I do not fully understand why I am taking these two medications.

I know that it is supposed to "manage the pain" according to my neuro, but what does that mean? Does that mean I will always be on these meds? Does that mean that if I stop taking them, the pain will get worse? Are these meds truly "blocking" the pain?

Sorry to be so naive, but my neuro was very vague in his explanation.

Thank you so much for your responses.

I wish I could give you an answer, but I couldn't take either of these meds. The Neurotten as I called it, caused me to walk around a corner and fall flat on my face, and a lot of memory loss, for example, I could walk in a room and stand there starring into space, like what on earth am I in here for?

I hated them both.

Good Luck

Debbie

Memory loss and walking into a room and forget what you are after. That's old age girl. LOL Falling flat on your face, that might be too much to drink. LOL

I have walked into rooms here lately and had no ideal what I was went in there after. I have to go back to the room I started in and think on it awhile.

I couldn't do either one but that's nothing new for me. A lot of people here have gotten good results from the neurotten.

Kitty, there will be some come on soon with some good info on the meds and how they help.

Ada

I'm on both these med's (along with others)

Neurontin is to help your pain, but you must increase slowly to avoid the side effects. 300 mg a day for three days then 600 mg for three and so on, did your dr say this to you? Find the dosage that helps you within the max dose!
For me the sideeffect was to much at the highest dose(3600), 1800 to 2400 is max, for me, we are all different. According my Dr ; 900 a day is the lowest for effect on pain. Give it several weeks before you deside if it helps or not.

Amitryptelin is for pain and sleep at night, makes you sleepy so take this an hour before sleep. I take only 10-20 mg of these, to avoid a hangover the next day.

Doctors love to be vague so they don't have to accept any liability. I've been on amitriptyline for 15 years only for sleep problems. Without it I won't sleep. I've also been in constant pain for that same amount of time and no medication on earth works for the pain. I didn't even know they used it that way. I've had many conditions over the years RSD being the most recent 2 1/2 years now. Every person's body responses in different ways.

When I was first on Neurontin, many many years ago, the doctor started me at a very low dose even though my pain was SEVERE. He said that a lower dose would work and a higher dose wouldn't. I thought he was nuts! I never went back to him again. All he did was push half a dozen pills on me. He was CuCu for CoCo Puffs!

I hope u find relief!
Take care
Heather

Laffs Ada,

I'm not that old yet, only 37....and I think I was like 30 when I was on neurotten....laffs...so at 30 I doubt it was old age...hehehe...but once I stopped the med, I was fine, no more issues...I've tried so many meds, that I couldn't even begin to tell you the names of them girl. It's unreal. I do know I can't take Kadian, that one, I took one pill and landed myself in the ER with an extreme reaction to. Another was Mexiltine....something like that...couldn't take that either, made my left side feel numb all the time...I took the methadone for about 2 yrs the first time, then went to duragesic patches, then back the the methadone after about a yr....and was on that about 2 more yrs...then stopped that and I'm back on duragesic....I've always had the ambien, for as long as I can recall....best med they ever gave me...as I'm a night owl...and could never go to bed...hehe..now I can

Hugs
Debbie

(in response to the original post about why you are taking those particular medications)

I don't take Anitrip. that you mentioned, but I know it's a generic name for the medication Elavil. It's also what is called a tricyclic-antidepressent. Sounds confusing I know, but, essentially, it does this: 1. it's a sleep aid (that comes in very hand with RSD) 2. it's an anti-depressant, so it boosts the uptake of serotonin in your brain (the "feel good" hormone) to better stabilize moods as a whole 3. it also works to decrease the amount of anxiety you have on a daily basis. It also, actually, helps with really bad headaches, like migraines as well.

As for Neurontin, I am familiar that one. I have been taking it at 1500mg since the beginning of last October. Not only is it used to treat chronic nerve pain and conditions, as it was explained to me, additionally, it works to skew your brain's perception of how much pain it is in. Neurontin, of course, alone, isn;t the answer, or the only part of treatment/the miracle drug. But, it has helped in ways I didn;t know. I stopped taking it for three days because I just felt it was ineffective, but, i can tell ya, i noticed an increase in pain over those three days. So, needless to say, I don;t mess around with it anymore...it does more than I can logical know it does or explain to you. It takes about a months to fully build up in your system, but you will notice improvement more drastically than that. But, FYI, it FULLY leaves your system altogether in 6.5 days, so, don't let that happen...

..hope this helps..


SAra