Pain Progression, Lyrica and Amiltriptaline

[Guest guest]

I am loaded up on Lyrica and Amiltriptaline (Amil) and feel a little

spacey, but bear with me.

When I first started to recognize something was wrong, both feet felt

as if they had fallen asleep when I awoke in the morning and the

feeling went away as the morning wore on.

Later, when I awoke and stood up, the pain was pretty pronounced when

standing, and going up or down stairs was viewed with much

trepidation. I always had to go slow and hold the railing.

Soon thereafter, my feet went from buzzing, to painful, then to dead

feeling. Being a man, I didn't see the doc until the feet felt fairly

dead in the toes.

Anyway, with various treatments, my feet have gone from feeling dead,

back to a somewhat painful state. (not bad really, just annoying as

can be). This current state is reached via 3x200 mg Lyrica, and now

2x50 mg Amiltriptaline. I've noticed an increase in " nerve jumps " aka

involuntary spasms/movements in my arms now (extremely rare before)

and even experienced a nerve jump in my stomach/chest area for, I

think, the very first time. Also, at night before bed (bedtime is

okay) my leg spasms seem to happen more often, and it seems that when

I sit I like to rock my legs back and forth for no real reason.

My confusion arises because of the prior progression of pain from

buzzing, to feeling as if bandages were being ripped off constantly,

to a deadened state. Now, with drugs, the progression seems to be

reversing, from a deadended state to a " ripped off " state and

hopefully back to buzzing. Right now, my big toes feel as if the hair

is being pulled fairly strongly, and certainly constantly.

My point is, what's the point?? Is it really prudent for me to take

the Lyrica and Amil, if all they can do is reverse the pain cycle? At

the low point of the cycle my feet didn't really hurt so much, but

were fairly dead. If the goal is for the meds to make me pain free,

why don't I just quit taking the meds and let my feet drift back

towards a dead state which was fairly painless.

My doc has said my condition will never improve, and will actually get

worse as I get older. (Oh boy - can't wait for that!!)

I am beginning to space out a little more as I read what I've written

above. Is it time for me to find a new neurologist? Is it time for

my current neurologist to refer me to a pain-management doc or a

foot/ankle specialist?

Any and all insights welcomed. I actually think I feel a little

better by writing this note.

Sincerely,

Steve