I'm just wondering what pain medication (and the dosage) everyone is taking, and how much it helps. The tramadol I've been given doesn't help hardly.
I would like to tell my doctor what helps other sufferers so that I can find something that may work for me too.
I'd really appreciate the help because it is serously getting me down.
Thanks!
Good Morning,
For years, I took tramadol for pain but also Cymbalta helps with pain and depression. My fibro has progressed to the point now that I also take Norco and tramadol. Norco is a narcotic and addictive...be careful!! How are your sleep habits? Do you take anything at night? I take trazadone which helps. Like with all the other meds, they help but do not take away pain or any other symptom completely..
Hi Jo!
I take Tramado ER 200 mg. with Savella 100 mg. This works pretty good for me most of the time. But when I have those BIG flare up days nothing seems to help except rest with heat or ice packs and Flexeril. I also take Topomax for Neuralgia that I have in my face and left side of my body. A walking pharmacy!!!
What else are you taking with the Tramadol?
Pam
this is my 32nd year with fibro, and i've tried all kinds of meds....i have no insurance, so i have been on hydrocodone 750, 3 times a day, with advil at night....also take immodium, and melatonin 3 mgs when needed.....still live uncomfortably most of the time...
This is true, but not everyone becomes dependant on them, I have not increased my dosages in the 15 years I've been on them, I don't think it would help much more to increase them, your body just gets used to it. That's why I use alternative therapies also, heat, ice, rest, and massage if I can afford it! this gets to be a very expensive illness! And you are correct, people do like to pass judgement, maybe it's because sometimes when they see us "we don't look sick", a phrase we hear too often. Of course on our worse days we don't go out much!!
I get 15 whole pain pills a month-Tapentadol HCL 50mg or Nucynta generic. I also take Cymbalta, Trazadone, and Topamax along with a slew of other drugs. I am a walking pharmacy also. Nothing really helps when I hurt badly. I have found that massaging in peppermint oil into an aching area will mask the pain for over 2 hours. It really helps for that time and that’s enough to calm me down sometimes to deal with it.
I am having a serious talk with my pain specialist when I go get my Botox shot this month for migraines. TPIs are not getting it.
Your exactly right. I'm 55 years old, told I look 45 and I don't look sick. But the only reason I'm standing in front of them so they're able to say that is the meds are workng that day and I was able to be on my feet and out into the world.
I'm still holding a resentment against this pharmacist for treating me with so little respect and showing such a lack of compassion. A person like that should not be in a job where they deal with medical issues that they don't understand. And being treated like that has done a number on my depression and my already whittled down self esteem that comes with any illness.
Thnks for the info. I just have amytriptyline at night (75mg) other than the tramadol, but I still only get 3-4 hours at best.
Hi Pam!
Amitryptiline (75 mg) at night. Sounds like you've got it covered! I would love to have other options to try because the tramadol just makes me feel sick instead of helping the pain, which is great if you want to lose weight. Haha
I know what you mean. It feels like some people think I am some sort of drug addict too, but we're all in severe amounts of pain! We flipping need it! That pharmacist was so unprofessional its shocking. Thanks for your help Michelle. I really appreciate it.
There are some uncaring people out there who should not do their job if they behave like that. Go and work with criminals instead. People just don't get us sometimes, and they can be very hurtful.
Thanks for the info. It will help a lot. Its hard to get through some days but a little help with the symptoms at least would help us get through the long days and nights better.
Lol. That is a mouthful isn't it. Literally too! I will get some peppermint oil too because I've heard it mentioned a few times now. Good luck with your pain specialist. I'll be seeing mine in a month.
Thanks for the help!
I've been doing a lot with spirituality. I go to the library and gets books on what people think about life "on the other side." There is no pain there, so it's good to know - and that means there is literally light at the end of the tunnel. LOL.I don't mean to say that I'm waiting to die, rather I'm trying to learn the lessons this life is trying to teach me through chronic pain. Compassion for others who are sick ? Maybe in a past life I was an uncompassionist Pharmaists that treated chronic pain suffers with little respect and my karma is coming around ? LOL. And your therapist is right - there is only now so make it the best now your able to.
Jo, have they tried any muscle relaxers with you? I take Zanaflex at night and Mobic during the day. It seems to ease the pain some, especially in the muscles. I also take neurontin and Zoloft. These do basically the same thing as a Cymbalta and they are generic so much cheaper. And, when desperate, I have dilaudid for the pain. I saw another post that says narcotics don’t stop the pain, they just make you not feel it for a while. I know that they don’t solve any problem but there are times when I will take one just to have a little relief.
Hey Tricky, does insurance cover the Botox? I might have to ask for that for my trigeminal neuralgia. (not making light of your pain at all). It would erase the wrinkles I have gotten from the stress and strain of this awful fibro.
Seriously, I hope you get some relief from your pain and that the doc is able to help you.
Thanks Jillian,
I would be grateful for ANY relief from the pain. It's a shame there isn't anything that would get rid of it altogether.
It really does drag you down doesn't it. The mind is a very powerful tool like you say to help deal with the pain too. If we let it wind us up or make us too depressed, the pain gets worse. Thats why we need humour. It must send out something into our bodies that help.
Thanks for your help and the compliment. I think we all enjoy a good laugh on here, even if it's at someone else's expense. Its usually the people that we don't need in our lives anyway. Maybe we should print some pages off and give it to the little "darlings". Stick it in their post or something, or even funnier - a giant fortune cookie!
Yes, exactly. I'm the same true. Thats why I am nice - because I don't want to come back as a fly that hovers round a pile of sh**. lol. I just treat people how I would like to be treated ("The Golden Rule"), but when some people are just nasty and I'm in a lot of pain (like all the time), they are gonna get their Karma from me too. "What goes around comes around"... When will the human race learn?
Sorry to stick my nose in but whats trigeminal neuralgia sweetie? I guess its nerve pain somewhere? x