Lycra? Methadone? your thoughts?
 

Hi there..

I saw a chronic pain specialist yesterday and she said that she felt I should be weaned off the Gabipentin and put on Lycra, she also said that she felt that Methadone might be a good alternative to the Tramacet that does not work for me. I do not do well on the morphines as I get a slight allergic reaction and cannot handle the nausia.

I plan on doing some research but thought you guys would have some good insite into these meds with your experiences. please and thank you very much.

I hope the pain levels are low for ya'all,
Hugs,
Sandra

frank is on both
 

he was on vicodin es for a long time, then they switched him to norco...no help either........then they gave him lyrica, and added methadone and oxy.......nothing is working for him.............sorry hope that you get some relief tho..............they did take him off the norco after an allergic reaction sent him to the ER......

Hi Sandel,
 

i have been on Methadone for 4 years now. The reason I was put on it was because I had tried every med going and couldn't take it. I had read about people being on it here so I asked my Dr. what he thought about trying it. He was all for it. He said it had hardly any side effects so it might just work.

I recently raised my dosage to help with my pelvic pain and it helps if I keep it at 5 mgs. 3 to 4 times a day. Every 6 hours is when I take it. I have to take it in the middle of the night because it wears off and I wake from the pain.

It works for some people, others not, just like any of the other meds. As I said I really like it because of not having any side effects from it.

Ada

Lyrica
 

Hands down. If you have a choice between the two I personally feel the Lyrica is the better. Not as harsh on your system and the long term is better for relief. Sandra I hope this helps.

Chin Up!!! Mark :) :)

Lyrica
 

I was placed on Lyrica and it worked great for the burning, but after being on it for a while I started having blurred vision and a swoshing sound in my ears. I had an MRI ect and everything showed normal. Finally my pain man Dr called me one day and told me to stop the Lyrica that he wanted to see if that maybe caused these problems. After stopping the Lyrica for several days both the problems stopped, so please watch and monitor yourself for any new problems that might arise from being on the lyrica. Although it did work great for me, I couldn't take the other problems and side effects that came with it.

Hi Sandra -

Lyrica (pregabalin) is serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI), making it a cousin of sorts to serotonin specific reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) such as Prozac.

I resisted going from Neurontin to Lyrica for some time because of a bad experience I had on the SSRIs when I was being treated for ADHD. Essentially, they were giving me an excess sense of speediness and insomnia well before they had any therapeutic effect.

I don't know if you have any issues with cramping/spasms - and please forgive me if we have discussed this in the past - but I found that after I had been on the Lyrica for a couple of weeks, the quality of my cramping had changed, and not for the better. It even felt as though I could "taste" a bit of an SSRI in the background. I went back to good/bad old Neurontin and sure enough, the "speediness" in the cramping resolved.

For what it's worth . . . .

Mike

Hi,

I tried Lyrica and it helped me turn the corner on my TOS. The burning went down and I was able to sleep through the night. The problem I encountered was the weight gain. 30 Lbs very quickly. I have read where others have experienced rapid weight gain from Lyrica. I was told to just be sure to monitor your glucose levels to make sure you do not become pre-diabetic.

Best of luck

Pre-diabetic?
 

That is interesting, I have been off of Lyrica for 8-10 months now but strange that this was brought up....I have been having high glucose readings in my blood work since July '06. I have the pamidradate infusions and each time they perform blood work prior to the infusions. Each time this has been on the high side, not dangerous but higher than normal. My PCP just did my reg blood work and has now scheduled a glucose tolerance test for me. Do you have any paperwork referencing this information or is this something your Dr just told you? I am in the WC rut and if this is caused by the meds, they will be responsible for the expense of the testing and what ever else is involved with it. They are already having to cover the expense of a GI exam and Dr due to stomach and constipation problems from all the meds I am on. Guess the list will just cont.
Thanks for the info,

Hi,
If I was going to invest in the stock market it would be with Pfizer. Has anyone else noticed how quick thier drugs get approval? Hugs, Roz

hey Rsdpainradar,

I actually first read this on one of the forums that was either medications for more likely TOS. It was posted by tshadow. You might want to search through her posts or through the Medications forum. I then did a little more digging and talked to a doc I am seeing to try to lose weight (metabolic doc) and he confirmed for me that Lyrica can throw your glucose out of whack.

I am sorry about that WC rut. Dont give up hope though.

I have been off Lyrica for 2 months now and my glucose is still high and I cannot lose weight yet. But I keep trying.

Wishing you the best of luck. :hug:

Dear Sandra,

Seriously,
I don't know the answer. Alot of the pain meds seem to be linked to more hyperalgesia which we need, like we need a hole in our head.:wink: Just dots your i's and cross your t's my dear friend.
Hugs, Roz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperalgesia

Thanks Shelly
 

I will cont to search for info on this and also talk to the Dr further on it. He was also going to research the infusions I have been having to see if they might have any bearing on the sugar levels.

I have found that Lyrica didn't make me gain weight but the cymbalta sure has. I have been on it since it came out in oct 2004 and have put on a lot of weight. I don't eat that much either. I did try to go off it over the past month and go on another med, while trying this it worked fine while lowering the dose (I was on 3 30mg/d) but when I went off the last one and was off it several day I cont to have severe hot flashes and dizziness all day and night. Nothing would cool me off or stop the dizziness. I don't know what or what this was doing it but my Dr told me to cont with the 1 dose a day. I hope this will help with loosing some of the weight that the cymbalta has put on by reducing the dosage. I never had any problem with wweight gain with the Lyrica though.

I would love nothing more than to get off all this medication, no telling what else it can be doing to us that we don't know about.

Aint that the friggin truth! Can anyone say "Paid Off"!!???

Wow.. thanks for all the good insites.

I was told that Lyricra would cover a broader range of my symptoms than the gabipentin, actualy I find the gab works well for the burn but this specialist says that the Lyrica does the same but can also take my torso/chest problems down a notch by adressing some of the symptoms there.

I kinda think they are just grasping at straws looking for something that can help me, the tramacet are not working anymore. if they ever realy did.. for me. and on that note

I think we have to remember when we are talking about these perscriptions that they all work diffrently for each of us, although they each have their particular benificial effects we absorb, interact, benifit and react as diffrently as we show our signs and each feel symptoms, timelines etc.. yep one persons salvation is anothers horror.. such is life with this complex group of syndromes we all have.

I am still not sure about the methadone. It can be a depresser and I am as depressed as I can handle right now. feelin that fatalistic is this all I have to look forward to thing.. I'll get over it.. sory for the ramble and the whine and thanks again fer the insites.

take care
sandra