Suggestions for pain?

[reeskis]

I'd like to hear what everyone takes for pain. I've taken neurontin, lyrica, and cymbalta, none of which I can tolerate. Does anyone know if theres anything else? Gotta ask the doc, but I read someone was taking vicodin, does this help with nerve pain?

I just cannot tolerate it anymore. I want to feel good again.

[MS TOO]

Hello there,

I have been dealing with nerve pain for a couple years now in my right arm, from the shoulder down through my hand. It is worse at night and the pain can involve the entire arm or sometimes just the forearm. I have tried several of the typical nerve pain meds, Neurontin, Nortriptyline, amitriptyline and one or two more that I forget. None of these nerve meds have helped and only Vicodin allows me to sleep for a few hours at a time until it wears off. I need to talk to my Neuro again as he wants me to try a combo of nortriptyline and Neurontin at the same time. If this doesn't work he mentioned that he may want me to try methadone which is longer lasting, but I'm not in a big hurry to try it yet. The vicodin does work but it wears off quickly. It is also stricty controlled and my PCP is very specific about how many pills I can take per day and how often he will refill the Rx. It's frustrating and takes its toll, good luck!

[palmtree]

I'm taking Lyrica. Are you having trouble tolerating it because of the sleepiness? That symptom went away after awhile for me. I can understand why you don't want to take Cymbalta. Those SSRIs make me feel so wierd. I couldn't stand amityptiline either. Took noritypt. for 2 years. It doesn't make your brain feel wierd but it has many serious side effects that are similar to the symptoms of MS: blurred vision, tremors, balance problems and hypoglycemia.

I now have a pain management doctor who says that narcotics can be effective for nerve pain. Just depends on the person. He is very against Vicodin because it is short-acting and causes rebound pain.

There are time release ones like Opana, Ultram and Oxycontin. Oxycontin scares everyone because it used to be used as a street drug. People were taking the 80mg tablets and crushing them to snort. When abused like that it is addictive--as if you took 8 Percocet at once.

But apparently the time release ones are less risky and more effective.

Just passing along what I've learned. If you can get a good pain management doctor, it helps.