Quote:
Originally Posted by Idealist
You didn't mention whether your pain was sudden-onset, or if it had developed gradually over a period of time. If so, how long has it been an issue? Few things are harder to deal with than continuous pain, especially if its characteristics include feeling "dangerous" or health-threatening. The inclusion of neurontin in your treatment suggests that the doc suspects the pain may be nerve related, which means that it might simulate any type of pain you've ever felt. Whatever the case, it is important to find a control for the pain before it has a chance to become a somatic "memory" within your subconscious. I've been dealing with severe nerve pain for nearly ten years now, and know how crazy it can drive you to feeling if given half the chance. The bad news is that traditional pain meds are often ineffective when it comes to nerve pain. It can help to try doing whatever you can think of to occupy not only the mind, but also the entire central nervous system in general. Read...listen to music...watch a really absorbing movie. As silly as it may sound, these things can really help. Only so many signals can be processed by the CNS at any given time, which means that keeping everything busy can detract your attention from some unwanted things. Whatever you do, try your best to stay in a happy and positive mood. Again, I know it may sound contrite for me to be saying something so simple, but I promise it has a real potential to help. I truly hope that the specialist comes up with some answers for you, and that you are able to rectify your problem before too long. Good luck and the very best of wishes!  |
Hi,
The pain was sudden onset. I just woke up in pain one morning. Oddly, the pain was on the outside of my lower leg. Bad pain! Then it moved to my hip, back of my knee and finally settled into my foot/toes. Majority of pain in toes. Foot up inner arch, above arch and some of my ankle is just numb. I have wracked my brain and can't recall any injury there.
Once my grandchildren have gone back to Australia this Wednesday, I will seriously try what you suggest. I have an iPod which should help. In the past, I enjoyed listening to audio books. Maybe that would be a start.
The worst part is that my family and even my husband have no idea of how painful this is. Of course, I would never want them to experience this themselves, but I do feel left out of things.
One last question. I burst into tears at the least little thing. I never was like that until recently. I'm sure you know that doesn't help me to be pleasant to be around. Why do you suppose that is? The Meds?
Looking up my medical history: (all within the last 2 mos.)
Sympathetic Block (University Hospitals Division of Pain Medicine)
Selective Nerve Root technique transforanimal (sp?) approach - 2 injections one for L5 and the other for L4-5
EMG
MRI Lumbar spine w/o contrast
There's another half inch of paper here, but I'll leave it at that. Nothing worked. Period. Definitely no droopy eyelid.
As I mentioned, I am hoping my appt with Prof of Neurology will help. The most common response I get from doctors/techs is, "I see some damage there, but not enough to cause all that pain."
I'll stop. Don't want to be boring or a whiner. That's waay to easy to do nowadays.
Thank you for your interest. You are definitely a minority!
Lois
