radicular pain what is it? ridiculous

    • Anonymous
      October 16, 2009 at 11:34 am

      I am just going to call it the pinnochio effect because it feels like my strings are being pulled too tight. what is it and why is it happening. right now I have no other symptoms except this pain. like siatica all over my body. I just humor myself and say its my nerves healing but really I know its inflamation.

      btw I am taking neurontin only 300 per day (100 3x) so my doctor uped it to 600mg (200 3x). I had the worst side effect with tremors. my eyes, my body and even tongue had tremors. so I put it back down to 300 but now the nerve pain is so bad. I am also taking percocet 10 and ultram. what are some drugs you take for this type of pain.

    • Anonymous
      October 16, 2009 at 12:01 pm

      A radiculopathy is basically a “radiating” pain, caused by irritation of the nerve root. I have a severe radiculopathy that travels from my C6-C7 area, through my shoulders and into my arms and hands. It can be excruciating.

      I use neurontin, which doesn’t seem to do a whole lot, Percocet 10’s 6x a day, Ibuprofen, and Ice. Rest is also helpful; identifying which nerve root/s are involved helps, because you then have an idea what actions aggravate the situation.

      Other things I’ve tried include branch blocks and radio-frequency lesioning, which is basically a “root canal” on your spine.

      Unfortunately, my experience has been that doctors say, “you have a radiculopathy”, and then write it off as “no big deal”. Another “something you have to learn to live with”, unless there’s a disc they can remove to remove the source of pressure. In my case, discectomy didn’t get rid of the pain completely. If it’s in your lumbar region, there’s only a 50% success rate with discectomies/fusions.

    • Anonymous
      October 16, 2009 at 1:08 pm

      hmm so your saying it is of CNS origin. is that why my neck hurts too? me thinks that my MRI results in june may be obsolete if that is the case. I had a script of prednisone on stand by so I went back on today and it took the pain away. I feel so much better. it was a struggle but I now think that prednisone is the lesser of two evils. the perscription instructions were to take 4-20mg pills through out my day everyday.

      does 80 mg sound a little high for maintainence?

      does anyone know how the pulse dosing works?

    • October 16, 2009 at 5:49 pm

      besides prednisone, some have great benefits w/ivig an iv solumedrol as a combination treatment. Something else, I knoe this sounds silly and obvious for lack of a better word, but sometimes when Kevies ankles and back are bad, he takes two aleve, it seems to take the edge off? Other days, it does nothing.
      DAwn

    • Anonymous
      October 16, 2009 at 7:05 pm

      Hi Tara,
      I don’t know if you have tried Lidoderm Lidocaine Patchs 5%? They really help me. You can use 2 patches daily. I cut them in half so I have 4 patches and place directly on the areas where I have the most pain. I always put one on the back of my neck. It seems to help with headaches. I use one on my lower back, in the center. The other 2, I rotate between areas that happen to hurt each day. I just came back with a refill of them. I have been using them for years. They really work. I also take Tramadol/Ultram each day. When all else fails me, I turn to Vicodin.

      Good luck Tara. You will be in my thoughts.
      Sandila :p