morphine sodium 15 mg

Jim,
Did you try the typical lyrica, neurotnin combination. You can take up to 3600mg of neurotnin. With Hope said more is acceptable. How about any of the anti depressants people are mentioning lately? I think savella and maybe elavil, or the usual cymbalta? How about tegretol? I agree with you about the morphine!!

I think good old fashioned Elavil might be worth trying. Works surprising well for nerve pain and helps tremendously with sleep.
Laurel

Jim, I sure do sympathize with you and the pain. I have had terrible pain and can get no relief except for Vicodin, but then my neuro does not want me taking it all the time. I did try Cymbalta in the past and it worked quickly and was wonderful, unfortunately I had bad side effects from it. I would get excessive sweating (terrible), very dry mouth, and constipated. I tried a lower dose and it helped with the pain, but not as good as the higher dose (30 mg), but the side effects were a little milder. I ended up quiting it because of the sweating. I have tried neurontin, Lyrica (can’t take), elavil (wanted to sleep all the time and did not reduce the pain), and other anti-depressants. Vicodin is the only drug that killed the pain. I have started back on low dose Cymbalta and will have to put up with the side effects, I am so tired of the pain and not getting a good night sleep. I pray you find something that will work for you. They say stress is bad for this condition, but how can you not have stress when you are in constant pain and can’t sleep.

Clare in Michigan

How about low dose naltrexone? Ms’rs are using it, it helps to keep them relapse free, I wonder if it would help with pain. It is a relatively benign medicine. I asked our doc about it for Kev, he agreed it was benign but has only given it to his peds ms’rs. I am going to try to dig for info since Kev is in a relapse. If I find anything I will let you know.

[FONT=”Microsoft Sans Serif”][B][I]dilaudid[/I][/B] is amazing– super strong, very effective. and, since your not the “addict” type, your doc may be willing to give it a shot. i took it when i was hospitalized and– wow– it was like an eraser for pain, just took it away, even pain i didn’t realize i had–lol.

i recognize that it’s quite addictive– but if your careful, it might be a viable option…

in any case, best of luck– living with pain is rough…[/FONT]

then they switched me to morpheine for a different med issue…I was in the ER…. The morpheine did cut about 10% of a heap of pain off the top? But the rest was still THERE.
I’ve never had a med that made me pain free other than one anathestic that kept me free of pain for about 24 hours after a biopsy test. [It was delicious]
Most things/drugs that leave us pain-free have dangers attached to them for the long term. There must be a reason?
So, learn to accept and cope and just work harder to get the best diagnoses and treatments possible to get by. However? That doesn’t mean, just stepping back and letting the pain walk all over you! Some things can help one person that do nothing for another… Keep asking your docs questions and I’m hoping for you!

Hey Jim,

I can share your experience with the pain and am so sorry you feel the way you do, your right it is so miserable living with chronic pain,
I finally got to the point of asking for something stronger since I too
could not sleep at night. Right now I just started taking 15 mg. of
morphine about an hour before I go to sleep along with trazadone,
during the day I take 1-2 vicodin with cymbalta, wellbutrin and concerta. I battled with myself for a year not to take anything addictive too but I just couldn’t handle the pain anymore, I was
waking up at night screaming or crying and not getting enough sleep.
So far the pain is soooo much better. I’m not proud of all the meds
I’m on (they seem to be increasing) but I am managing to get through the day and sleep through the night again. No one should
have to suffer. I keep you in my prayers,

My doc has me taking nortriptyline for pain at night and to help me sleep.

I think it is used as an anti depressent but I don’t care as long as it takes away pain and help me sleep.

Yes I still do have nights that I am in pain but it does help quite a lot!

Rhonda from Canada

[FONT=”Microsoft Sans Serif”]i hate to hear about all this pain… i am so sorry for this.[/FONT]

I find it sad that so many people have been scared away from proper pain management by the news media. Like everything else, we never read stories of people whose lives have been SAVED by the use of pain medications; the ones who are still able to work, still able to interact with their families, still able to lead a somewhat normal, productive life. All we hear about are the horror stories. And, like everything else, the percentage of people that truly become addicted to pain medication are a very small percentage of the millions and millions of people around the country who take them.

Opiates have been proven safe and effective when prescribed properly and monitored closely. Sadly, too many doctors prescribe them wildly, for the wrong reasons. I went to church with a 17 year old girl who had her wisdom teeth taken out…her oral surgeon prescribed her a bottle of THIRTY Oxycontin. HE should be in jail, in my opinion. But studies have shown that people that are truly in chronic pain, and are monitored, rarely become “addicted”. Now, as someone who has taken opioids for several years, I’ll say this: like any other “maintenance” drug, you will probably become “dependent” on them. “Dependent” and “Addicted” are NOT the same thing. Dependent is what you get when you take a blood pressure med…if you stop, your BP goes up, because your system has become dependent on that drug to help it control your BP. Same with pain medication; when you stop, you WILL have some increased pain and other symptoms; NOT (usually) because you’re “addicted”, but because your body has become dependent on that medication to help control your pain. Your body will adjust within three days, typically.

This is all too long, I know. But you need to find a pain management clinic that will help you with your pain. You DON’T have to live in pain, OR in fear! There are plenty of great options out there.

As a side note: Opiates/Opioids, whatever you want to call them, aren’t great at controlling nerve pain. They’ll help with the muscle pain from cramping, tension, etc., and other pains, but true “Nerve” pain is hard to control with them. The tricyclic anti-depressants that others have suggested (Nortriptyline, Amitriptyline, etc.) are supposed to be good at controlling nerve pain, help with depression, and also are sedating, so they’d help you sleep. But, I’m not a doctor.

I look at it this way: the media scares us all, ALL THE TIME, for no good reason, other than profit. Everyone is scared of PitBulls, but they’re really no worse than most other dogs. But we’ve seen all these news reports about them, so everyone thinks they’re the devil’s personal dog! ChowChow’s are the most dangerous dog out there…ask any vet…yet we never hear about them. The number one dog to cause bites in the US…the Cocker Spaniel. Not because they’re a “bad” dog, but because there’s 100 times more of them out there than any other dog. So don’t let the media scare you into believing that you have to live the rest of your life in pain. It’s not true. Just find a good, professional Pain Management clinic, and live your life.

(A former 81172 AFSC, btw) 😉

Elmo

I was going to suggest trazadone but I see our already taking them. Ryan just started on trazadone and it is helping way more than the cymbalta or other pain meds he was taking. it doesnt take the pain completely away but enough to sleep at night.

Jim,

I take morphine for pain relief as well. There is a short “break in” time, but it should only be a couple of days. Some things I have found out…

1. Morphine does NOT work on nerve pains. The shooters, twangers, burners, stingers, tinglies, whatever other kinds you have, it won’t work on them.

2. Morphine will work on “skeletal” pains. Joint pains, muscle pains, tendonitis, all other knids of aches and hurts, etc.

3. Find the right dosage.

I take topomax for the neuropathic pains, and the morphine to keep me moving through everything else. I will sometimes take ibuprophen to reduce inflammation after a bad day. I have percoset for breakthrough pain (but I try not to take it, take to many and they don’t work as well)

I don’t know which kind of pain you are trying to get rid of. It sounds like you are getting relief from the nerve stuff, but the body stuff is getting you. If that is the case, the morphine will work, just get the right dose.

I’ll come back and see if you are still checking the thread