Chronic pain - what medication are you on?

[DaveMyHat]

I'm ready to go to my GP and threaten to kill myself if they don't give me something. I am taking paracetamol, sometimes I get cocodomal OTC. It's not really helping. GP gives me antidepressants. Despite what I just said I'm not actually suicidal, I'm just really fed up.

No, i literally meant they are good for nerve pain

I have arthritis on a number of joints. The pains and aches move around a fair bit. Not always there but some days it's bad.
As well as the various medication (sulfasalazine, methotrexate by injection, folic acid and omeprazole to protect my stomach) for the arthritis I take, as required and via repeat prescription, cocodamol
30/500 and diclofenac. Have had naproxen in the past too. I try not to rely on them too much but some flare ups mean they're necessary.

I take amitryptiline (spelling!) 25mg each night for nerve pain, naproxen 500 and codeine 2x30 for chronic costochondritis when needed. I was offered tramadol because the costochondritis when an acute attack is incredibly painful, real rock on the floor in the foetal position for 8 hours trying not to breathe painful.

I was referred to pain management 13 months ago! I had a letter after a year asking if I wanted to remain on the list or was I better

An incredibly helpful tool for pain relief is a tens machine. I have a united surgical tens and since using it I have reduced the amount of pain medication I use during flare ups.

i have psoriatic arthritis in my hands, shoulder, neck, back, knees and ankles. i’ve got metal in my shoulder and one knee and need both knees replacing. i take 600mg pregablin daily and i wear a buprenorphine (opiate) patch that i change weekly. i was on tramadol for a couple of years but upgraded to the patches, and have worked my way up to the maximum dosage ones of 20mcg/hour.

everything still hurts, but i don’t know what my next options are. the bupe patches are great but if one gets wet or won’t stick, or i’m late changing one i go into proper withdrawal, which is nasty. they also fuck my skin up, what with the psoriasis and everything. i worry that next stop is fentanyl patches or morphine, neither of which seem like any fun to me.

i also take a giant anti-inflammatory every day, omeprazole to protect my stomach and methotrexate for the arthritis, which makes me feel like dogshit.

what larks.

you need the pain clinic, OP. speak to your gp and tell them you’re not coping. and thank you for reminding me that i need to ask for a re-referral to see what my next (slow, agonising) steps should be!

Thanks all again, it's very helpful. The last time I went to the gp and said I wasn't coping with the pain was when she gave me antidepressants. But this time I will go back and specifically ask for the pain clinic referral and maybe bring up some of the medications that have been suggested here.

20mg/10ml oramorph every four hours and 50mg amitriptyline daily.

Pick your GP wisely when suggesting medication! I asked one GP at my practice about nerve painkillers like pregablin (I can’t take NSAIDs and I was already on a lot of codeine) and she said ‘Where did you get that from? Did you google it?!’ 🤦‍♀️ I explained that no, I’m a nurse and I discussed With a friend who is a consultant! Tried a different GP a couple of weeks later who suggested those drugs straight away!

I take tramadol, co codamol and pregabalin

I too have eds as well as inflammatory arthritis.

I found NHS pain management worse than useless because they had no idea about eds and hypermobility. The course I did focused on exercises designed to make joints more flexible!!!!! They were speechless when they got is to do the exercises and just kept saying "I don't think this course is suitable for you". Apart from that they pushed mindfulness which I don't find helps at all.

I was fortunate to have private health care and so saw a private pain management Dr, ironically one who runs the NHS course I attended, who worked out a good drug regime for me plus injections and denervation.

I found it really helpful to find out what was 'causing' my pain ie a diagnosis. The pain clinic course was really helpful - not everything applied to me but enough to help me make a difference. I changed my car as that was actually contributing to my pain. Learned about pacing myself - still not great at it. Don't feel guilty now about lying down. This was a few years ago - now I manage pilates (3 years) which helps with the pain. My goal was just to get to the classes. Reflexology was the result of a free taster session.

I’m on gabapentin for chronic nerve pain - two doses in the day and a double dose before bed. It makes the world of difference thankfully but I really notice if I miss doses by accident.

Pick your GP wisely when suggesting medication!

I'm bound to mess up with that! I don't seem to have much luck/must not express myself well to doctors!

Have you joined the eds society or hmsa? They both have really good resources to advise on things such as splinting, exercise whilst maintaining flexibility, pacing (impractical if you work though) and pain relief. I am also under the care of a rheumatologist who is also an expert in eds and am getting a lot of help with specialist physio, podiatry and hand therapy.

