Pain Meds...

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Comment by Reverend Kurt fondriest on November 6, 2011 at 1:27am

good to hear Karl, holistic encompasses all types of treatment so your still part of the whole

peace

kurt

Comment by Karl Wegener on September 24, 2011 at 3:44am

Wow, you have a lot going on... Normalcy is what we make of it... I guess.

  You are on the Med-go-round. Yes, it is nice to find that level plato.... Nucyenta is one of the rare pills I feel I can give a nod too. I have known someone with a nurses background that took a few too many... Children called 911. Way different pain scale there. Med Mary Jane or for yourself... All with moderation I would think. I would suggest that the longer you take what you are... The longer the stomach issues will go on... I've had a hard time keeping weight on at times.. going off steroids in a couple short weeks I went from 188 to 144. And again this summer due to other stresses and a lack of meds... due to insurance issues. I have bone spurs at C 5 & 6 in the neck causing pain down the arm... lower back that causes pain around the left hip and down the inside of my leg... I'm giving up my last 6 teeth, Maybe monday... May let my Jaw heal (bad TMJ)... Years of meds, dry mouth...  Since I was in my teens... neck and low back issues... treated years back with DMSO which was an industrial solvent and used for quick pain relief... Still used in some compounds... and for horses. Doctors should pay us for being their tinker toys...

Vent here... Thats what this is for... keep me posted... Wow, the battles we fight from day to day...

Comment by Kathy Michau on September 22, 2011 at 1:10am

Hi. No..I don't much outside my home. I meant I have to work as in just push thru and not give in to the sleepiness. Otherwise I'd just sleep all day. I quit working full time 3 yrs ago and now I am the taskmaster for an entertainment troupe I founded 6 yrs ago. Unfortunately I don't get to go do much entertaining anymore.

My myriad problems are; fibromyalgia of course, pinched nerve in my neck and mid spine. 2 herniated discs, one at L 3-4 on the right side and the other at L 5-6 on the left side, Ankylosing Spondylitis that started when I was 17, good old-fashioned arthritis and stenosis in my sacroliliac area, sciatic pain in both legs, peripheral nerve damage (don't know from what, not diabetic) from the back of my knees to under my feet, botched surgery in my right knee that has weakened the joint and lost muscle mass and a pinched nerve in my right ankle and not surprisingly depression and bi-polar disorder. The knee was thought to be a torn miniscus and relatively simple surgery but when he got in there it was chewed up cartilege (don't know how it happened, just age I guess) so he scraped all the cartilege out and bored holes in my bones to cause them to bleed and create new cartilege. It was arthroscopic. I didn't think it would be a big deal..new cartilege is weaker than the original. I can't do stairs well, the swelling is constant, I can't feel the area up to 5 inches about my knee. And I went to 8 weeks of 3xweek PT.

I have been on hydrocodone, Effexor, Savella, Amitriptyline, Neurontin, Fentenyl, muscle relaxers, Morphine, tried me on Methadone (wouldn't try that again), and am still taking the hydro although it's had to be increased and I'm taking more now than I ever have. I wear a tens unit every waking moment for my lower back or I literally cannot walk. With the nerve pain now I hardly can walk and it's actually starts pounding more when I sit down.

So, I'm going to talk to my doc. I have to say when I was on the Fentenyl I think I had more energy than now. I was able to take walks and keep my weight down. I didn't have HBP like now. Of course there is an addiction there and went thru some nasty withdrawals for several days when I went off of it (cold turkey by choice...I always have to do things the hard way) and there is always a tendency to look back and just remember the good things. Kinda like a love affair break up, you only remember the good things for awhile. You have be reminded of the bad things. They tell me I was spaced and I do have memory holes at times. Honestly tho, I was also smoking pot at the time and I know that will cause short term memory loss. Just quit a month ago and although i miss the relaxation it gave me, I think at times it would make the pain more prevelant. I developed acid reflex real bad and my throat and my breathing just can;t handle any kind of smoke, even second hand. I have asthma. I quite the cigs 3 yrs ago last May. Then the Fentenyl in Sept of the same yr.

I don't want to continue to pollute my body with unnecessary drugs but I haven't found any holistc answer for me. I went off all my meds a couple of years ago and did the vitamin therapy. I was taking a vitamin for every little ailment. I was up to downing 22 in a day...took my entire lunch break to get those things down. Needless to say....to no avail.

