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Northernelf

Active member
Joined
Mar 16, 2015
Messages
50
Reason
DX FIBRO
Diagnosis
03/2015
Country
CA
State
British Columbia
I am currently on ampitryptiline for pain and sleep - helps me get back to sleep when I do wake up and seems to quiet those tingling sensations.

Like many of us I do not want to medicate because of nasty side effects...but I am looking for some help with pain. I am seeing my GP on Wednesday...and he is quite clueless. We are taking a family trip in a couple of weeks and it requires quite a bit of driving - and driving through two mountain passes. Elevation changes kill me - like weather changes - it feels like my hands & wrists are being crushed, my knees burn and hurt - it's hard to recover. Sure wish we could just teleport !

Anyway - I have been reading. Can Tramadol be taken just for pain (not as an ongoing med) ? I have read there has been some success with low dose Naltrexone (with minimal side effects) ??

Any ideas ????
 
I take flexeril (cyclobenzaprine) daily to keep the pain down. I am lucky - I don't experience much in the way of side effects from it (it ddoesn't even make me sleepy)

I asked my doctor if there was something I could take on an as-needed basis for extra bad pain days. She gave me tramadol, but warned me it is habit forming. I use it very sparingly - only 3 occasions in the last 5 months. It doesn't completely stop the pain but it does help
 
I took tramadol for the better part of two years and I never had any real relief with it, just a slight alleviation of the pain and the itching that can be a side effect.
One thing that changed my life and has brought me immense relief, is marijuana. I understand that it is quite controversial, but for the last year I have been regularly using marijuana and even on the days that I don't use it, after regular use, I have no pain. I have spent the last three weeks not using it at all, and after about two weeks the pain started to return, and now in the third week, the pain is back at the levels it was at before I ever started using marijuana. If you are in a place that it is legal medicinally, I highly suggest that you try eating it, which can give you pain relief without the mental high that smoking can give. When using marijuana, I have no trouble falling asleep or staying asleep. I even recently got a puppy, and despite the new high levels of activity, have not had an increase in pain.
The one downside is that it makes the forgetfulness and foggy mind a lot worse, but to not be in pain at all? I think it's worth forgetting where I put my glasses.
I really hope this helps, like I said, it changed my life. I even got to a point that I would forget that I ever had pain.
 
wow pennynbolt thats amazing..not legal in the UK at all though.

Was your pain quite bad before??...mine has got more and more debilitating from manageable for many years and no normal drugs help.
 
I saw my GP and he gave me Tylenol 3s and Prednisone. I wanted something I could take as needed.

I have been on Prednisone twice before and it helped but I am scared of the stuff (tapering off - side effects). Anyway, he said I could take it for a couple of days and not have to taper off. We drive through those mountain passes next weekend so I will take it the day before & the day of the trip...and have the Tylenol 3s handy. If it works, I will do it again two weeks later on our way back. A 10 hour drive is brutal...add elevation change....ugh.
 
Good luck and Enjoy your trip!
 
I no longer take long trips because I end up in bed for a couple of days after, so for shorter trips, it's just not worth it for me. One thing that does sometimes help me is Tension Headache medicine from the Dollar Tree. It's only a dollar, so is worth trying out. I noticed before that I would take a brand name Tension Headache medicine and it would help me, so I decided to try this out, and it does take the edge off, when nothing else seems to. I have to take it in conjunction with other things to get the most relief, and I'm not sure it relates entirely to my Fibromyalgia, but maybe it will help you. It seems to function somewhat as an anti-inflammatory, which gives me the most relief these days, and since you sound as if the lengthy periods of tension and physical inactivity affect you the same way they do me, perhaps it will help some. It's Assured brand Tension Headache Relief. Although it has the same ingredients as my OTC generic Tylenol Arthritis, it seems to function a little differently, since I take that on a regular basis.
 
Yeah, it's a sad reality I can relate to. I mean, what's the point in taking long trips if we need to spend some days in bed. Better to take shorter trips and enjoy life as we can.
 
First of all, the prednisone didn't do a damn thing. I had my worst trip ever coming down through the pass. So much pain I could not believe it - the kind of pain where you just can't stand it BUT you have to because there you are. I am dreading the drive home next week.

When I was on prednisone before I was on for a longer course, not just two days, maybe that's the difference?

About 7 hours into the 11 hour drive I took a Tylenol 3....an hour later I took another one. They took the edge of a bit. When we go home I think I'm just gonna be on T3s the whole trip...which probably means I can't drive...but that ok I guess. Ugh.

This is incredibly frustrating....maybe I'm just extra grumpy today because it is raining and I am in enough pain that somebody oughta carry me around ! Moving does help but I dont' wanna.

Ok, rant over...for now.
 
I'm sorry to hear it didn't work.
 
I took Tramadol and it never did any good for me. It actually made me VERY sick, and when I read some of the side effects of it I saw why. It's not something that I would recommend for anyone.

What always helped me out the most was a mix of Ibuprofen along with a strong hydrocodone pain killer.
 
My daughter uses Natural Calm to help with pain. It's a hot clear drink in different flavors (we use original, unsweetened very lemony citric), that fizzes, and provides 4 mg of magnesium. It's not a miracle cure, but she says it that helps at the end of a tough day.

LDN did not help with my daughter's symptoms very much, and it caused sleeplessness. Also, I read a case report of a patient who had been on it for an extended period of time. The patient had a severe injury and arrived at the ER, where they discovered he had opioid resistance, apparently from the long term use of LDN. Since it didn't do much for us, and, in consideration of the risks of opioid resistance, we decided not to continue using it.

Also, my daughter has found that eliminating gluten from her diet helps to reduce her pain.

I hope you find something that works!
 
I've used something like the Natural Calm mentioned by @gryfalcon in the past. I don't have any now, so I'm not certain it's that exactly, but if not, it's something that functions similarly, and it has helped me.

If I were going on a lengthy road trip, I would get steroid injections ahead of time. I haven't had them in several years, but they do help, and make like more manageable for 6 months to even up to a year. I have to schedule down time around the injections, though, because I seem to get 'roid rage from them, and don't even like being around myself for a few days afterwards. Sorry the trip was difficult. Hopefully you can find a better solution for your next trip.
 
I have escaped from chronic pain largely through what might come across as impractical, the power of belief. Since I became a spiritual Christian, the need for medications has drastically decreased. I think it also plays a role in focusing less on yourself and more on your spirit and a willingness to empathise with others. When the arrows of pain strike, prayer is my unrivalled alibi. Walking also helps alot as it releases endorphins into your bloodstream which ameliorate pain.
 
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