Originally Posted by Lynns409

Yeah, I think that I had a five day trial. And it is kind of strange to try and live a normal life with wires coming out of your spine. And don't go off of the fentanyl completely- maybe cut your patch down a bit slowly?

But with the time that you do have, I think that you can make a good decision. It is overwhelming, but think about the things that you CAN do, and the places that you can notice a difference. Make a meal and try to notice how long it takes for you to get tired or feel pain. Is this better than how you normally feel? Is your skin less sensitive? Is the temperature in your affected area better? I promise that you don't have to go out jogging to figure out whether or not this will work for you. Just take a deep breath and try to focus on what you are feeling.

Oh, and keep a journal! Write down how you are feeling and what you are thinking. That way when it comes time to make this decision you can accurately remember how you were feeling.

I don't really remember too much about my trial- but I definitely remember subsequent revisions, and it does hurt. They're poking things into your spine after all! And this is a new feeling and experience- sometimes when you don't know what to expect it's worse than when you do know what's coming.

In science we usually like to change one variable at a time- so I'm a bit worried about stopping a medicine and having the trial all at once. It's probably best to stay on the meds and just focus on the trial. After all, what if you feel crappy and have more pain from stopping the meds, but attribute that feeling to the trial? You want to be able to have a semi objective view of this trial run.

Any questions, just holler.

Lynn