The other question I had about the Butrans patch is for the firsr few days did you have the euphoria and level off comfortalbly or did you crash? I had the euphoria for like 3 days and crashed. If that's what it is then that's what it is, just curious.

The Nucynta drug might be a better choice. I have good team of docs including a rheumatologist and pain management along with my primary care who also helps with alot of these issues. And last but not least I have a therapist who gets to listen to my whining. So I do have a well-rounded med team.

I want very badly to have some normalcy in my life. Or

Comment by Karl Wegener on September 21, 2011 at 3:19pm

Please NOTICE:

I'm no longer working... I actually might try one other alternative:

You suggested that you would return to work with a (medicated) feeling...

When I was working last, sewing and inspecting and folding... I was taking Nucynta - and Nexium or the like (for my stomach as I've had issues for years), since taking muscle relaxants, anti-inflamatories, (eventually steroids) and so on and on when I was in my mid to late teens. I've also had a Rhyziotomy and electrical stimulators implanted along my spine through the back... trying to avoid a drug infusion implant - usually with morphine but I believe they can use Nucynta, I found again to be easier on the stomach than Fentynal.

I would first think about Nucynta, this has been out for about 2 years or so now, your Doc will be able to look it up as you too can online - - - NOT Lucynta the sleeping aid.

I almost felt as if I had a burst of energy with that. Dosage will vary... 

Sleep was better and sleep is better now. The one down side with the Butrans patch is that I felt I could do more, and as I did more... I paid hard the next three days.... Over extended or over-reached my normal limits because I felt I could. Stiffness and a good deal of pain with the patch... lack of movement followed for days already.

This Butrans patch is fairly new and I know the issues with the Fentynal patch too... I was also on that. I have had less issues with the weather (mainly bones and joints at night) with the Butrans patch.

Yes, this is between you and your doctor which I am not...

I don't have that... drugged feeling thus far. It's been just over a week for me... However, There was a feeling when replacing the once a week patch, of feeling it hit my system, a day later than I should have changed it.. which shows me the difference right there... verse Fentyal which would bring me to the ER at times when I was without...

 Just a few years back I worked in Respiratory - with various medications, until I couldn't any more... Fatigue and years of the 3rd shift... I was not able to finish the program because of the mixtures of medications I had taken and I was exposed to T.B. and treated with INH and all those massive antibiotics did a number on me...

I was without Morphine for 3 months and had multiple insurance issues... pre authorizations were needed for everything including this...

     Allow me to address your questions more directly...

B vs. F... Yes, for me, in that spacey way. B is better.... overall.

I've never worked with this patch ever.

If you could tolerate Fentyal, my guess is this could be better, again, driving or do anything else... That is so individual and you have other issues as I recall...

Do let me know what you do and what happens next... Please.

I understand when you that try this or that, or a new thing... How taxing this can be... This went very well for me and my ability to tolerated a schedule III medication. Not the holistic way I'd rather...

Enbrel may have been the way to go for me awhile back, if I wasn't exposed to T.B.... Deadly.

Have you explored if that may help? I guess I'm curious about your other conditions to say try something... But when you compare the one patch to the other... For me hands down so far, without question.

   Now, s this patch available with your insurance???.. I find if you are at this stage... You need to know you body well enough when changing over to something new to get help as needed... I want to say most, but half or nearly half of what we all fight is fatigue.... Then mix in the big time med.s and then to be functional... As I did this for years, but the best choice you can make is with a small team/ group of doctors and look at the pro's and con's... For me... I'm happy today with this choice. I feel better and more functional. My stresses are also leveling off for me which g

Comment by Kathy Michau on September 21, 2011 at 1:37pm

Hi Karl. I have some of the same problems you do including the sensativity to drugs. I was on the Fentenyl patch for 18 months and found that it made me really spacey. Do you find that the Butrans patch is better than the Fentenyl in that respect? I need to make a change in what I'm doing now which is hydrocodone. That just makes me want to sleep and then I have to work thru that for 3 hrs after I take it and it doesn't even help much. It wears off in the middle of the night and I wake up several times a night from the pain mostly in my back. I have peripherial nerve damage in my feet (not diabetic) that started in July that is just relentless. I'm seeing my doc next month and thinking of asking for this patch.