At the time of my Dx, I was in the Military, and fit as a fiddle. However, as the condition worsened, my fitness started to wane, and now I have put on almost 100 lbs due to inactivity. I use a cane to walk now, and between pain and depression, it is hard to find that second gear - aka -> Get up and go - feeling. I do feel however that my weight gain may be exacerbating the problem, and am trying to seek professional dietary assistance to help reduce my caloric intake.

I am taking Lyrica for my daily pain. Lyrica is a reformulation of Gabapentin (Neurontin), an anti-epileptic drug whose major side effect is nerve pain control. Lyrica is being marketed as a Nerve Pain Medication for this reason, however is not totally approved by many Medical Insurance company's, so these little pills can be quite expensive. Thankfully, one of my 2 drug plans will cover it up to 80%, but I still have to pay about $70 per month for my 20% cost/share. Ask your doctor about Gabapentin or Lyrica as a possible choice - I had much less side effects (but there WERE still some annoying effects, like short term memory loss, difficulty finding rarely used words, etc. But no rashes, sleeplessness, bad attitudes, and so on.

I also take Effexor to help with the depression, and it seems to work fine with me - I have not killed anyone yet LOL.

I"m also on MSN or Skype. Email me if you want my contact details.


Regards,