What Do You Take For Pain?

[DSM3KIDZ]

I have bone spurs in my neck C3-4 and 4-5, and disk protrusions at T4-5 ,T7-8 T9-10 and T 10-11 most prominent at T7-8. I was dx with cervical spondylosis and thoasic disk protrusions Why my back is so screwed up is unknown. I've never been in an accident or ever hurt myself. I haven't really felt too much pain from it except for my shoulder. Now the last 2 weeks I've been in chronic pain and neck to my butt bone hurts. I didn't do anything strenuous. This is the third time I had a flare up of pain this year. What do you guys take for pain? I've been taking 800mg of advil and vicodin every 4 hours and it's not touching the pain. I go see the doc Friday and need some suggestions.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how someone's back could be so bad without ever injuring it? This really bothers me because I feel I have enough medical problems to deal with and I fear eventually I'll be in chronic pain long term.

I just feel soooo defeated lately. I see that alot of you have back/neck pain so I was hoping you might have some suggestions.

I hope everyone is doing well and I've been thinking of all of you who are going through a hard time sorry I haven't been able to keep up with the posts lately, it even hurts to type. Maybe it's Fibro, what's the difference?

Dayna

[Guest sonotech]

Dayna,

When I have severe back/neck pain the pain meds don't work well either. The ONE thing that has ALWAYS helped is a "Medrol dose pack" (prednisone pack) AND a muscle relaxer (like Flexeril). The combo of these 2 seem to relieve my pain within 24hrs.

The dose pack helps the inflamation and the muscle relaxer is important because the muscles surrounding the affected area will contract to protect the joint/spine and the muscle spasms can be VERY painful also.

So, that is just a suggestion. I hope it helps.

[morgan617]

I don't take anything. My back, neck and joints are all messed up too, i have no idea why, except I was a nurse for 30 years and it was pretty dang physical work.

But i don't tolerate anything, so i just suffer in very whiney non silence......

[mkoven]

I have a terrible back. I've had disc surgery and have torn both sacroiliac joints. I don't however take meds. I've had a lot of good pt-working on releasing muscles in spasm and strengthening weak muscles. I also do pilates, have had occupational therapy to make sure I'm doing things in as back-friendly a way as possible. I also have to change positions throughout the day. I rarely take pain meds, unless I get nerve pain. I used to take vicodin for that, but am now alllergic. Darvocet takes the edge off. When it was off the charts painful I took dilaudid-- but too short-acting. In general, I've learned what flares me up/helps, and manage that way. though right now, I'm having a new bout of sciatica...

[Guest dionna]

advil, tylenol, neurotin, motrin lots of it, and anything else the doc will give me as pain killers (percosets, oxycotin? i think, etc).

dionna

[worknonjoy]

Gee, you have so much of your spine that is problematic. I have much the same thing - don't know why, it's been that way since my 20's. I've tried almost everything and no pain medicine helped in the long run. I had anemia from the Celebrex causing bleeding in my stomach. Ultram is somewhat helpful. I can't take muscle relaxers as I will be unable to get out of bed for two days. Stronger pain meds only work for awhile and actually made the pain worse.

I recently had a procedure which I can't remember the name of since my brain fog is so bad. I can find out if anyone is interested. It was Radiofrequency on the nerves that come out of the spine. Radiofrequency is like burning I think. The nerves go to your muscles and that's what caused the pain my doctor told me. So this shuts them off in a way. I had it done a couple of months ago and was surprised how much it helped me. The nerves do regenerate and you have to go back a time or two. Eventually it lasts for a long time.

They put you under "twilight" anesthesia, probably some valium, but not heavy stuff. It doesn't take but 15 - 30 minutes and it doesn't hurt. Really reccomend it to those who have severe back pain and can't find good solutions.

[MightyMouse]

I'm on neurontin daily--I've taken oxycontin b/c I can't take nsaids due to severe gastritis & reflux, but it keeps me wide awake like 2 pots of coffee, so at night I go it alone, no meds. My pain doc wants me to try a newer med called Avinza, which is a slow release morphine. I haven't filled the rx because I've got a mental block about taking morphine daily...

Also, flexeril or norflex has been really helpful with the muscle knots that cause me most pain daily. I'm actually seeing my neuro next week to get that script refilled--I need it and have been out for months now.

Lastly, you can try OTC items too, such as nsaids (asprin, motrin, aleve, etc.) which reduce inflamation. For me, I can't take these orally, so my pharmacy makes me a transdermal ibuprofen--it's a cream and I put it on my back, and it really, really helps. It's pricey at about 12$ for a little jar, but worth it to me.

Steroids will also help reduce inflamation--BUT, at the cost of loss of bone density. I already was tested for my bone density a few years ago b/c I shrunk 3/4 of an inch (now a full inch); for me, steroids are an absolute LAST resort used for allergic or respiratory CRISIS. Otherwise, I'll be dealing with more than just shrinking--more like broken bones, hips, etc.

Nina