To think with the amount of pills I'm stuffing down my throat I should have some pain relief. .

[Vintagecakeisstillnice]

I have a slipped disc, at L5/S1.

Was in hospital as it was initially thought I had Cauda Equina, have had a specific single nerve block which got rid of the electric shocky pain. I do feel I was discharged too soon.

But the remaining pain, oh my God, I can even stand long enough to fill the kettle, my OH has to help me dress. I keep getting told it will get better, keep taking the meds.

I'm fecking rattling with pills, morphine, gabapentine, tramadol, diclofenac, paracetamol and of course senna .

That's also with TENs machine.

It's getting silly now.

AIBU to expect to at least have a reduction in pain??

I'm not sleeping more that an hour or so as when I move I wake with pain, so even if I don't wake fully I'm still disturbed.

Get some amitriptoline, and stick with it for 2 weeks, you will feel dopey for about that long, then it starts to work. Also, short term, get some diazipam.

It won't do much for the pain but it will let you get some sleep.

Have you considered an antiinflamatory too?

Surely you shouldn't take tramadol/ morphine, tramadol/co-codamol at the same time as they're all from the opiate group?

I titrate between cocodamol and tramadol and when that doesn't work I use morphine. You can't take them all literally at the same time but if I take co-codamol fist thing am and it doesn't do enough then I will replace my next dose with tramadol.

I've never needed all three in one day, if I think I need tramadol first thing I take it, and might move up to morphine.

Hi all,

Re: the mix if meds yes some are in the same group and I will dig later but all I know is this was what was advised by the Pain Team.

Anyway they've started me on a dose of MST and I bought a memory foam mattress topper, now either one or the other or a combo of both or just the time passing but I seem to have hit a breakthrough.

Have had 4 nights of over 4+ hours sleep read it and hurrah, over 4 hours sleep

I just wanted to say I really feel for you. I took all of the same drugs for my L5/S1 (which is a whole world beyond just a bit of sciatic pain) and thought I'd just never be pain free again. In the end, I had surgery a year ago this week. Life changing. Woke up basically cured. I wasn't really guided through any drug withdrawal and I went a bit loopy when all of it stopped, so just be careful if this happens to you. The slipped disc was healed but it all went a bit Trainspotting in our house for a while! I wish you the best of luck in finding a path through it, there is hope.

vintage Glad the MST is working. I am no expert so do not take this as gospel, (tis the internet and the pain team are the experts.) but I work in pain management, so just a few thoughts.
Stick with the regular MST, paracetamol (for some reason it really enhanced the effect of the morphine, god knows why but dont miss it) and diclofenac (but please make sure you take it with food, or at least milk). The gabapentin takes a while to work (days not hours) so try to take it the same time every day.
tramadol acts on different receptors so is fine with codine and mst even tho they are all opiods.
if you have oramorph for breakthro pain, take it when you start to feel the niggle of pain rather than when it gets bad!
senna is a great short term fix but in the long term your body can become reliant on it iyswim, lactulose is better alternative, or if that doesnt work then movicol contains both the rehydration and stimulation aspects.

I'd be pushing to get it fixed properly - i.e. surgery, and not all those drugs cocktails.

Personally got nothing to add to this thread as I dont know about any of this, except I hope you feel much better soon, vintage.

What I would like to say, if it is ok with vintage, is that I have been surprised by the number of knowledgeable posts and posters onthis thread. And if I could perhaps remind people of the General Health thread, which always looks a bit undermanned. And also the Children's Health Board. I was shocked by it yesterday. A lot of ill children, with virtually no replies at all. That seems to regularly happen. [sincerely hope you dont mind me posting this vintage].

Favourite Things, fine by me!

Just popped on to say the combo and the mattress have continues to work miracles.

To the point that I'm planning to see the docs next week to plan titrating them down a bit.
I'm getting no pain at present and am so comfy that I have accidentally missed doses where as before I was clock watching.

I think the nerve block has kicked in (finally) and I could reduce the gabapentin at least.

Thanks every one who has commented

For anyone reading this and still wondering - yes, we often prescribe morphine/tramadol combinations (I don't prescribe codeine if I can help it because it's rubbish - in my opinion). While they are both opioids, there are different types of opioid receptors where they each act and the combination often helps. Tramadol also has an antidepressant type effect similar to SSRI meds which can help with the psychological component of chronic pain.

It's quite common for all those meds the OP listed to be prescribed (at once) for someone with unremitting severe pain to try and modulate as many pain pathways as possible.

Glad you're feeling better OP.

(anaesthetist who does the pain round at least once a week)