Chronic Pain

I was wondering if anyone else had this issue and what you had done in reference to it...

A little history first: Between 1993 and 1998 I was the target in 4 different auto accidents. The results include a pelvis which was broken through in 2 places and never healed correctly, trapped nerves, plate at C6-7, closed head injury, various bulging discs, DDD, arthritis, and chronic pain.

I tend to be very sensitive to pain medications, responding overly to smaller doses and exhibiting most adverse reactions. (i.e., Ultram at 25mg will take care of the upper scale of my pain, but also act like an amphetamine, making me shake and not sleep). In addition, my body will only tolerate any pain med for 6-12 months. After that time, instead of treating the pain, I will get nauseous and have increasing migraines whenever taking the medication. Doctors have responded by replacing the med in quesiton with one from another family, which, in turn, will be effective for another 6-12 months, then begin to cause the same problems.

At this point, I am pretty much out of options that work. My current dr. has me on Lyrica at it's smallest dosage (100mg/day), but it's doing very little to ease the pain, but still causing dizziness (although I am sleeping little or not at all).

Has anyone else had this type of sensitivity to medication and has your doc found a solution? I am ready to explode or just hide in bed for extended periods and my family would like to relegate me to a tent in the backyard I am so testy! Please respond if you have any information that might be of help.

Thanks much for listening and for any info that might follow.

Hi there,
Nice to meet you..although I'm sorry you had to find us, I am glad you did.
What medications have you been on? Have you found that you tolerate a certain type of opioid pain medications more than others?
I had the same reaction to Ultram. It made my heart race really fast.

Do you have any allergies? Medications, things in the environment, perfumes, etc?

It's interesting how different medications can cause varying effects in people.. Lyrica made me sleep for 16+ hours at a time. Also, FYI, Lyrica comes in 25mg dosages, in case you wanted to talk with your doctor about changing your dose.

Is the doctor you are seeing now a pain specialist? Does he or she have any explanations for what is going on?

Hope you are feeling better soon.
Sincerely,
Stacy

Honestly, if you can name it, I have likely taken it or a form of it between 1993 and present. Anti-inflammatories, pain medications and anti-depressants -- almost anything that might help control the pain. From Ultram to neurontin, depakote, skelaxin, cymbalta, darvocet, flexiril, inderal, keppra, lexapro, motrins for breakthrough, codones, percocet, valium, vicodin, ms contin, zoloft, topamax, and everything in between, with the same degrading reactions to everything but the topamax, which only controls my migraines. The anti-depressants are usually the most disastrous, not making out of the "ramp up" period without major side effects.

The only recorded allergy I have is to penicillin, although I am sensitive to some perfumes, which trigger migraines.

I have seen pain specialists, the last of whom performed nerve blocks at 2 points in my back. Because of the fact that I do not respond but minimally to Lydocaine, which I informed the doctor, I think that was one of the single most horrific experiences of my life. Understandably, I am hesitant to return to a pain specialist and would rather stick with my DO.

The Lyrica seems to be going, as a few meds do, the opposite direction of the majority of meds. Little positive effect, but the side-effects are still there. I am tempted to talk to the doc and see if increasing the meds does some good overall without increasing the side-effects.

I had read at one point about a blood test performed by drug companies during the screening process upon possible subjects that was able to determine sensitivities to certain families of medications and therefor pre-deny those who would be sensitive to the medication being tested so as to disqualify those who would not bring positive results to the test. I would love to be able to have this test done so that we could screen out meds that my body most disagrees with. However, questions to doctors regarding this test have not been successful. I haven't been able to relocate the info either, and it was links-down in a search I was doing regarding how drugs are tested for FDA standards. If anyone has a clue or a link, it would be incredibly appreciated.

Thanks for the response. Hopefully my response narrows things down instead of making them more difficult, as usual. 8p

Poor Stormcarver

What a distressing situation you have.
Have you ever tried Methodone?
I wish I knew more about additional pain meds, I can hardly think of anything worse when your a chronic pain patient, than not being able to tolerate any pain relieving meds.
Have you tried Lidocaine patches or are you also sensitive to lidocaine too?

have seen pain specialists, the last of whom performed nerve blocks at 2 points in my back. Because of the fact that I do not respond but minimally to Lydocaine, which I informed the doctor, I think that was one of the single most horrific experiences of my life. Understandably, I am hesitant to return to a pain specialist and would rather stick with my DO.

I have Radio Frequency Oblation procedures done on my spine, so I can certainly understand why you'd want to avoid the pain specialists treatments. the only reason I put up with the agony, is I do get some relief and am able to walk after having them performed. Otherwise, I think I'd run very fast away screaming!
the procedure reminds me of some type of barbaric torture threatment.

I certainly hope you can find something that helps
Betty

I have a good idea for you. Suffering from endless migraines myself. You need to get a neurologist. One of my migraine triggers is pain medicines and I had to stop taking them all. It's very difficult for someone disabled with pain but knowing they make my pain worse...See a neurologist. Maybe you could have the same trigger. When having migraines, especially rebound ones, my neurologist prescribes a round of steroids to get over it. I had the same reaction to Lyrica but another medicine similar to it, Neurotin, only makes me tired at night which helps me sleep when I take it at night and helps my headaches and back pain otherwise. I know it sucks to be allergic/sensitive to everything that could help you. Good luck.-aimes