Hi Hairdresser,

if you do go swimming make sure you are in a warm to hot pool. some cities have them for disabled community members like for arthritis or something......these pools help to relax the muscles and so no shivering!!! Plus it relaxes you....just take it easy.....I still think a muscle relaxant would be a good add to your meds.....but this is of course just my opinion. I'm sorry you couldn't tolerate the other meds....for sure the neruontin dulls the mind....I am on 3200mg a day almost max daily dose....so I know I forget words loose ideas forget what I was talking about..etc.

I hope you can find a way to try some other med that does not cause you any bad side effects......you can try topical zostrix cream. Have you heard of that???/ It helps to decrease your pain by blocking pain signals. It is made from hot peppers and you must not shower before or right after applying it will burn like hell!!!!!!!!! This may be an alternative to you. there is also topical diclofenic muscle relaxant that you could try too. It works well for arthritis sufferers.

take care!!!!
love and hugs,
Victoria

Thanks Gibbrn for all the great suggestions especially the topical agent. Today is Monday, I am making a Doctor's appointment or going to emerg. what an awful weekend. I think I took a gallbladder attack Saturday, the pain was extreme. I haven't been able to eat much since,just drinking water and eating tums and taking tyleol about every 4 hours. Hubby has been working 10 hr shifts since Saturday, he wanted to take me to emerg. when he got home but I said I would go myself, I didn't. I still have bad memories of taking Dad there... Honestly, I got dressed and showered thinking I would phone 911 but then when I took tyleol the pain was berable. I threw up so much that it has caused a major flareup of my neck symptoms(major headache). Oh, course my2 day fce is booked for Monday and Tuesday of next week about an hour and half drive away which wc is paying for one night. I can't cancel, my cm put it on hold when my Dad passed away in July. Gosh, my health seems to just get worse. So today I am hungry, sore, burning(neck ,left arm, shoulder's) and tired, scared and just a f@@@^^mess. Thanks for letting me wine, and please no cheese to go with the whine!!! Ha.

Hi hairdresser,

I hope things get better for you!! Sounds like you need a nurse to help you out or a care person at home to help you. I hope you get the help you need at your doctors the ER is such a poor place to get tos help but good for gallbladder help. They understand internal medicine but give them a painful chronic syndrome and they somehow shutdown!!

take it easy and hope you feel better soon....saying prayers for you
love and hugs,
Victoria

Hi All,

I find for a flare up Lyrica combined with vallium is the best for me. It makes me somewhat sleepy but I can function o.k. I havnt had any noticable side affects with Lyrica. Vallium is the true godsend for my C 5/6/7 issues.

Hope you are all well today!

Ozzy

interesting hairdresser that you find it helps if you take tramadol w/tylenol. I didn't find Tramadol to be nearly as effective as Ultracet. Ultracet is simply a combination of tramadol w/tylenol. the disadvantage is that you can't choose your own desired amounts. But I find ultracet combo to be effective for me. I use it in addition to Lyrica and a few others. btw-Ultracet is available in generic now.

Canadian name for ultracet is tramacet.

love and hugs,
Victoria

Hi Fern; Actually my Doctor prescribed the tramacet first, but because of chronic pain and the ups and downs with immediate release we decided it would be better to have the slow release tramadol, as it would stay in my system around the clock.I am using tylenol along with it for added pain relief(like Victoria said tramadol and tylenol are combined to make the ultrcet) in 1 pill. Thanks to all for your responses.

Just to clarify............tramadol is a narcotic, it's just a synthetic opiod instead of a naturally occuring one.

Hi finz, nice job. You can always be counted on to part the fog and shine some light on the heart of the matter.

I took lyrica and neurontin too - plus a whole slew of other meds. Either they didn't work or stopped working.

Tramadol isn't really strong, but is helping for some pain. I'm taking between 100-200 mgs per day.

And like Gibbrn said, if I have more pain than that, usually a muscle relaxer helps more than a tylenol or something similar.

I use methocarbamol during the day and zanaflex at night as needed.

ESIs and facet joint injections helped a LOT with the weakness/loss of function in my arms due to C spine issues. And I could use much stronger pain meds. Thing is, the better the pain is under control, the more I tend to do and the more I tend to wear my neck out. So in my case it's for the best if I can feel it before I really mess myself up.

As long as it's not so bad I can't sleep, it's okay.

But I worry for you as you are losing function.