Connect
← Return to Neuropathy pain in my left foot and lower left legs
Discussion
Neuropathy pain in my left foot and lower left legs
Chronic Pain | Last Active: Oct 16, 2016 | Replies (53)Comment receiving replies
i have been on lyrica, gabapentin, for 4-5 yrs now...it was given to help with stress episodes, panic attacks...the panic attacks have all but stopped, stress episodes have lessened that i can think more clearly now...they told me it would also help with the neuropathy and fibromyalgia...i am on 200mgs, three daily...i have been able to cut one of the midday pills every other day...there are times i need more and times that this dosage is comfortable...i use the pain patches and the tens unit sparingly since i'm allergic to the sticky stuff...i make a choice when to use either of them--break outs that last seemingly forever or a lessening of the pain...i fell from the drom deck of the semi truck, about 4 feet, onto my tailbone and fell on back and hit my upper spine and fell on back flipping my head onto the pavement...i crushed a peripheral nerve that comes off my L-4 or L-5...then on my cervical spine which has not been addressed...i haven't had anything to go with my medicare, so i have been unable to seek further help on my spine...i have ankylosing spondilitis and arthritis in my spine, so they say...my mom and dad both had RA, so i try to keep a watch on all of it...i feel that meds should be given to one, if they need it, stay on it if it helps, go off if it doesn't help...each needs his/her meds to take care of their problems, not to try it out on us if we don't need it...i know medicine is an inexact science and testing is why thy call it 'practicing medicine', but overloading meds on us has negative effects that sometimes can't be fixed...o, my i have probably told you more than you wanted to know...but i cannot live without my lyrica...they tried it once in hospital and i had several nerves go ape____t on me...all the nurses would say was, '...i've heard those were extremely painful...' duh, they hurt like the devil...
Replies to "i have been on lyrica, gabapentin, for 4-5 yrs now...it was given to help with stress..."
Hi @jimhd I agree, pain management is so difficult and individual. With my wife it was a constant balancing act, which needed adjustments, rebalancing, and serious discussions with her medical team over and over.
I wish you strength and comfort along your journey.
Thanks, Scott. After reading through the various posts, I might talk with the pain specialist about combining another neuropathy medication, such as Gabapentin, with the Cymbalta 90mg and the morphine sulfate contin that I no2now take. Just the Cymbalta and Morphine sulfate keep the pain down to 4 on a scale of 1-10 half the time, but it breaks through many days, up to 6 or 7. I'm hoping that it won't come down to getting used to the pain. I've not noticed that Cymbalta has any effect on my depression. We pray every evening that God will through some medium heal the nerves.
Cymbalta should help with your depression . I'm taking Cymbalta and 20 mg of Prozac so I'm doing good. Lyrica could take place of Gabentin but it's very expensive!
I took Lyrica for a couple of weeks, and the side effects put me in the hospital for three days. With Medicare, it's no more expensive than any other med, which surprised me.
Connect
I became incoherent, couldn't put a sentence together when I tried Lyrica, and was in the hospital for 3 days. That was the next to the last medication on the doctor's list of neuropathy meds, so he prescribed Cymbalta, which I've been taking for a few months, along with Morphine sulfate contin. I tapered off morphine, but after 3 weeks without it, I could see that Cymbalta wasn't doing much, so I started back on morphine, just 15mg twice a day. I had been at 30mg three times a day. I hope that 30mg daily will help. So far, it has reduced the pain fairly significantly. I might taper off the Cymbalta, to see if it's actually helping me, with the help of morphine. What a long process it is to find the right combination. I put Lidocaine HCI cream on the painful places at bedtime. It's a numbing medication that helps me be able to sleep. I've tried Capzasin cream, but it doesn't seem to do much.