Wow, yeah, we've been through a lot of those medications. Cymbalta actually is an anti depressant but after lots of research I found out that its IS also for pain. And regardless of what my hubby says, it has helped him some with the other medications combined. He has tried the Amitrityline, which didnt help at all, pamalor, also a no go and Lyrica which, oh my god gave him such extreme nightmares he didnt want to go to sleep anymore. When this all first started they had him on ultram (tramadol) and darvocet, which were NOTHING to help him and I remember nights he laid in bed and cried until he finally fell asleep from exhaustion. When we moved to Michigan, we were referred to Matrix Pain Management in Saginaw. OH MY GOD I cant tell you how much this was the best thing to happen to us since this started.
They asked him what meds he was on and we told him they looked at us and said "OK so they have you taking baby aspirin for pain, lets see how well methadone works for you". Well the Methadone made him feel sick, he couldn't urinate at all with it and so we called them, after just one week on it and they changed it to morphine. He was taking 2 types of morphine, which FINALLY gave him 'some' relief. When that started giving him issues urinating again they took away the fast acting morphine and put him on Oxycontin. So hes taken Morphine and Oxycontin for the last 2 yrs now. What I like about Matrix is when you tell them, hey this isn't enough anymore, I'm in pain, they take you seriously and up your dose, or change your medications. It sounds to me like you don't have a good pain management Dr and you need one. My husband also takes protonix, amatiza, neurontin, atenelol, percocet (which is just a stronger dose of oxy with Tylenol in it), celexa, cymbalta, grr there's 3 I cant think of just now.... but he takes all of these everyday. Last time we went in, they up'd his morphine another 20mg. Most Dr's wont do that, they dont understand RSD or CRPS at all. Its not the same as just having a pain condition. Your lawyer cant do anything about the medications youre being offered or that you arent. But they should be able to give you a list off Dr's that will accept work comp. I know that Matrix accepts work comp and its here in Saginaw Michigan. My husband has had the blocks. They work decent for him but wear off in a day, 2 days, so they want to do the stimulator implant. They think that is his only option to find some relief. The funny thing for us is, Ohio comp Dr's say, yes he needs this done, hes the perfect patient for it to be done on, lets do it. The Drs we have all say the same. But they dont want to pay for it to be done here in Michigan where we live. They want us to travel to Ohio. Our lawyer we dont feel is doing the best for us but no other lawyer in Ohio will touch our case because "we already have a lawyer who has been working on it for 3 yrs". Oh joy! *sigh* Traveling to Ohio is a MAJOR ordeal for us. One, we dont have the out of pocket money to travel there, pay for gas and food, hotel for a week, and thats just for the trial. Then a month later travel back down there, gas, food, hotel, for at least 2 weeks until he can travel again. Then going back for follow up appointments, and adjustments on the equipment etc, omg they think we have gotten rich off them or something. When we travel in a car over 1 hour at a time, my husbands foot swells up so much and he gets in so much pain all he can do is lay still for a day. A trip to Ohio will be excruciating for him. They have had 2 hearings at w/c to see about them covering cost to have it done here and both times they said "this isnt the right venue for this, you need to try this department". Its a giant run around. So he takes pills every 4 hours, and tries to stay still and not do much. Its killing him, not just physically but its mentally taking a toll on him. The w/c dr they just had him go to, a psychiatrist, said he needs therapy and medications to help him for depression due to this injury. Its so hard watching this take a toll on him.