Hi everyone

I was wondering if anyone had any ideas that might help. For the record the medication I am on is buprenorphine 35mcg patch every 3.5 days, 450mg pregabalin (150mg in morning, 300mg at night), duloxetine 60mg at night and topup buprenorphine 200mcg sublingual tablets as required once a day.

For the last 5 or 6 months my sleep has been getting progressively worse. I am struggling to get to sleep and often don't drift off til just before I'm due to get up. On average I get around 2 hours a night, with 3-4 hours being considered good (and I wake a few times so it is broken). At first I thought it was entirely pain related but it has become clear that it's not. Even on nights where I have been fairly heavily medicated (such as in hospital on IV morphine) I have not made it past half an hour or slightly more of unbroken sleep. I have found myself going to sleep suddenly for a minute or so repeatedly through the day. It is not anxiety related and I have tried relaxation techniques unsuccessfully. I am not sat in bed telking myself it won't happen either.

Also for the last few months, again getting progressively worse and not pain/fear related, I have been losing sexual sensation where it is most needed (sorry). I can only reach orgasm after a long duration and don't feel any pleasure in that particular area at the front, just a bit of soreness afterwards, and the orgasms feel different, tender and not as nice. Desire/drive is all there and it is definitely not psychological other than in how sad I am that the sensation is gone. It ties in timewise not only with my burning spreading to the front pubic area and groin but also with the rise in pregabalin and addition of duloxetine to my meds.

I was wondering if anyone else has had these problems and how they have dealt with it.

Thanks

Kathy
xxx