Hey guys,
My worst post injury pain
management problem has been
chronic urethra pain. It can
be a constant slicing/burning
sensation, comparable to what
some people get during urinary
tract infections. My symptoms
started after years of passing
kidney stones and procedures
for kidney stones. The best
guest of my urologist is that
all lead to nerve damage that
drives the pain. Why is it
when complete quads have
sensation below the injury
level it's never pleasure?!
The pain became so bad it
was really shutting down the
rest of my life and got me
thinking of suicide when my
actual accident and paralysis
did not. so we tried
absolutely everything both
traditional and alternative
medicines. Nothing seemed to
work, even massive amounts of
morphine. By keeping a very
detailed pain diary, I did
discover that Neurontin
sometimes helped reduce the
severity of my pain
episodes, by about a third,
though not their frequency.
That still wasn't enough to
give me my life back, but I
have taken it regularly ever
since. a couple of years ago
I tried to see if I could
stop it, but I quickly had
pain flareups and so went
back to it.
I
stumbled on my current
solution by accident. I was
briefly treated for some
severe spasticity after
taking a spill out of my
wheelchair. My old school
doctor prescribed an
old-school anti-spasmodic,
Soma. At the same time, my
neurologist had me
temporarily back on Norco
(according to my tracking it
might have reduced pain
experienced by 5 to 10%
under some conditions) while
trying to figure out what
else we could try. The un
planned cocktail of the two,
while not contraindicated,
had an amazing effect on my
pain. During mild to
moderate episodes, it shut
it down completely, like
flipping off the switch.
During severe episodes of
pain, it pushed it way down
so that I could be
functional again. It was
the holy Grail.
I
have tinkered with the
cocktail a couple of times,
in hopes that the underlying
causes might have declined
over time, and when my
insurance company stopped
covering Soma as part of its
across-the-board campaign
against opioids. Reducing
the medication and
substituting similar
compounds, such as Valium
instead of soma, didn't
work. Meanwhile, there is no
sign of declining efficacy
or addiction – – I am not
taking more now than I did
five years ago.
I
doubt my cocktail would help
you in your situation. The
symptoms are so different.
My point is, to cautiously
explore
outside orthodox treatments.
Our conditions are such a
tiny minority that
case history simply doesn't
exist. Will my physicians
ever write a paper talking
about how these three meds
in concert solved a highly
unusual chronic pain
condition in an aging quad?
No. The applicability just
isn't there for wider
treatment. Each of us is
left reinventing the wheel
for our own quasi-unique
conditions. I wouldn't
experiment outside of a
doctor's care, what I would
want a doctor that is
willing to try and try and
try different approaches,
even Hail Mary passes, on
the chance that you can put
together a novel,
individualized treatment..
Don't
give up
ed
.
