Is there an RX ( can’t be an NSAID) that will not make a person loopy?

Thank you Danny.

@patdeputch, remember. if you had Tramadol. and you can't remember if it helped or not. it might help your husband. depending on the dosage he is given. no 2 people are going to be affected the same. it might work and it might not. dosage is the main factor. ok?? danny5 edit;
i just Googled it. i forgot i had used this back in the late 90s for shingles. it worked great. it didn't make me loopy. except once. i was working and i lost track of when i took it. and ended up double dosing. very light sense of being loopy. which didn't affect work. but i admit that the pain was gone for that period of time. so with all that said. i'd use Tramadol again. just make sure you don't double dose it. alright??

@patdeptuch

I have taken Tramadol before too. It did not help me with my pain. My husband said I was depressed. Dr agreed and I stopped the drug. For some it is a miracle drug .. for others it does nothing. It is trial and error .. always hoping for the better outcome.

ZeeGee

I have taken the 25 and the 50 mg Tramadol and have not felt loopy. However, everyone responds differently to medication of any kind. The doctor can prescribe a few tablets for him to try and it won't cost you an arm and a leg. If that does not work, move on to another until you find one that ill work. God bless you on this adventure. Charles aka brotherchuckles80

I've tried a ton of meds. Some helped.

What I've learned is that, yes, a medication can make a person cognitively impaired (loopy). Often it takes some time for a body to adjust to it, and after a few days or weeks, see how it feels.

I take Dilaudid for pain that jumps above my tolerance level, and I don't have any problems with it. As someone else said, it makes sense to start with the lowest dose and increase it until it starts giving pain relief.

Everyone is unique. A good PCP and/or a pain specialist can be a big help.

Jim

I am not using this product, nor is my spouse, but I do read up on it: low dose naltrexone
we are talking ultra low doses of a generic compound, not the Naltrexone doses for OD or the levels used for alcoholics
it works miracles in some, and not at all in others
you may have to find a compounding pharmacy and of course, a physician willing to listen and learn
https://ldnresearchtrust.org/
My spouse has progressive degenerative disc disease plus the plasma/bone marrow syndrome of IgM MGUS with worsening peripheral neuropathy in feet and legs
His dose of percocet was 20mg per day the past 12 yrs, pain management doc dropped to 10, which has been unbearable and is back at 15 --still in chronic pain, with chronic insomnia.
also on 20 mg of valium per day x 12 yrs; recently upped to 30; no perceptable improvement

trying to get a full neuropsych eval to see if there are other mechanisms (he's done all the PT, acupuncture, injections --which make everything worse for 48- 72 hours or longer, etc) had 2 surgeries in cervical vertebrae, and is facing more damage now in thoracic vertebrae and bone spurs recurring that impinge on esophagus and trachea

I suspect much of his cycle of pain is uninterrupted and if he would attempt yoga, biofeedback, meditation it might help, it might do nothing, but it would not hurt

he isn't amenable to that "touchy feely" stuff and it makes life a struggle
we used to live near and use a major medical center/research institution for medical care
then he wanted to retire to a country/rural setting and thought life would be simpler
it is simply more challenging, no great medical specialists in the region, an hour in the car to a dr appointment is torture (in his mind) and rural medicine on the whole is an underfunded and ignored need/specialty of its own in the US
also, he has limited options for primary care and I am unimpressed with their intellectual curiosity to see and manage a complex patient
at 66 his mindset is that his life is over

he is sedentary, his diet is poor in nutritional quality (I prepare healthy meals, he ignores fruits and vegetables) and drinks diet soda all day/night long
I think his numbers suggest he's pre-diabetic (I was a lab scientist on the research side) and not one dr has followed up
his heme-onc has NPs see him for follow-up and they seem to lack a depth of knowledge and he gets frustrated, angry and doesn't listen well
so I try to go to all his appointments, and take notes and follow up through patient portal when the inevitable Q arise that he did not ask in the appointment

Does he have a pain management specialist. If so, has he/she recommended spinal cord stimulator. I had mine inserted at age 77 and I am now 80. It has given me total relief in my Lumbar. I still receive injections in my Thorax and Cervix from time to time. Just a though. Go bless you folks. Charles aka brotherchuckles80

his current pain management dr is an anesthesiologist by training
we're in Tennessee so I am uncertain what if any additional training they have; in our Army days we had board certified pain management docs, and that's a rare breed
no one has recommended a trial of the spinal cord stimulator; all his issues are from C3-T2
no lumber problems (yet)
injections have caused him to have terribly worse pain and massive days long headaches even with guided fluoroscopy (if I remember correctly)

I am sorry for you. A spinal cord stimulator, as far as I know, can be placed any where along the Thorax. Where is his pain or what areas does he experience pain. I pray the best for him. Charles

From base of skull down to between his shoulders. Also has growing bone spurs, all through c6-T2 & at c3-c4 impinging on esophagus & trachea. I don't think a stimulator achieves anything for those but I may need to research further.