[Denman]

I have Chronic Pain. I suffer from Lumbar radiculopathy and Spinal stenosis in the Lumbar/Sacral area of my spine. As a result, I have pain running down the backs of both legs. I am also Diabetic, and suffer from Peripheral Neuropathy in both legs and feet. I am on Percocet for the pain in my back, and on Lyrica for the Peripheral Neuropathy in my legs and feet.

Does anyone else suffer from Chronic Pain? and how are you being treated for it at this time?

[povertyvalley]

I broke my back admist 3 crushed vertibrae, cervical stenosis and disc degeneration, lunbosacral disc degenerative disease, surgery for 2 cages in my neck. Chronic neck and lower backpain for life. I dont take pills. I smoke marijuana once or twice a day and it works better for me than popping pills. My doctor is aware because when he tried to give me a prescription for opiods for pain I refused and told him I was going green. He obviously doesnt have a problem because he sees me to this day. Thats what works for me.

[Denman]

I can not smoke.... I had a heart attack and double-bypass surgery. And the State of New Jersey has not approved Marijuana for pain control, so it is not available in this State.

[childofchaos831]

I have fibromyalgia, but am also a recovering addict, so my pain doctor won't give me anything that can be abused. I take Gralise (extended release gabapentin), Trokendi (extended release topirimate), vitamin D2, and an antidepressant (which I also take for mental health stuff). Overall, I am still in pain. I was in a car wreck recently, so the pain is worse now. I had one cortisone shot for my neck, and I'm getting another one for my lumbar soon.

[Denman]

Does anyone here know how to change your "Mood" . I can't figure out how to change it. Mine says "Happy" which I clearly am not.

[leejosepho]

A pain-management doc recently gave me Tramadol in place of the Percocet, but I do not take anything for the neuropathy in my feet and lower legs. I have no problem sitting, so I take the Tramadol only when up out of my chair for lengthy periods such as the shower I have planned for this afternoon. I plan to see a physical terrorist -- oops, I mean therapist! -- soon with hopes of possibly strengthening my back a bit rather than wasting away in this chair, and I do have some spring-tipped crutches that make it possible for me to walk with my back straight and not pole-vault me to the ground because they are so tall.

Edit: In my browser there is a 'My Mood: Change Mood' link at top-right.

[SilentMelodee]

I also have chronic pain, arthritis, degenerative disk disease, spinal stenosis, etc and recently took myself off pain killers. I am on gabapentin, which has helped, and I also find a TENS unit quite helpful.

[Denman]

I am on Lyrica - which is the same class of drug as gabapentin - My Pain Mgmt. Doc wanted me to do an implantable neurotransmitter type of device, which I believe is similar to a Tens Unit. Nowadays, you can buy an Icy-Hot Tens-type unit at the drugstore.
I guess I need to use the one I have, and consider just giving up on the need for Percocet, as I'm just finding it to difficult to get from Doctors.

[Moreta]

I have 2 herniated discs in my back, degenerative disc disease, and scoliosis. I'm on the butrans patch, gabapentin, baclofen, and arthrotec. I will soon need to change from the butrans patch because my new insurance for next year doesn't cover it. Going to try to get what's in the butrans patch in pill form.

[Nammu]

I have multiple nerve problems with my spine, before surgery I was on many pain meds. I liked that my pain management Doctor gave me longer acting meds that I took less often ( once or twice a day as opposed to every four hours), it helped reduce the idea of association of pills to relief. I was also on fentanyl patches which I changed every two days. After surgery the pain was considerably less and it was easy to go off the meds. I think it's horrible that doctors are becoming reluctant to prescribe adequate pain meds. I would have killed myself if I hadn't had relief. I was in pain 24/7 and usually curled up in a fetal position to minimize the pain.

[Denman]

The Pain Management Doctors I contacted do not just do Medication Management. They will not just write prescriptions for pain medications. They want to do Surgeries because that is where the money is. It's really horrible how the Medical community treats patients today.

[leejosepho]

Originally Posted by Denman

The Pain Management Doctors I contacted...will not just write prescriptions for pain medications. They want to do Surgeries...

If you are convinced reasonable dosages are sufficient, try looking around for a doctor like my own who uses a conservative approach. He has started me off with a low dosage while recommending physical therapy and offering injections if I want them, and all of that from his independent office where there are no surgeons.

[steelcurtain27]

Just saw this post. I have chronic migraines and DDD/stenosis/herniation in my L5-S1 with radiculopathy. My doctors refuse to give me anything for my pain so I'm in constant pain either from my migraines or my back. When my migraine ms get really bad I take maxalt and phenergan with aleve or toradol injection. I take 300mg of topamax daily which as I'm sure many know, doesn't help me feel any smarter. I've tried gabapentin for my neuropathy but I had bad side effects. And I can't take tramadol because I'm on serotonin drugs. I feel helpless because it seems like the doctors just think I'm a junky looking for a fix but I'm just in constant pain. Sure, no one can physically see the pain and there's no real cause but that doesn't negate how horrible it feels. I can't function. Perhaps, doctors don't believe me or don't want to treat my pain since I'm in my 20s and it's not life threatening.

[childofchaos831]

Originally Posted by steelcurtain27

Just saw this post. I have chronic migraines and DDD/stenosis/herniation in my L5-S1 with radiculopathy. My doctors refuse to give me anything for my pain so I'm in constant pain either from my migraines or my back. When my migraine ms get really bad I take maxalt and phenergan with aleve or toradol injection. I take 300mg of topamax daily which as I'm sure many know, doesn't help me feel any smarter. I've tried gabapentin for my neuropathy but I had bad side effects. And I can't take tramadol because I'm on serotonin drugs. I feel helpless because it seems like the doctors just think I'm a junky looking for a fix but I'm just in constant pain. Sure, no one can physically see the pain and there's no real cause but that doesn't negate how horrible it feels. I can't function. Perhaps, doctors don't believe me or don't want to treat my pain since I'm in my 20s and it's not life threatening.

I get it. I wasn't dx'ed with fibromyalgia til my 30s because I am an addict and doctors all just thought I wanted pills.

It wasn't until I started trying to get sober, was still complaining about the pain, but also saying I didn't want narcotics at all that the doctors really started to listen and believe me that my pain level on a good day was around a 7 out of 10...

It took a lot of trial and error, but I am down to around a 4 most days, and still don't do narcotics... I take Gralise (extended release gabapentin), Trokendi (extended release topirimate), vitamin D2, and Effexor all to try to manage the pain. I also will use OTC pain relief, usually ibuprofen or aspirin.

I hope it gets better for yall.

[ByMySide]

I have fibromyalgia, scoliosis, sciatica, and inflammatory arthritis. I take nabumetone (or Relafen) 2x/day and tramadol PRN up to 2x/day. I also take Plaquenil every day, which makes me a crying mess sometimes, but seems to work better than nothing.

It took me a long time to get to a right mix of meds w/my doctor. I worked through several tiers of NSAIDs before I finally asked her if I could try tramadol for the really bad days. I don't take it all the time, but it does help on the really bad days where I'm hurting so much I can't think about anything else.