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Old 10-29-2019, 10:07 PM
Katkeyper Katkeyper is offline
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 9
3 yr Member
Katkeyper Katkeyper is offline
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 9
3 yr Member
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Originally Posted by 10_after View Post
I just joined this site and I am so thankful I did. Even just reading everyone's posts made me feel I'm not alone. I really get the "i'm 40 but feel like 90". I don't want to feel this way anymore. I have chronic headaches... tension I guess the most but leads to migraines. I'm suppose to see a neurologist in July at Vanderbilt and I guess go from there. I would love input from you all as to which direction to go. I just came off Paxil because I just took it while in Nursing School and all the stress with it. But all the pain is still there, from head to my toes. My shoulder blades and neck are unbearable at times. I can take a lot of pain but its to the point where I'm grouchy and I don't do things like I use to do. I've been taking Valium and Fioricet® (Butalbital, Acetaminophen, and Caffeine) and that can give me some relief for a very short while. I've taken Amitriptyline but those class of drugs make my ears ring very loud, so we stopped those in hopes of something else. I started Lyrica last night, 75mg and woke up this morning very dizzy. And I read on here about people taking 600mg a day. How does one function? Right now I'm tired, hurting and can't even think what to do next. Being in nursing.. I sure can't go around dizzy. The valium etc does not make me sleepy at all so I have no problems taking it and functioning. But I just live with the pain until I break and cannot bear it anymore. sigh... like I said... i'm just overwhelmed, hurting all over, and I don't know what to do as the drugs that are for Fibro seem to give me side effects I can't live with either. Any thoughts are appreciated so much!
I'm so sorry for your pain. I've had crazy headaches since I was 8 years old that have progressed to Hemicrania Continua. I'm not a doctor, but not sure what your headache symptoms are. Migraines, continuous headaches or changing headache patterns? I don't have much luck with medications. My neurologists are trying to get creative with me because I've tried just about everything with no luck, bad side effects or I'm allergic. However, some meds take time to adjust to and require ramp-up.

I've been the medicine guinea pig for years. I feel your pain! It's hard to find the perfect "cocktail" for relief. One medicine I've tried with some success for general pain is Low Dose Naltrexone from a local compounding pharmacy. In larger doses, the med is used to treat drug addiction. However, Neurologists and Rheumatologists are using this medication at low doses for FM/neuropathy/arthritic pain. I was ramped up every 30 days from 1mg to 2mg to 3 mg to 4.5 mg.

For onset of my headaches, I use Ketamin nose spray (also from a compound pharmacy), Clonazepam orally disintegrating tablet 0.25 mg and Carbamazepine (Tegretol), 100 mg tab chew. The ketamin burns, so I swab with a gel I was also prescribed prior to use. This is the first time I've been given this combination and it works about 50% of the time. The key is getting the meds in upon first symptoms. Mine just come on very quickly.

I wish you the best of luck.
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