Re: In tons of pain and having med side effects

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 5/18/2011 4:36:21 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,

thisismymagnathea@... writes:

pain. I take one half

about 3 or 4 times per day now. I only

I WISH I COULD COME OVER AND HUG YOU,I AM IN THE Same position and can' t

even get out unless someone drives me.It is very lonely/it does seem unfair

at your young age and its OK to be angry. even good for you .I think going

thru the stages are good so you can get to know the YOU now, love her and

accept her for what she CAN do. I don't know where you live but I

volunteered to call elderly people who were alone to help them and it helps me.

Also, are you a member of the Us pain Foundation. They are great support

system, Its _www.uspainfoundation.com_ (http://www.uspainfoundation.com) A man

from Ct started it locally and now it has grown.They really help.You can

write me if you like at _Catseyes66@..._ (mailto:Catseyes66@...)

here comes a hug wham,

Cathie

[Guest guest]

Okay. The side effects wore off, but the pain is really bad because the

medicine wore off too. I don't know what to do. I want to take more

medicine, but I want it to last long enough for me to get into the pain

clinic, which could be as long as two weeks. Although, that is much shorter than

most pain clinics, and its 10 weeks shorter than how long they told me the last

time that a different doctor referred me to this same pain clinic (and the pain

clinic never called me back that time; fortunately this time, I have a better

doctor, one who actually CARES). That's good, but this is still just so d@%#

FRUSTRATING!!!!!!!! :-(

[Guest guest]

wrote:

> I have been taking 1/2 of my Lortab 7.5s that an ER doc gave me for

> migraines. I have been taking it for the back/neck pain. I take one half

> about 3 or 4 times per day now.

Hi

I've been a migraineur since I was three. I also have serious neck

damage that causes a head pain that is similar to migraine, but they

are treated differently.

Are you having classic migraines - the kind with debilitating head pain

often accompanied by nausea, aversion to light, vomiting, etc? The

reason I ask is if that is the case, you would like do well to take a

migraine abortive medication like Imitrex, Zomig, or Cafergot.

(Cafergot is for when the other ones don't work). None of these

medications are narcotic.

If your headache is actually coming from your neck, you may be being

misdiagnosed. Migraine can combine with Cervicogenic neck) headache to

make one double nasty headache. Migraine can cause neck pain and neck

pain can cause wicked headaches.

http://www.jaoa.org/cgi/content/full/105/4_suppl/16S

The thing is that a real migraine and a cervicogenic headache require

different treatments. Zomig, Imitrex etc. will often abort a migraine,

but don't do a thing for a cervicogenic headache.

Sometimes it feels like a chicken/egg situation, but with learning more

about head pain, you'll be able to figure out the difference.

It is important to try the migraine abortive medications. If they work

for you, you can knock out a migraine in a matter of minutes. I use

Migranol nose spray (when I'm feeling wealthy) and Cafergot when I'm

not. The ergots are the last stop on the medications for migraines

road. It is best to start with the more common treatments and progress

to the ergots, only if the others don't work.

Topomax is being used to stop migraines. It took care of about half of

mine. Unfortunately, I had a wicked time with side effects from it.

Others in our CP group, have not had so many side effect problems.

Channel blockers also help a lot of people and don't have as many side

effects.

If you haven't been to a neurologist for a full work up to define your

headaches, I highly recommend going. Most neurologist are much better

at diagnosing and treating headaches, than family doctors.

Please keep looking for answers. The less time you lose being down with

head pain, the better!

Lyndi

(moderator)

[Guest guest]

: (hugs) Lortabs do the exact same thing to me, but if they're what you

intend to take for awhile, I can encourage you that if taken on time as

prescribed, those DO wear down as your tolerance goes up.

But yes, the TIRED for an hour, then agitated after that dose was me- plus they

just weren't helpful enough to be worth it. I moved to oxycodone, but if those

are helping with the pain, I would encourage you to take them as directed and

see how they do.

It's always best not to let your med wear off, so instead of once a day or

whatever, maybe every 4 hours until you talk to doc about all this. I'm 30 and

have been through the angry phase- sometimes I round right back to it:). I feel

too young to be hurting all the time. I have so much I want to do, and I feel

worthless when it comes to not being the mom and wife I was. It hurts, but hang

in there. We're all here to listen.

> wrote:

>

> Hi All.

>

> I have been taking 1/2 of my Lortab 7.5s that an ER doc gave

me for migraines. I have been taking it for the back/neck pain.

I take one half about 3 or 4 times per day now. I only took one

today, this morning around 9:30. It is 3:30pm right now and I have not yet taken

another one.

> I am in so much pain in my neck it is unbelievable. It is not

quite bad enough to go to the ER, but it is tremendous. I would

take another half of a lortab, except I am having side effects from them. I get

really sleepy at first for the first hour or so as it starts to work, then it

works for about 2 or 3 hours without side effects, but then I get really zoned

out and dissociated and really irritable and agitated as it wears off.

