You're welcome. Off the top of my head, I believe peripheral edema (like the swelling in my foot) is in the top three of adverse events, occurring in about 8% of people. I don't know the dosage for this adverse event occurrence. Mine is at 300 mg/day.

Denise

For you is it worth your pain reduction to keep taking it despite the edema? and you only take 300mg? my doctor told me to not even check in again with her until I am at 1800mg.

No, for me it isn't worth it. I have about ten lbs of extra fluid on my leg right now and I'm not very big. The swelling is *very* uncomfortable. I'm obviously not a good candidate for it, even at the low dose of 300 mg. Everybody is different though. I only take it when I'm way past desperate. I can't take narcotics or NSAIDs either.

oh wow I am so sorry, what can you do or take?

Second question.

Is there anything that can be done when barometric pressure is doing a rollercoaster and sending you into the upper tiers of pain? yesterdays weather sunshine, rain, sleet, sm marble sized hail, and repeat.

36 hours and counting no sleep due to pain lv 9 on a 1-10 . except for an hour long nap yesterday afternoon.

Please don't give up yet on the Gabapentin. It is not at all uncommon for this medication to take 4-6 for your body to adjust to it. If it does end up helping you with the pain control then it would be so worth it!!

Swelling can be caused by many other things. Have you tried soaking in a warm bath with about 2cups of epsom salt? Doing this several times per week can be really beneficial for swelling etc.,

Sure wish there was an easy answer for the Barometric pressure and its affect it has on us. I used to think moving to a warmer and more stable climate would help but, after reading these boards I have come to realize that even with better weather conditions the pain is still to great. Do you keep a journal?

Wishing you a the best possible day!

Sleep happened! some time after I posted 5:14 i found myself face down on my desk around 6:30 am pst went to bed, slept til noon! hooray!!! Exhaustion won out in the end.

2 cups? I have been using 1 but our tub is every shallow unless its so full any movement sloshes water out it doesn't cover the top of my thigh. Tonight I will try the higher salt content and see if it helps.

Yes I keep a Daily journal tracking pain, swelling, stiffness, activities, brief emotional state, and odd notes that how I found out beans cause swelling in me. It was also this last years worth of journal entrees that made it easy for my new doctor to understand and finally diagnose me.

Thank you maybe your well wishes were the ones that finally sent me to dream land by looking at the time stamp it very well could have been.

Sorry, I just saw this. First, so glad you got some sleep. I'm pretty screwed with the pain meds. Even tramadol makes me sick on my stomach. If I get desperate, I take dramamine or use a scopolamine patch and have to have a full stomach and then sometimes I can take tramadol. Narcotics make me violently sick on my stomach no matter what I do. I have severe bleeding and bruising problems with NSAIDs now after long term steroid use for autoimmune diseases. Otherwise there's nothing I can take but tylenol which is not much.

The fellow at the pain med docs told me there were some newer generation meds similar to gabapentin for neuropathic pain that didn't have some of the side effects like the peripheral edema I get but they didn't want to give me anything until I'd had several sympathetic nerve blocks so they could see how they did. I had complications with pulse and BP on the very first nerve block and can't have more so that plan is dead in the water now and still no pain meds.

FWIW, I've found Delsym, a cough medicine which is dextromethorphan, at OTC dose does a pretty good job helping with some of my symptoms, both the local (pain and swelling) and systemic (unsteadiness, pulse and BP fluctuations, etc.) ones. It's an NMDA receptor antagonist like ketamine but much, much weaker. But it does help with sympathetic nerve pain and the other problems associated with it. It keeps me awake though. I still use it every day and take a OTC dose Benadryl at night to help me sleep.

I've also been using pharmaceutical grade DMSO diluted to 50% as a topical on my entire right leg for pain, inflammation and swelling. It's irritating to my skin so I usually only manage to use it once a day instead of three times but it helps. Some gets in your system so it may help with systemic problems as well. You just need to be careful that your skin is clean because it carries other things in with it.

Epsom salts in the bath do seem to help. I feel tingling (a good kind) in the affected areas when I soak in it that I don't feel when it's not in the bath water.

Hope this helps. Hang in there and good luck.

Denise

You to, I hope those blocks work for you, I can't imagine not being able to take my meds on days that i have run out or missed a dose oh boy i know it.

No, can't have any more blocks either BP and pulse too unstable.