Chronic Pain medications

[boshemia]

I have an undiagnosed chronic pain disorder of some sort, the closest the family doctor can come after loads of blood tests is an auto-immune disfunction along the lines of fibromyalgia, lupus, or chronic fatigue syndrome. The pain is fairly constant at this time, getting worse at night. It seems to be centered around my joints, and moves around. Last week it was my right shoulder, arm, and wrist. It moved into my back for a few days, then down to my hips and knees. The other joints still ache, but right now my hip is screaming.

 

OTC Pain medications don't seem to do anything, as far as I can tell tylenol PM helps the most because it knocks me out, but that's the only thing I have found. I also have ADHD which really seems to be confusing my whole system... I don't have the energy to keep up with my own thought process.

 

So what I really want to know is what else can I take? I don't want to be doped up because of the work I do with children... I have to be mentally present as much as possible. However it is starting to limit my day to day functioning severly. Are their drugs that help without making me a zombie? What symptoms do they usually treat?

[Craig]

Ask your doc prescribing a low dose TCA (trycyclic antidepressant) to help you sleep better. A TCA dose this low won't have any side effects other than helping you have a more restful sleep AND if you have a sleep disorder this will be particularly useful for you. The end result could be that you feel much better in a week or two. If you do feel better, you might want to get yourself checked out for a sleep disorder.

 

Lunesta, a sleep aid, could be a solution for you too but I'd try the TCA route first.

 

Sorry that I dont' know about any sort of pain medication that isn't OTC that isn't addictive, maybe someone else can help.

[Becoming]

I've lived in chronic pain for many years now, and here's what I've learned.

 

Drs. have no idea what my pain is either. Arthritis, chronic fatigue, firbromyalgia, depression--I've had all of these as possibilities. Finally, my dr. looked at it and said regardless of what we call it, there are two things we have to do: help the pain and make sure you get restorative sleep. To that end I was prescribed Relafen (now generic Nabumetone) which I cannot live without. ~1200-1500 mg of Omega 3 oils helps reduce the amount I have to take each day. And 100 mg. of Trazodone to help sleep.

 

I was prescribed the Relafen because I was taking so much Tylenol each day for such a long period of time I probably did some liver damage.

 

That's what works for me most days. I still have about 5-8 days a year where I just wake up in pain for absolutely no fathomable reason, which sucks big time.

 

Nutrition plays a role in all this. I know I'm worse if I eat certain things. Sugar seems like a poison to me, and too much bread, possibly corn (tortilla chips) seem to make things worse. I take vitamins, colloidal minerals, CoQE10, DHEA, 5-HRT, chromium picolinate. Who know what of this helps.

 

Super Blue Stuff pain relief cream really works for me. It's a tad pricey, but a bottle will last ~18 mths.

 

Chronic pain is frustrating. My pain seems to have gotten better with the mercy of early menopause.

 

Hope this helps.