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Old 04-16-2015, 07:43 AM
St George 2013 St George 2013 is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Georgia
Posts: 905
10 yr Member
St George 2013 St George 2013 is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Georgia
Posts: 905
10 yr Member
Default Good Morning canagirl :)

Bless your heart. I am so sorry you are going through so much. Let me tell you a little of my story....hopefully the shorter version

And yes....an anti-depressant would help you I believe.

In May 2013 when this pain hit me all at once right after chemo ended my PCP put me on Paxil, an anti-depressant, because I was absolutely freaking out. And it helped me tremendously. I was dx'd with severe small fiber neuropathy in Sept 2013 via skin punch biopsy. I had to be my own advocate and wound up seeing my PCP, neuro, foot and ankle dr.
After determining that I could not take Cymbalta or Lyrica and only be able to tolerate 1800 mgs a day of gabapentin my dr's stressed that I needed a good pain mgnt dr. Finally a year after being dx'd I gave in and am now seeing a wonderful pain mgmt. dr.

Prior to seeing the pain mgmt. dr I was on hydro 7.5-325 and my PCP increased that to 10-325 a month before I had my first visit with pain mgmt.

This journey is not an easy one nor is anything a quick fix. Since last Sept I've been on a BuTrans pain patch and Percocet 10-325. The BuTrans patch started at 5mcg/hr and I have been titrated up to my present dose of 20 mcg/hr. The Percocet is suppose to be for breakthrough pain but so far it's a part of my pain mgmt. Most days I have to use 3.....during the last month I did have 2 days that I used 1/2 a pill one day and 1 pill the next and was very excited. Of course that excitement crashes on me every dang time. I feel good, do too much and then wind up in bed or on the couch for 2 to 3 days trying to get over my good time.

My constant pain is in my feet and hands. At any time it could be my ankles, both legs and arms. I have electrical shocks, burning, stinging, deep aching, cramping pain but not actual cramps and so on.

All of this is so frustrating. I want to feel good, cook, clean, work in the yard. This monster has caused me to file and be approved for SSDI. Not exactly what I wanted after working for 32 years. Sometimes I scream, cuss and cry at the pain and the fact that my life revolves around small fiber neuropathy. A word I had never heard of until 2013.

I hope some of my story helps you.

I do believe you need an anti-depressant for your depression itself. You need to know that you are not alone in this journey. NT has been a vital resource for me and just reading what others feel has made this road a little easier for me. You have to take one step at time. I'm still not where I want to be as far as pain control is concerned but I'll keep working on it with my pain mgmt. dr until I run out of options. Hopefully I'll find a pain plan I can live with. I know my pain will never be 100% gone but I want as much quality of life as I can get out of this.

Take care and please keep us posted.

PS....I understand about taking pain meds and still having pain. I've thought many times 'I wonder how bad I would be now if I wasn't on something because it has to be progressing if I still hurt on pain meds right ?'

Debi from Georgia
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"Thanks for this!" says:
baba222 (04-16-2015), bluesfan (04-16-2015), canagirl (04-16-2015), Enna70 (04-16-2015), Susanne C. (04-16-2015), zkrp01 (04-16-2015)