Hello Again
I do not take either of those drugs. The reason being is because of the side effects, I do not take a lot of medications because of side effects. One side effect is weight gain and I have to be especially vigilant with this on every medication I take because of my thyroid. I take Levothyroxine 62.5 every day to keep it under control and my weight is finally manageable and I want to keep it that way. I lost over 50 lbs. last year once I was on the proper dosage so to take lyrica would be a nightmare for me.
I have gone outside the box but the box is what got me in this whole situation to begin with. The other big problem was that when I had the latest CT scan on my spine, when the table was being lowered my hair (waist length) became entangled in the mechanism that lowers the table and it began ripping my hair from my head. I ended up with a patch on my head over the size of a silver dollar that was bald for over three or four months. I suffered for all that time with tenderness, headaches, sensitivity to the cold outside and trauma from the ordeal. They had to cut my hair to free me because when they tried to back my hair out, it took it in even more. I went in the end of March to trim my hair to try and make it more healthy on the ends and I got it layered so that I could overcome the varying lengths that I was left with. My Neuro is aware of all of what has happened.
I will be seeing him at the end of the month for Botox injections for migraines to alleviate the pain of those, Topamax works to a degree but not completely. When I so much as get a tension headache from stress, it escalates into a full blown migraine within hours. He said that it's due to the problems with my neck. I do not understand if I have so many issues because of the bulging discs why he doesn't just let me take care of them. LOOK WHERE I AM NOW! I have this new problem that he cannot figure out and I'm coming here for answers.
The Solanpas patches sound like a plan but I use Lidoderm patches so I don't know if they are similar and would be much more helpful or not. I put them over the area of my neck where I need them and I also use a TENS unit when I cannot get enough relief. I have a shower massage and will stand under it for a half hour if I need to. I did stir up my carpal tunnel (I do have a wrist splint but I haven't tried it because I feel so restricted with it even at night it bothers me and I end up throwing it on the floor) and I am now dealing with a ring finger that is a trigger finger, along with my pinky. My Family Practictioner was supposed to see me last time I went in but I got put on the PA's schedule and it totally irritated me because now I have to go back to the clinic to see her and hopefully get the referral to the surgeon that I was hoping for in the first place. Maybe he will have the answers for the swelling hands. My hands turn red on my palms but I wonder if it's from the swelling itself or if this is something else? I do not have Lupus I was tested for this as well as RA when I saw a Rhuematologist this past Fall. He did hand xrays and extensive blood work on me, panels. This is what has led my Neuro to come to the conclusions that it's all related to my flipping neck AGAIN! FLUSTERED and aggravated that two months after this all started I'm still waiting for a diagnosis.