Posted by Barbaracat on September 19, 2004, at 19:32:59 [reposted on September 20, 2004, at 7:15:25 | original URL]
In reply to Breakthrough Pain, posted by corafree on September 19, 2004, at 16:44:13
Can you somehow get acupuncture? It's not effective for everything but for nerve generated and spinal pain it works very well, and on many levels. Even HMO PCPs will prescribe it if indicated for pain relief and they want to avoid strong opiods. But of course, you usually have to beg and plead to convince them.
As far as meds, sometimes docs are more comfortable with something non-narcotic. Ultram and Ultracet work as well and better than narcotics for me. And they surely do give a righteous buzz as well. They're weak serotonin and norepinephrine agonists as well so there's the add AD benefit.
But in the end, the root cause has to be dealt with. Used to be that surgery for this kind of thing involved spinal fusion and other drastic measures, but recently things have advanced very far surgically. A friend of mine who was bedridden with severe pain had two extruding herniated disks 'cleaned out' recently and was back to work within 2 weeks feeling great.
Good luck. Pain can be so debilitating and despiriting. I have fibromyalgia and when I'm having a flair up and in pain, everything is so much more difficult. If I can motivate myself to stretch and stay limber, it helps to keep things from seizing up. But it's the last thing I want to do when in pain.
poster:Barbaracat
thread:392870
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/health/20040729/msgs/392871.html