[Guest guest]

I have had (a) classic migraine(s) recently--I did have true status

migrainosus, with the nausea, and light and sound sensitivity. Triptans have

never worked for me, unfortunately, even with migraines. Midrin used to work,

but then stopped; it's since been taken off the market by the FDA. As for

Topamax, I can't take it because it causes severe visual disturbances and severe

headaches in me.

Right now--in fact, lately, as in the past week or so--the nausea and the light

and sound sensitivity have been much less, almost nonexistent compared to when I

had the status migrainosus. I am not debilitated by the current headache,

though, so maybe it isn't a true migraine? I have no idea. I just know that I

have had this particular headache attack since April 10th or 11th (over a month

ago), with an episode of true status migrainosus; and that I have had headaches

off and on, which last for a week to three weeks each, and OTC meds don't work,

since a little over a year ago; and that I have had this severe neck pain since

last October (2010) after straining it at my computer for 48 hours straight. I

do have a history of migaraines, though, and migraines run in my family.

I have seen a headache specialist, and he diagnosed me with migraines--but I was

still in the status migrainosus episode when I saw him. He tried 3 days of IV

infusions of the anticonvulsant Vimpat, which didn't make it better, let alone

go away--in fact, my headache only got worse during that time period. Now he has

(supposedly) referred me to another neurologist for treatment with Botox for

chronic migraine, but I haven't heard back from either office since the medical

assistant told me she made the referral.

In the mean time, I have my regular neurologist (Dr. B, the one who

diagnosed me with spinal osteoarthritis and degenerative disc disease)

trying to get a hold of some clinic/company in town to see if they can give me 3

days of Depakote IV infusions. Dr. B said that he could do it no problem, but

now I have his medical assistant saying she doesn't know if it's possible and

that she won't know until Friday because " the paperwork has to be sent over " .

This doesn't make any sense, because it's a MAJOR, STATE-WIDE HOSPITAL. She

actually told me that the clinic/company she sent the paperwork to might

actually send me back to their same hospital building to do the treatment right

there, but that they have to " outsource " the orders to this company first!!!

RIDICULOUS!!!

And now, now that you mention this cervicogenic headache, I am wondering if

I have that in addition to or maybe possibly instead of migraines--but my

headaches are BI-lateral, NOT unilateral, and the article you mentioned says,

for scientific work, the diagnostic criterion " unilaterality of head pain,

without sideshift...should preferably be adhered to " . So maybe I don't have

cervicogenic headache?

I really have no clue at this point. I think that probably, somehow, the

malalignment in my neck is what's causing the headaches, but I don't know if

that classifies as " cervicogenic " headaches or not. I am hoping that the

chiropractor will help significantly and substantially, but I can't count on

that, either. Fortunately, I have another appointment with my neurologist, Dr.

B, again this Friday morning (as in, tomorrow--yippee!! at least something can

make me feel joy in my current state). I want him to order an MRI of my entire

spine to check to see if I have a herniated disc somewhere

along there, and also an MRI of my head to see if I have a brain tumor.

I don't know. I am just really confused, and really REALLY frustrated. I have

never been in this kind of pain for this long a period of time before--short

times, yes, but not long ones. I don't know what to do.

That's all for now. Thank you for your info, Lyndi.

> Lyndi wrote:

> If your headache is actually coming from your neck, you may be being

> misdiagnosed. Migraine can combine with Cervicogenic neck) headache to make

one double nasty headache.

[Guest guest]

Thank you to everyone who has been responding to my message and sending me

hugs and prayers. I really appreciate it, and it makes me feel better. I am

sorry for not being able to respond to people individually, as there has

been an overwhelming amount of support for me...thank you so much.

Right now, my back and neck hurt tremendously. I *was* in much less pain,

but earlier around 1:30pm (about 5 hours ago) I had to take another 1/2 of a

lortab because of the nerve pain shooting down my legs, especially my left

leg. I am even on 900mg of Neurontin/gabapentin 3x per day for the nerve

pain, plus 500mg Relafen/nabumetone 3x per day for that, as well, but they

don't get it all to go away. Whatever. It doesn't hurt as badly right now,

so that's making me feel a little better.

My head is also hurting badly again, and I'm not sure why. I just escaped

from an episode of severe status migrainosus about two weeks ago, which

itself lasted over a whole week. I was in the ER for it three times in 5

days between April 28th and May 3rd. Right now, my head hurts at around a

6-7 on a scale of 0-10. My back and neck hurt at around a 7-8.