The biggest thing that I've learnt is to develop a tool box. Drugs are just one part of that.

Cocodamol and amitriptyline for fibromyalgia here. Both quite helpful!

I have Fibromyalgia, ME/CFS & Arthritis, I have tried Gabapentin & Pregabalin & both left me looking like a dribbling heroin addict. The only drugs I can tolerate are dihydrocodeine, Naproxen, Cocodamol 30/500 or plain paracetamol, I also use CBD oil to keep down the amount of painkillers I take, I take 2 x 30mg Dihydrocodeine 4 times a day 1 x 500mg Naproxen 3 times a day & either 2 x Cocodamol 30/500 or 2 x 500mg paracetamol if I need it in between on bad days.

It's well worth trying acupuncture for chronic pain. It has been clinically proven to be as effective as medication for certain types of pain. Just try and go to an acupuncturist not a physio as physios only do a few days training as opposed to as 3 year degree.

I had codydramol, diclofenac and diazepam for a slipped disc. But I was initially fobbed off with cocodomol - luckily my physio was brilliant and kept sending me back telling me that wasn’t enough! I agree with PP saying choose your GP wisely - luckily I knew one of the doctors at our practice would give you pretty much what you asked for so saw him. I don’t think the diclofenac did. much but the codydramol was v good.

Just felt like a warning should be put in this thread that almost every drug mentioned here is highly addictive and can be misused. Just because the GP prescribed it and follow ups are not happening, doesn't mean you won't get addicted. Some of these pain drugs will alter your mood so much you won't realise until you taper- opiates create physical dependence in 3 days .

I say this as a person diagnosed with chronic conditions who is NOT against meds.

Please stay safe everyone 🙏🏼

@avocuddl The main thing to watch for with gabapentin is to not get pregnant! Very high rate of defects 10x normal rate

After long discussions with GP and rheumatologist we settled on Naproxen for the mixed connective tissue disease pain which is inflammation and gabapentin for the fibro/nerve compression pain.
For me Gabapentin was the game changer that took me from barely coping to a nearly normal life.

PurpleFrames

So what do you suggest instead? I'd love to hear alternatives to these drugs,you know, things that actually work so that I can work and exercise and continue to function in my life. What do you suggest as alternatives?

I can't take any NSAID because I have chrohns disease and have had a GI bleed. I also dislocate joints frequently and have inflammatory and osteo arthritis in multiple joints. I'm all ears for non opiod ways to relieve the pain.

Currently I do yoga, Pilates and also have a spinal cord stimulator in place to treat some of the pain. I also take tramadol, co codamol and pregabalin to relieve the rest of the pain enough for me to function but clearly you have lots of other suggestions rather than me becoming addicted to theses drugs so.i would love the to hear about them.

I've had gabapentin, amitiptalin, co-co-codamol, tamacet and tramadol

I was then referred to a pain management clinic who went ahead and gave me injections into my spine for my back pain- nerve damage / bulging disc

The injections worked and occasionally I take tramadol for night pain as and when needed
You definitely need to be referred to the pain clinic

Just felt like a warning should be put in this thread that almost every drug mentioned here is highly addictive and can be misused. Just because the GP prescribed it and follow ups are not happening, doesn't mean you won't get addicted. Some of these pain drugs will alter your mood so much you won't realise until you taper- opiates create physical dependence in 3 days .

I don't want my mood altered but I do want to be able to function and feel like a contributing member of society again. It's all confusing and I don't really understand why people with similar problems to mine get such different treatment. I know my problems are real now which helps me psychologically, but I still keep thinking am I being a wimp or am I doing something wrong or am I not talking to the doctor properly. I have always considered my pain threshold to be quite high, I'm not usually the kind of person to make a fuss and was always very active before this started to affect me so much. I don't think I am making it up or exaggerating, my family have seen me struggling to move around, stiff, turning pale from feeling sick with pain etc. (I know nobody here has said I am making it up - it's a debate I have been having with myself over the last few years). I have tried my best to carry on as normal but it's like it's out of my control. I feel like taking a drug that may cause dependency would be better than what I have currently.

Clearly you did not read "i say this as a person diagnosed with chronic conditions who is NOT against meds."

I don't think anyone should not take their meds, equally we shouldn't be blasé about them.**

Honestly, I think as a person with chronic pain you would have a bit more understanding about how difficult it is.

What do you suggest for pain management rather than drugs?

I'm on Tramadol, it's the only thing that touches the pain (and that I can tolerate)