For Uk Members On Here

[diamondcut]

Just to let anyone on here know from the UK, that compression stocking in all makes, colours and sizes are on the NHS if you ask you GP nicely. Not just the awful passion killer white ones ethier, you can get the Scholl black hold ups even, which wouldnt look out of place in the bedroom if you know what i mean. In fact i think you can ask for any sort of medical compression garment.

Also i posted about Elemental nutrition drinks you can also ask for on the NHS.

[targs66]

Thanks for the info. (I'm American but live in England.) I haven't tried compression stockings, and one reason was the price. Will bring it up with my GP.

[diamondcut]

Yes have a look on the internet at medical compression websites, if you see a make and colour you like then you can write the model number down and they are all isually on the system, i would say the Scholl are the best the, i usually have class 2 in winter.

Just thought i am type 1 diabetic so i dont pay for my stockings, but i think it would be the usual £7 something charge which is still cheaper then buying yourself.

[Batik]

It's free if you're in Scotland. In England, it's free for certain groups or if you have a "season ticket" (prescription prepayment certificate) on your prescriptions. Unfortunately, it looks like the cost for "elastic hosiery" is £15.30 rather than the usual £7.65. More details here.

[diamondcut]

Oh is it really that much, thats not fair they should charge double of a normal pre scription just becuase its a compression garment.

Batik, just seen you have a lot of Dx like me, what do you take for your migraines do you mind me asking?

[Batik]

Perhaps the higher charge is because you get much more use out of it, and they're relatively expensive to produced compared to your average box of pills? I haven't tried them myself, still chasing a diagnosis, but I have wrist splints which were handed to me free of charge by my physio. But then I'm in Scotland, where prescription charges have already been phased out.

Hah, I didn't even put in half my diagnoses! My migraines are mainly menstrual, so the first thing I do is Fertility Awareness Method tracking to give me some warning of when the nasty things are due. It's not much, but at least I can make more effort to sleep and eat well around my periods. Anyway, I take co-codamol and valium, which I discovered quite by accident one day when I was desperate enough to hope that the combination would conk me out. It's the only thing that works for muscle pain for me as well. Valium is a muscle relaxant, and the combination works where the individual meds don't do a thing for me for those issues. Obviously those are not meds you want to be taking too often, I'm careful to log how much I take, and the side effects are a nuisance. The first time I took it, I fainted the next morning, and I rarely faint. Plus constipation and over-sedation and so forth, but if the pain is bad enough, yep, it's worth it. Have you found anything that works for you?

I see you have vulvodynia too. Either I'm looking at the same people all the time here, or that seems to turn up a lot. Is there a link with POTS and its friends, does anyone know? Mine's flared up horrendously recently, and again it's mainly triggered by my periods. My gynaecologist wants me on the mini-pill to see if eliminating my periods helps, although I'm dubious as I don't generally do well on progestogen-only contraception. I suggested the combined pill taken continuously, but she nixed that because of the migraines, not that I'm particularly worried about stroke. Last time I got a vulvodynia flare I was on co-codamol, valium and tramadol, and it still wasn't getting all the pain, but by that point I was pretty much too stoned to care. Really not a good situation to be in. It's a really horrible place to have pain, isn't it, it gets to you.

I don't seem to fare well on amitryptiline for chronic pain, or gabapentin for that matter. Apparently my local pain clinic is pretty much useless, so I'm starting to feel a bit stuck in terms of what to take for chronic pain.

Come to that, how many other people here have chronic pain issues? I have ME and fibro, so it kind of goes with the territory. Are there any polls about how many people here have ME or fibro?