Re: Lidocaine patches, the same old speech about pain meds

[Guest guest]

I have tried the lidocaine patches and they annoy my skin so much I can't use

them. Not that I am allergic, they just bother my skin. And, they do not help

the deep pain I feel in my spine either.

elis ward wrote: <snipped>

My new pain doctor gave me lidocaine patches since I have a neuropathic pain

with skin sensitivity. They can only be worn for 12 hours at a time.

[Guest guest]

I have tried the lidocaine patches and they annoy my skin so much I can't use

them. Not that I am allergic, they just bother my skin. And, they do not help

the deep pain I feel in my spine either.

elis ward wrote: <snipped>

My new pain doctor gave me lidocaine patches since I have a neuropathic pain

with skin sensitivity. They can only be worn for 12 hours at a time.

[Guest guest]

Dear Ellis,

Area of country or world? Apologies if I missed this. MF.

Elis wrote:

>

> Is there any clinic anywhere that anyone knows of that is doing research or

> new treatments for neuropathic pain? This doctor thinks my pain might be

> post herpatic neuralgia.

[Guest guest]

My doctor suggested that I use cortisone cream on my previous unused spots

for the patch until I have to rotate back around to that spot again to help

toughen the skin up. This has been a great deal of help for my using the

Duragesic patches. Maybe it will help you too. The cortisone is available

over the counter.

The trouble with making plans for the future, even when you can see the

future, is that fate has a way of intervening and upsetting the best laid

plans of mice and men.

- Burns 1785

elis ward wrote: <snipped>

My new pain doctor gave me lidocaine patches since I have a neuropathic pain

with skin sensitivity. They can only be worn for 12 hours at a time.

[Guest guest]

My doctor suggested that I use cortisone cream on my previous unused spots

for the patch until I have to rotate back around to that spot again to help

toughen the skin up. This has been a great deal of help for my using the

Duragesic patches. Maybe it will help you too. The cortisone is available

over the counter.

The trouble with making plans for the future, even when you can see the

future, is that fate has a way of intervening and upsetting the best laid

plans of mice and men.

- Burns 1785

elis ward wrote: <snipped>

My new pain doctor gave me lidocaine patches since I have a neuropathic pain

with skin sensitivity. They can only be worn for 12 hours at a time.

[Guest guest]

Elis,

I too have gotten this speech, and I don't know about all the different types of

pain you suffer from, but as I pointed out to the doctor who gave me " the

speech " , I have much more than just neuropathic pain. The neuropathic pain has

cause me to have atrophy in my feet, ankles and legs which has a brand of pain

all of its own.

I also get severe muscle cramps and spasms that are so debilitating that I had

to give up driving because I lose all control of the part of my lower extremity

that is going through a spasm and it is very, very painful and has lasted hours

at times. You just can't seem to drive well with your toes frozen in a splayed

position while your whole foot is turned inward sideways and you can't move it

because the pain is so bad your on the verge of passing out. I know, it

happened to me. I don't dare drive anymore.

I tend to walk " funny " because my gait is unstable, I walk with my head looking

down because I cannot wear regular shoes and walking on even something the size

of a popcorn kernel or smaller causes severe pain. Heck, even cracks in the

pavement hurt when its at its worse.

At times I have a feeling of walking with marbles inside the soles of my feet

and put off even going to the bathroom as long as I can to avoid the pain. I

dare anyone to put 4 or 5, or even 2 or 3 marbles inside their shoes and try to

walk.

I have noticed that people 20 or 30 years older than me, on walkers and with

canes could beat me in a race in a heartbeat because I just cannot move my legs

well any more.

The point being that I have much more pain than just neuropathic pain, most of

it severe in nature, most likely stemming from my neuropathy and it all adds up,

even walking funny because I have such a unnatural posture when walking and

trying not to step on a crack or a pebble that I notice I have now begun to have

neck pain. On the flip side though, I have found lots of interesting things on

the ground that way.

Before I started having chronic pain I had a very high tolerance to pain, but

with year after year of pain, I am not as tolerant, and when the multitude of

pains attack me in groups, it adds up to a great deal of mind bending pain

without something to take the edge off and give me some kind of relief. If I

miss a dose even by a few hours, I am nothing but a puddle of pain crying and

huddled up in bed or on my couch.

If I didn't have something to take the edge off, even a little, I know, without

a doubt I could not live with that type of pain. I live not only in pain, but

in great fear that my meds might be taken away from me. Its probably the most

driving reason for me being part of this group. That someone here may lead me

to a solution so I don't have to live in fear and pain. I would give up my meds

in a heart beat if I didn't need them.

The doctor who gave me the " speech " was actually the first person to recognize

the severity of my pain, and realized without my saying so that it was so bad

that as he put it " if I were in the kind of pain you are in, I would be on the

edge of suicide, even if you won't say it out loud to me, I do understand " .

After my " speech " back to him, even he had a dawning of new light in his eyes

when he came to realize that its not as simple as he thought and I never had

another word of argument about pain meds not helping neuropathic pain from him.

Unfortunately, he did not feel comfortable prescribing level 2 narcotics.

So the next time you get the " speech " , you might want to think about whether all

you have is neuropathic pain and make sure to give a little " speech " back. It

may not always help, but it might be food for thought.

From: " elis ward "

Subject: Lidocaine patches, the same old speech about pain meds

I also was given the well known speech about pain meds. not helping

neuropathic pain. Of course I said it is the only thing that does help and

my doctor said but look how high a dose you have to take. You take more

than someone would in ICU. I asked what was her point and she said her

point was that I had to take so much to get relief, that I had become

tolerant. I responded that wasn't exactly true since I had gone down to

Duragesic 100 from 150 and maintained myself on that dosage for the past

three years. She then said but you also take the break through medicine. I

said I don't like being on pain meds but I like being in pain less. She

said she was going to study my records and try to come up with alternatives

which she admitted would be difficult and perhaps impossible. But she said

again that opiates are not effective for neuropathic pain. She couldn't

give me an answer about what is since I have tried every kind of therapy,

injections, etc. that exist to my knowledge. I am going to a prominant

teaching hospital and I was hoping they were doing research or had some new

treatment but I feel doubtful about that since I've tried so much for so

long.

[Guest guest]

the marbels in your shoe i get that two or i think im getting

bursiies in some part of my body,just recently i have ha problems

holding my arms out stregth they just cannot reach out enymore i have

osto in every joint in my body ,plus seveal disk are gone complelte

colasped plus spinal fusen is happing and straing of neck,my doc said

that once fusen is complete the pain well be less i dont know if i

belive him. i also have double scroiloius,spondelites,mucle spasams

all the time,my cratalage is in need if anti infalmatorys but im

aleric to them that is only cure. when the pain flare up oh

my.nothing gets rid of it sadly the best i ever felt was when i had

hyterectomy i was out of pain ,sad huh nanna hugs

wrote:

<snipped>

>

> At times I have a feeling of walking with marbles inside the soles

of my feet and put off even going to the bathroom as long as I can to

avoid the pain. I dare anyone to put 4 or 5, or even 2 or 3 marbles

inside their shoes and try to walk.