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Post by asiewert on May 17, 2007 13:00:41 GMT
I have a 'friend' who accompanies me every day and everywhere. His name is "Pain". Sometimes, he just 'whispers' to me, but increasingly more frequently he 'talks' loudly or 'shouts' with aggravating intensity. He makes my biceps, calves and abdominal muscles persistently sore to the touch. And then there are those occasions when 'he' acts as if a sharp knife is being used to cut his way out of my biceps. Charming! I have tried to limit the frequency and severity of his visits by using Vicodin, Fentanyl transdermal patches, Lyrica, Tramadol, Dantrolene, but to no avail. The only thing which seems to help when 'he' is very nasty is to apply HEAT to the most complaining muscle group.
I have taken 'him' to internists, rheumatologists, and neurologists, but they have not been able to address him effectively. We even went to a specialized pain management clinic recently, only to be told that, short of making me a 'zombie', they did not know what to do with my 'friend'.
So, if any of you have a devoted 'friend' as I do, I would appreciate any advice on how you have been able to reduce his influence upon your lives. Thanks.
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Post by georger on Jun 13, 2007 6:50:15 GMT
Years ago I downloaded this from the BrainTalk archives:
"JAYCEE New Member
posted 01-10-2002
MY 42 YEAR OLD SON WAS DIAGNOSED WITH TUBULAR AGGEGATE MYOPATHY 6 MONTHS AGO. MORPHINE DOES NOT SEEM TO HELP WITH PAIN CONTROL DOCTOR HAS SUGGESTED NEURONTIN IS ANYONE USING THIS NEW DRUG? SPECIALIST HAS SAID CONDITION VERY RARE AND NO CURE HE KNOWS OF ONLY ONE OTHER IN QUEENSLAND AUSTRALIA WITH IT. ANY INFORMATION APPRECIATED"
The contact details were not available then and I have never been able to trace "JAYCEE". Anyway it shows that others have been there before you. Wonder what solutions they found? Have you looked at the current pain threads on BrainTalk?
Had a chat to my doctor this week and he said what we all know. If you have a rare disease, no doctor has the time to research the literature, let alone keep up to date with the latest. But doctors will agree to try treatment if you can find research to support it. So it is up to us. Keep looking, keep talking, keep asking, never surrender. Easy to say, I know, hard to do.
Question - is your "friend" a pain thing or an injury thing? In other words is the pain totally unrelated to damage or injury to the muscle (like phantom limb pain) or is it a pain response to injury? Is it exercise related? Does it respond to rest? Have you tried very gentle stretching with the heat?
I always thought mine was a pain thing but now know it to be an injury thing. Muscles that felt like they were on fire were responding to exercise well in excess of their limited capacity to recover. But then I have never had pain anything like as severe as yours. Like yours, no analgesic would touch it and for a long time it seemed that heat (and maybe cold) and rest were the only things. Acupuncture helped for a while and self-hypnosis would deal with the deep aches but not the other.
Cheers
George
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Post by Craig Lane on Jul 16, 2007 10:19:21 GMT
I just received todays contribution to the junk-mail pile and among the "free" gifts and chances of infinite wealth I came across an ad for 'Montmorency cherries'. These are apparently a super natural remedy for muscle pain...... Has anyone tried any natural remedies for controlling pain.. If you want more info regarding these cherries try www.cherryactive.co.uk I don't normally advertise stuff I haven't tried myself and I don't expect they are giving them away but I'm sure we would all be interested if they work. |
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Post by snowrail on Mar 1, 2012 1:30:06 GMT
I have tried EVERYTHING for pain, including many natural remedies. None of the natural remedies have done a damn thing. There are some ethnogens that might have potential. Of course there's marijuana, which for me was effective for the pain but "stoned" me so badly that it was useless. Life isn't worth living if I'm going to be a drugged zombie, and that's how pot makes me feel. Kratom (http://www.erowid.org/plants/kratom/kratom.shtml) looks like it has some potential but I haven't tried it yet and am not sure that I will. I have to discuss it with my doctor first.
To be honest the ONLY medication that has been at all helpful for the pain are strong opiates. The best results I got were from heroin but obviously that's rarely a legal option and probably is not ideal long-term either. For long term opiate use, my pain doctor who overall I trust, swears that methadone is the "big gun" and the best option. That's what I've been on for the past year and change, currently at 150mg/day but frozen there for the past six months due to central apnea (more details in my "introducing myself" post). This is a much lower dose than I need to fully control the pain and I am still in significant constant discomfort. I also get the least side-effects (for me, NONE) with opiates, although I understand not everyone is this lucky. Although I wish I got euphoria, it would be nice to feel "good" for a change.
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Post by snowrail on Mar 1, 2012 1:31:12 GMT
Re: those cherries.
I'd say with 99.99% certainty that they are a scam preying on desperate and vulnerable people. Sadly there seems to be an awful lot of that in the "natural cures" world, probably because most of it is unregulated.
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Post by georger on Mar 11, 2012 0:25:19 GMT
Hi Shannon
Good to hear from you. Everyone's experience of TAM seems to be different. Mine is of more than 15 years of TAM without severe pain. I hear you say, "You lucky bastard", (as we say here in Oz) and you would be right. I get 2 types of pain. The worst is a deep aching that is dealt with by heat, mild pain killers and even hypnosis. The other is the usual muscle soreness, post exercise.
Can you describe your pain? I would be very interested to hear.
PS "Somewhat notorious", congratulations, I am envious. This is something that I have completely failed at.
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Post by georger on Mar 11, 2012 7:26:20 GMT
An email to Al who started this thread has bounced. I hope he's OK.
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Post by Craig Lane on Mar 13, 2012 20:05:00 GMT
I'll send message too.
Welcome back my friend.
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