What drugs can we use for pain caused by damaged or compressed nerves? I have tried Neurontin and Topamax. Neurontin caused weight gain so I stopped it. I just ate and ate...It did stop the pain though...Just cannot control what goes into the mouth....so cannot take it. My insurance company will not allow Lyrica...I think I am having problems with my eyes from the Topamax and am not certain it works alone, but might ask if I can combine it with the Neurontin to determine if it might curb the hunger, though I notice I get heart palpatations when I combine both drugs together at low doses...Anyone else experience this?

GJZH,

I have a compressed spinal cord in my neck which causes pain and tingling down both arms and into all fingers and thumbs.

I have neuropathy in my fingers/toes, hands/feet, forearms/lower legs from a blood condition. Numbness, loss of strength, loss of muscle mass, PAIN.

I also have fibromyalgia.

My son says if I were a horse they'd shoot me Good thing I'm a !!

I've found that both Duloxetine (Cymbalta) and Effexor XR work to pretty much stop the majority of the pain.

I could not open jars at all before I started taking the Cymbalta. Even if I hit them with a hammer beforehand. I can open brand new jars without pre-striking which means, I've gotten a lot of strength back -- especially in my left hand.

I stopped taking the Cymbalta when I left the clinical trial. I'm now taking Effexor SR. That's only because the Cymbalta was not available yet when I started taking this class of drugs.

For me, the Cymbalta worked faster -- full effect in one week. The Effexor XR took a full month to kick in.

The Effexor XR throws me into nasty withdrawals if I stop taking it for a week -- lousy transportation combined with snow sometimes makes it difficult to get to the pharmacy. I keep telling myself, I need to get my prescriptions mailed.

I could NOT tolerate the pain level before I started taking these drugs. The only other pain reliever I use is 800 mg Ibuprofen 1-3 times a day for the arthritis in my spine. I also get ESIs periodically in my neck and lumbar. I don't like them because they turn me into *THE* STEROID WITCH.

Barb

Barb,

My insurance company would not pay for the Cymbalta, but I would like to try it. I think my doc has to call it in or request it or something....

GJZH,

As far as I know, the Cymbalta and the Effexor XR are the only two drugs in that class (SSNI—selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor). They're similar to Prozac (SSRI—selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) but work on different brain receptors.

5 or 6 years ago when I was taking Prozac, Medicaid changed me over to the generic prozac. I had a really bad reaction to it. I didn't know at the time that I could appeal the denial in light of the reaction. So, I cold-turkied it -- still paying for that decision.

Talk to your doctor and see if he/she believes that this class of drugs might help you. If he/she does think so, he/she KNOWS how to write the request so that it won't be denied again by the insurance company.That's what doctors do for a living -- learn how to write convincingly. It'd be a real shame if this class of drugs might bring you some relief and you're denied just because of bean-counting.

Good luck. I know how much that type of pain hurts. I hope you get some relief so you can get your life back.

Hugs.

Barb

I have experienced chest pain from increasing Neurontin too quickly.

Hope you have a nice day.

I will keep this in mind when increasing the Neurontin....I was thinking of taking the Topamax at night and the Neurontin during the day....

I wanted to add... I got chest pains when I increased the Neurontin by 300mg every 3 days, but I then switched to increasing it by 300mg every 7 days and it worked better! Some people, however, are fine increasing it faster (I'm not one of them ).

I haven't experienced any extra weight gain from the Neurontin, and I tolerate it well (other than the chest pain experience), and I am now taking 2700mg each day.

Dear GJZH;

Oh my, I feel so bad for you for I know what you are going through. I have small fiber peripheral neuropathy - idiopathic. I started with foot pain in '98 & site injections were able to keep it under control until 2003. At that time, I had my first tarsel tunnel surgery (on both feet as once) done to give my nerves more room. The surgery didn't work and additional nerve damage and scar tissue made the pain unbelievable. I could not work and lost my job. Shortly afterward, my husband and I moved and my new podiatrist said he could fix my feet. 4 surgeries later, things were worse. Now 3 yrs. later, I have had every possible test involving nerves/nerve damage. The final word is that I have neuropathy. I live with good days and bad days but even on the good days there is pain. On the bad days, nothing really helps and its agonizing. I also have fibromyalgia and a neurogenic bladder also caused by the neuropathy. I have been under the care of a pain management doctor for the last 2 years and have a regular pain regimen:

Cymbalta - 90 mgs.
Lyrica - 300 mg. twice per day
Vitamin B12
Methadone - 70 mgs. per day
Percocet - as needed for Breakthrough Pain

I hope that you will be able to find the pain med(s) right for you. I do not recommend narcotics across the board, but for me, the methadone & percocet have been life savers. I could not imagine living a life where every day was torture. Narcotics DO have their place helping patients with severe chronic/intractable pain.

GJZH - With all of your surgeries, you probably have experienced a lot of pain. Nerve pain is a "different animal" and I wish you the best of luck as you search for a solution suitable for your situation!

Take care;
Nancy-H

Nancy,

I guess I am getting some of these drugs confused...I thought Cymbalta and Lyrica were in the same family or is Lyrica in the same family as Neurontin? It is difficult to keep tract of the new drugs...I think I am going to have to sit down with my Pain doc and have him go over all of the drugs with me at the next appt.

I thought you could not take some of these together...but I guess I am confused..

Dear GJZH,
Have you tried zanaflex?
When I first tried it I started too high, 2 mg....
But, I met the drug rep in the doctors office and he shared some time with me to explain how this medication works and the best way to use it.

One complaint was a grown larger man I knew and he had trouble working with it, running equipment he was like a zombie, the 2 mg, made me fuzzy and so tired too.

Rep stated, the medication is made to work in the nerves where they insert into the muscle.By calming the nerve inflamation, the spasms of the muscle will calm down. The med used should be started extremly low dose extremly long time.
His suggested as he monitored wife and her friend was this:
Break the 2 mg sample pack size into 1 mg, take that for several weeks, three or four.
Then do the 2 mg, if this is a little strong do 1 mg one day 2 mg the next; then build uo to 2 mg after several weeks, Maybe 8 weeks later be up to the 4 mg and see how that works, if you ahve to go up, do it slow also.

I took this a long time, but, decided that the 5-10 mg of generic valium worked as a muscle relaxant for me and helped my problem. I also took the topamax for headaches, so I did not want the other medicaion.
But, I was happy with how it worked, just did take a long, long time to work it up and not be zonkers.

Zanaflex, not zyprexa though.
Di