After 8+ years of dealing with some nerve pain of varying degrees, I've decided to cave and go to meds for the pain. The severity of pain has quadrupled since having radiation. I'm at the point, I'm losing muscle mass from sheer inability to stand for the pain. I'm not sure why or what caused the severity of the pain, symptom set is similar to my normal nerve conditions pre-radiation, just magnified.
I'm on 50mg tramadol at night and during the day, as well as 1800 mg ibuprofen. Will see how the med changes work.
The tramadol has been nice. It stops the nerve signal from getting through for the all-over pain. However, my quadracep pain is still present. It's better though, as I don't have the all over hit by a bus feeling while on it. I'm going to work on managing this while I continue to try to find studies on radiation or cysts or whatever has caused the pain magnification.
For now, I'm doing well on the med, however the break periods while not on the med is tough. The anti-inflammatories at this point may be giving me more nerve sensations as the nerves heal. Right now I'm not certain.
I'll see how it works for me and try to report back. Best wishes.
Hi Lavonia,
ReplyDeleteI understand why you may be hesitant using prescription drugs. I'm not a physician, but I haven't heard about any major side-effects of tramadol, a non-narcotic. I can attest that it lightens your reactions to pain, while not actually removing your perception of feeling.
I have been on dosages of tramadol as-needed for 12+ years. I have chronic back pain that affected me to some degree, though not a diagnosed nerve condition.
If you'd like alternative suggestions, I benefited this year and 2012 by touch therapy based on body-tuning* that's helped extremely with coordinating muscles in my back: changing what I know about muscle support, increasing body awareness, and creating neural pathways.
*My back therapist recommended a book called "Anatomy Trains: Myofascial Meridians for Manual and Movement Therapists, 2e" by Thomas W. Myers
Best wishes,
Tyler Day