Dear Kathy,

I would also suggest Methadone...I was taking 5 mg 3 times a day for many months. It works REALLY well for nerve pain. Many people on this board take it with little or no side effects other than constipation.

Morphine is another med I use. I learned that opiates (morphine is in that family) AND methadone DON'T go together, they cancel each other out. I had been prescribed both by a RI doc, and no one set me straight until I saw Dr. Getson in NJ. (I'm still bummed that my beloved Boston doc missed that one!). I wear a 75 mcg Fentanyl morphine patch that I change every 48 -72 hours. I would like to taper down to a lower dose soon because of the constant "brain fog" and depression. The Fentanyl patch has been invaluable to me since last summer when I became so sick with head pain. For a while I even went up to 100 mcg and had Perc for break through. (One of the reasons I likely needed such high doses is because I was also taking the Methadone with it - and they weren't working well together!) You can only be prescribed Fentanyl if you have been taking opiates on a regular basis for a several months and are deemed to be "opiod tolerant."

I sincerely hope that you find something to help you...have you tried any of the Mindfulness Training that is available on the UMass website? FMichael has written extensively about it in the past, and I can provide a few links if you would like.

Good luck, XOXOX Sandy