Was just wondering if anyone has been to a pain clinic , my doctor has reffered me to go next month , flares are so bad now my doctor offered me morphine patches , not sure I want them as I had morphine a couple of years ago when I had an operation , and I couldnt breath properly of it. would love to hear if anyone has attende pain clinic , warm hugs angie xx
I have been to 2 different pain clinics. The first before I was diagnosed and the other after. I just stopped going to the clinic in October because the Dr. told me I had tried all of the meds that he knows of for fibro and all he could do was to see me monthly and if a new drug came out we could try it. I was seen in pain clinics for a total of 5 years and tried savella, lyrica, cymbalta, opana, nucynta, morphine, neurontin, amytirptyline, baclofen, and nortiptyline.
amytirptyline, baclofen, and nortiptyline all worked for a while and then stopped working
I has significant side effects from cymbalta, lyrica, and neurontin
Savella, nucynta, opana and morphine did not provide any pain relief.
Fentanyl transdermal patch worked on and off. When the patch worked pain relief was significant.
I was on fentanyl patches for a long time and they worked off and on. Then I switched pain clinics because from California to Arizona and couldn't get anyone to prescribe them for me.
Of course, that doesn't mean that you won't find relief from some of these drugs. Just understand that what they do is try different drugs until they find what works for you. Some clinics are better than others, so do your homework before you go and make sure you are being sent to a reputable clinic.
If you have insurance and it pays for the visits and the drugs, you might want to try it. If you don't have insurance for the clinic and the meds, just know that many of the meds can be expensive.
If you want to talk, friend me and I'll answer your emails.
Kerry
Hey Angie, I have not attended a pain clinic, but just wanted to say be careful with morphine patches because they enter your body’s blood stream a lot faster than pills do.
Hi Angie!
Wow. I'm sorry your pain has increased to this level. I have not been to a pain clinic yet. Many of the LWF family have been. Make sure that you write down your reaction to morphine and any other pain med you have had with adverse reactions. Take that with you to pain clinic appointment, just in case you have bad fog that day. They need to know that you've had trouble with morphine.
I've heard good things about pain clinics. I hope they can help you with these flares.
LKitty
Hi Angie
I’ve been to a pain clinic I was already on oramorph and morphine before I went. They told me to come off my oramorph which is liquid morphine because I was just vertually drinking the bottle to take the pain away. They told me it would damage my organs. They put me on a cog negative behaviour therapy course to train my brain to live with the pain. I had about 12 sessions. I found it never worked. Now I’m being referred to another pain clinic next month. But my neurologist told me Ive just got to accept the pain. It is very hard and I find the more stressed I get the more pain I’m in. But I’ve tried every tablet and none of them work. They also offered me hydrotherapy but my pain is worse in water. I hope this information comes in use. Hope your pain eases.
Beth xxx
Hi Angie,
PLEASE do not use morphine if it affects your breathing!!!!!!! It could quite possibly depress your respiration enough to stop your breathing!!!!!
That being said, I've been to pain clinics. Some of them are good, others aren't. My first one kept giving me cortisone shots to the offending area in my back with zero results. Complete waste of time for me, although maybe others have had good results with steroid injections.
My next one gave me a procedure called radio ablation, where they burn the nerves that are causing the pain to radiate. I also have osteo arthritis in the back, and that was the cause of the pain (with the fibro amplifying it, I guess.) The procedure worked better than I realized, because once I went for the second radio ablation almost one year later and was shot up with some nice pain meds, I realized that A LOT of my horrid pain and inability to walk was coming from my back, not just my knees, as I'd thought for months. So the radio ablation masked the horrendous back pain for about 5 months, with some milder benefits still being felt 5 months beyond that. I must warn that the first time I had it done, I was in agonizing pain afterwards for about 3 weeks. This time I'm only in mild discomfort, one day post procedure.
The third pain clinic focused on giving me PT and different breathing and visualizations to reduce pain. What a load of carp that was for me!!! The stupid PT person ran me ragged and put me into a horrible flare that still hasn't abated, about a month later. I really don't understand why exercising other muscles to "make them stronger" will help AT ALL with fibro. It certainly hasn't for me, 4 different times. It's a total load of carp.
Good luck with yours. I myself would advice sticking with one that does something like changing your meds, and maybe some of the steroid shots, to start off with. If they don't help, you could always mention radio ablation as a possible means of relief.
In GREAT sympathy,
Petunia
Oh, and PS: My knee doctor gave me shots of cortisone to my knees and they felt GREAT afterwards! I was so excited because they were much looser and the pain was much milder. BUT, as I said, the idiots in PT absolutely ruined them again. I wanted to include this because the shots DID HELP! I'm not sure how long the pain relief would have lasted though.
Ty everyone for your messages its interesting what experiences everyone has had , xx warm hugs x
I go to a pain clinic and get Hydrocodone, 150 a month. I've been on it now for about 7 months and was only diagnosed with Fybro in Feb 13. Not real happy about being on pain meds. Might be looking towards a Green Card. Funny... After a 28+ years of military service, I'm looking medical marijuana.