain meds in my friends circle say that this will happen to me if I stay on pain meds. They say that the brain manufactures pain signals to trick you into taking the opiate so that the brain supposedly gets its fix. This is probably an entirely different issue though.

J

Hi Aronia....haven't been around in a while but I always check your posts.

I can easily see Hyperanalgesia Syndrome being real because of my 2 bouts of Opiate Pain Syndrome where the brain suddenly misinterprets the chemical signature of the opiate you're taking and instead of relieving pain, the brain reads it as needing to induce severe pain....and it is incredibly severe!. Has happened to me with both morphine and Fentanyl and no one can tell me if or when I'll ever be able to use those drugs again. Supposedly, the brain mis-read will straighten out with time but how much time, no one knows....a month? a year?. I tried putting another Fentanyl patch on after a month and it still caused pain.

If opiates can induce severe pain, why not make the entire body so sensitive to pain you overreact to every touch? Truth be told, the medical profession knows very little about pain except that they fairly recently discovered that chronic pain comes from 2 different parts of the brain from acute pain. About time they figured that out!

Sorry to hear that is what might be going on with you.

hugs...............Jen

@Jeremy:

The brain doesn't work in that way, it won't trick you into taking drugs because it needs a fix.

Hyperalgesia, is not that different than RSD or Rebound Pain. The brain and nervous system are like 2 massive CPU's sending chemicals and signals back and forth to each other. When they're constantly bombarded by more and more chemicals (meds) over a long period of time that alter and throw off their natural balance they kind of go into attack mode. They start sending out different chemicals and more signals to try and regain the balance, those come in the form of pain.

People have to realize Neurological Research has only touched on about 15% - 25% of what the human brain is capable of. There's so much that just isn't known, many of these things are not able to be known in advance and when you have rebound reactions to a med or narcotic there's no telling when or if you'll ever be able to use that med again.

This is a very random thing though, not everyone, or the majority of CP patients suffer from these issues.

Dr.'s do have some really good reasons for not wanting people on narcotics longterm, they do cause problems and have nasty side effects.

' Truth be told, the medical profession knows very little about pain'

I agree, this 'fibromyalgia' diagnosis I got, it doesn't make much sense to be honest.

Sometimes I wonder am I just being fobbed off. Everyone I know in real life is so much more active than I am with fibromyalgia.

I wonder too. My DVT leg has absolutely no swelling right now and it hurts just like it did when it was all clotted up. I wonder if I have RSD, or if it's just my damn brain generating pain while there is nothing physically wrong with my leg. I can't stand it at night with no meds, so I slam Nyquil now. It's better than slamming Norco. No doctor can offer any explanation for my pain, and some even call me a liar. I guess this is what it's like to be all jacked up.

Interesting thoughts everyone!
Chick, for the longest time I thought fibro was a bunch of BS until I started researching what we are consuming and environmental exposure. If you notice, other countries have very little complaints when it comes to Fibro. England is on the rise.
Yes, it can be partially attributed to people actually being diagnosed and statistics being gathered, but when I lived elsewhere I didn't know a single person suffering from widespread pain. Not one.
I am convinced that fibro is a direct result of exposure to neurotoxins we are exposed to through contact and ingestion.

Jen - thank you for thinking of me! Glad to see you here :-)
My theory is that you MAY get better because it looks like nerves have ability to regrow and brain has ability to heal. Our bodies are so amazing... I know this is not the same thing, but after 30 years I outgrew penicillin allergy , after 10 years I " outgrew" sulfa allergy and developed intolerance to SSRIs where as before it was no problem.
Hopefully you will not have the same reaction again to these meds. It had to have been saw awful!

Jeremy - I was reading something today on a Russian website.
God, I love the fact that I have an option to read in another language - I have access to a COMPLETELY different view on medicine and treatment.
So, there is one article I read today that explains reasons for severe pain that is not expected to be there - the author theorizes that when inflammation happens, scar tissue forms , and much much later ( months to years) pain may become worse because nerves start regrowing through and around the scar tissue causing constant irritation and pain. I had phlebitis in my leg and in that one area nobody needs to see ( in both places front and back) due to huge weight gain. I remember the pain was just crazy. I had to lie down and use ice packs , this was the only
Way to get some relief. It felt like someone punched me really
Hard. I can't imagine the pain you must have in your leg. It has to be awful.

Ariona, I literally feel like Dr. House lol. The only difference is he had clots in his arteries and I only had them in the veins. Apparently, only clots in the arteries are supposed to cause loss of function.

'I am convinced that fibro is a direct result of exposure to neurotoxins we are exposed to through contact and ingestion.'

you mean like toothpaste and deodorant type things?