Posted by Victoria on May 2, 1999, at 20:03:29
In reply to Re: chronic pain, insomnia - advice?, posted by Elizabeth on May 2, 1999, at 1:42:07
Have you ever tried acupuncture? I've been doing it, just to see if it would do anything for the fibromyalgia symptoms. It seems to be effective for the aches and pains I get, although the effect only lasts a day or so.
> > Elizabeth, I also have chronic upper-back/neck pain and pretty bad insomnia. There are some "natural" things that have been helpful to me for getting to sleep.
>
> Thanks for the ideas, but I've tried most of these. Melatonin, in particular, is a bad idea with the antidepressant I take (Parnate). Also, when I tried it (before I was taking Parnate), it exacerbated the insomnia. Tryptophan is risky (not absolutely contraindicated, but a poor choice) as well.
>
> None of the herbs you mentioned did anything for me when I tried them. (I did experiment with doses.)
>
> It's not safe to assume that something that doesn't interact with one antidepressant will not interact with others.
>
> BTW, doctors I've talked to about melatonin, as well as some people who take it themselves, have said that 3mg is probably higher than is usually necessary.
>
> If it weren't for the pain, Ambien and Parnate would be okay for me (taking all the Parnate before 3pm or so makes a big difference). I don't know of any effective "natural" drugs for pain other than morphine, codeine, etc. (which tend to have too many side effects).
poster:Victoria
thread:5249
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19990501/msgs/5518.html