Hi Naomi, I also suffer from severe chronic pain (nerve pain from my spinal cord injury) and have a baclofen pump I got 2 years ago for the purpose of adding pain medication to it. I was hoping the baclofen might help and then also adding some type of pain medication. I have been dealing with this severe nerve pain (hot/cold burning with needles from my chest down to my feet) for over 14 years. I have tried everything for pain relief, from Neurontin, Lyrica, to OxyContin and Methadone. Nothing helped or I should say nothing lasted for very long if they did help. I had some relief a couple of years after my injury when the nerve pain started with Neurontin, Elavil, and Pamelor, but they all wore off after taking each one (separately) after 1-1 1/2 years and then my pain just kept intensifying to where nothing helped at all. I even tried Neurontin again and then tried Lyrica, Cymbalta, and many others in the same category for nerve pain and none of them did anything. The narcotics only made my head dopey and very tired all the time to where I could barely function. And I was still in pain anyway. So I went with the baclofen pump as a last resort. I tried an anesthesia type medication in the pump and unfortunately that did not help either. Now I'm finally waiting to try a fairly new pain medication that only goes in the pump called Prialt. I waited a good year to make my decision because it takes a long time to get it to a therapeutic dosage because the pain doctor's start the dosage extremely low to prevent side effects. So in other words, it could take up to six months to know if it is helping the pain. But I finally decided to go for it and am waiting to start on it through the pain management clinic I go to. So anyway, to give you a long answer to your question... yes you can add pain medication to the pump. Ask your pain doctor about it or the doctor maintaining your baclofen pump if it's not the same doctor. And like Stacy mentioned in her post, staying busy and distracted as best I can from the pain is what has kept me sane all these years with this god-awful pain. :-)
Good luck! Corie C4-5, incomplete, 14 1/2 years post ----- Original Message ----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ; quad-list@eskimo.com Sent: Monday, May 19, 2008 2:52 PM Subject: Re: FW: [QUAD-L] neurontin Mark, I have a Baclofen pump, which is surgically implanted. Have you ever heard of anyone receiving pain medication through their Baclofen pump? Naomi C4-incomplete, quadriplegic since July 2005 due to Transverse Myelitis ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Wondering what's for Dinner Tonight? Get new twists on family favorites at AOL Food.
