Trojan's medication regimen
 

The following drug regimen has improved me to 60%-- up to 70%. My goal is to get to 80%. If I can't get better than 60%, then I might consider surgery in the hopes that it will get me to 85%.

I start the day off with a 2g scoop of BCAA's (branch chained amino acids). I use "BCAA + G" by MRM. Has vit B6. BCAA's are neuroprotective and feed the muscles.

couple hours later --- 2mg valium with 500mg glutathione (reduced). I use Jarrow for the glutathione.

Around 1pm --- 40mg telmisartan with 10mg pqq. (25mg losartan works too, but I like telmisartan a little better).

Around 4pm --- 50mg etifoxine/stresam. (obviously you need to be in France at this time).

Around 7pm --- 2-5mg of something else (pm me if you need to know).

Around 9-10pm --- 100mg pentoxifylline (possibly another 500mg of glutathione).

If I've been killing myself at work and need more help keeping my nerves and muscles calm, I have tried using another 1mg of valium at the end of the night. I don't do it anymore because I don't really need it, and the less drugs I take, the better.


Disclaimer: I am not advising anyone to use anything I mentioned. Drugs can be dangerous. Always consult your Dr.

That sounds like a hefty drug regimen. It would be great if surgery would give you some relief. Good luck to you!

Thanks Limoges.

My step father has RSD and takes some major drugs ---- just to live without pain.
He used to be very athletic and active. That life is gone ---- he lives on pain meds now. He has been on them so long now, he even has problems with intimacy.
My life was headed in that direction, until I started taking the medications I discussed. Now I work 4 days/week, jog 6miles/week at the gym, lift wieghts again, play with my young children, and snow ski every winter. I still deal with my tos every day, but as long as I take my meds when my nerves and muscles start buzzing, then it calms them down and everything is ok.

I have seen pain management docs who have prescribed lyrica, gabapentin, etc. I decided not to try them.

Losartan/telmisartan --- angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB). Not a big deal at very low dose. People live on these. There is a lot of research showing ARB's are extremely beneficial for many things in life.

Valium @ 2mg/day --- not a big deal.

Pentoxifylline @ 100mg --- that is a VERY low dose.

Etifoxine/stresam --- that is a new drug I have tried, but seems to work very well. Directions say to take 50mg, 3x/day. I only take 50mg once/day. Also, the course of treatment is 12 weeks (i have also read 8 weeks). So far I have tried taking 50mg for 8 weeks and then take 2 weeks off.

BCAA's, glutathione, and pqq are supplements one can purchase in GNC.

I have taken most of these for several years and have had multiple blood tests ---- everything checks out.

I work at a Doctor's office and see the medications those patients are on and it is 2-3x the size of my list.

Perhaps one of these days I will see a pain management doc and will decide to live on pain management drugs instead. Life is fairly good right now so I don't see pain mgmt drugs in my near future.

Surgery is something I have thought long and hard about. Tried bi-lateral pec-minor sx with no success. I am 60-70% better now and am hesitant to trade that level of success for rib removal surgery. That's a big roll of the dice for me. Perhaps if you and Nospam have 80% of your lives back (or more hopefully) in 2 years, then maybe I will fly to Boston to see Doc Donahue.

What I do is very unconventional which is why I was hesitant to post about it. However, I thought it was better to share my TOS experience, because the more info out there about TOS and what people are doing, the better (IMHO).

By the way, I just got accepted into an RN program and start very soon. I will continue to work while I complete my program. My goal is to get my nurse practitioner's license in time.

I am glad to hear this, sounds like you have your TOS well managed. I avoided surgery as long as I could. When I could no longer work (had to go on short term disability) or enjoy my friends and family without steady narcotics (I was even considering medical marijuana), I knew it was time for surgery.

why I chose etifoxine:


neuropathies.http://www.pharma.uzh.ch/research/ne..._Pain_2009.pdf

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21951109

After more than 30 years of chronic pain, I was delighted that Dr. Donahue felt I was a candidate for surgery. I don't often use the word "luxuriate", but I'll tell you--I find myself doing that a lot these days--simply luxuriating in the lack of pain. It becomes such a huge part of your life you don't even realize it, from the time spent managing it, searching for ways to manage it, enduring it,...the list goes on. I wish you good luck TOStrojan.

Wanted to clarify that the regimen I listed is for days when I am working and totally active. Even then, I may not need to take pentox at night. So I may need to pop pills 4x/day instead of 5.

On the weekends or days I don't work, I usually only need to take valium, telmisartan, and stresam ---- only pop pills 3x/day.