I am SO FRIGGIN' BORED. I wish I had gone into work today. But I didn't get

home from the car dealership until 4pm, and then didn't finish eating and

checking my email until 5pm, and by then it was really too late to drive 35

minutes just to work for 2 hours and then drive another 35 minutes home and

go straight to bed. Didn't seem to make much sense to go into work at the

time--but now I'm wishing I had because it's still pretty much only 6:30pm,

and I don't wrap things up for the day until around 8pm, so I've got almost

90 minutes to kill--and then, on top of that, I don't get paid for today.

There's always Saturday that I could go in...I can't go in tomorrow because

my schedule is booked.

I am really starting to hate my life, and myself. I think it has something

to do with the isolation. In fact, I am absolutely certain it does. I have

not spent more than about 7 days outside of my apartment in the last three

weeks. I don't have any close friends, and I can't call those old 200+

friends because they all abandoned me before I moved up here for some crazy

relationship issue that happened where I used to live--I don't want to go

into it on here. It's too complicated, too personal, and it doesn't have

anything to do with my pain.

On another note, I see my neurologist again tomorrow. I am going to ask him

for an MRI of my whole spine (they just did one of my lumbar) to check for a

herniated disc, and of my head to check for a brain tumor. I am really

worried that I have both...but I probably don't. I am also going to show him

the x-rays that my chiropractor took of my spine. I got the originals from

his (Dr. M's, my chiropractor's) office this afternoon and am going to take

them to Dr. B (my neurologist) tomorrow morning. I want Dr. B to see how

severely out of alignment my spine is.

I also want Dr. B to explain what the " protrusions " are in my lumbar spine

that were mentioned in the MRI report. Dr. M, my chiropractor, said that

when the people (radiologists, I presume) writing the reports write

" protrusions " , they usually mean inflammation in the discs or bulging discs,

and not actually herniated discs. I did loan a copy of the MRI to Dr. M, but

he hadn't had a chance to do anything more than read the report (i.e., he

hadn't looked at the images yet) before I saw him last, on Wednesday

morning. So, I see BOTH my neurologist AND my chiropractor tomorrow morning,

and I will ask them BOTH what is on the MRI and WILL get some straight

answers. (I already tried viewing the MRI, which is on a CD, on my computer,

but it would not work--probably a software compatability issue--so I HAVE to

rely on the doctors for straight answers.) I know Dr. M will be honest with

me, so even if Dr. B isn't (which I'm pretty sure he will be), then I think

I will still be okay as far as getting my answers.

Anyway, I think that is all I'm going to say for now. Thank you all again

for all your support.

e.h.h

[Guest guest]

I feel for you. I had nonstop headaches a one point that turned out to be a

side effect of the hormonal treatment I was on for 2 years.

It is sad you are running into so much red tape. I have had similar

frustrations trying to get things. I have battle private insurance and medicare

(they are denying paying for my pump supplies)

I have problems with my neck. I have arthritis plus I lack the curve in my

neck. There is a chance that I was born without it, but now they are unable to

say for sure. I chiropractor has given me some relief.

I hope you can get things resolved soon. Big gentle hugs, Tami

> wrote:

> I have had (a) classic migraine(s) recently--I did have true status

> migrainosus, with the nausea, and light and sound sensitivity. Triptans have

never worked for me, unfortunately, even with migraines. Midrin used to work,

but then stopped; it's since been taken off the market by the FDA. As for

Topamax, I can't take it because it causes severe visual disturbances and severe

headaches in me.

[Guest guest]

>Lyndi wrote:

>If your headache is actually coming from your neck, you may be being

>misdiagnosed. Migraine can combine with Cervicogenic neck) headache to make one

double nasty headache.

>

,

Lyndi is correct and cervicogenic headaches can be unilateral or bi later

as all cervicogenic means is : originating from cervical spine

This information is from a website that states physiotherapy is used for

cervicogenic headaches and also using exercises for the cervical spine plus

Cervicogenic headache is simply another name for a headache which

originates from the neck and is one of the most common types of headache. It is

important to note, however, that there are many types of headache of which

cervicogenic is just one. Another common type is vascular (this includes

migraines).

Cervicogenic headache typically occurs due to damage to one or more joints,

muscles, ligaments or nerves of the top 3 vertebra of the neck. The pain

associated with this condition is an example of referred pain (i.e. pain arising

from a distant source – in this case the neck). This occurs because the nerves

that supply the upper neck also supply the skin overlying the head, forehead,

jaw line, back of the eyes and ears. As a result, pain arising from structures

of the upper neck may refer pain to any of these regions causing a cervicogenic

headache.

Research states although most are unilateral they can be bilateral

depending on the area and problem. Physiotherapy is recommended for treatment

and many methods are used. My physical therapist is trained in myofascial

release and treats cervicogenic headaches all the time and gets results.

, I used to call the Referral Clerk to make sure they got my

referral and ask them the turn around time and if there is any way they can let

me know when it is done or if there is a cancellation at the specialist's office

, they could call me and I could get in earlier. I found that my paperwork has

gotten lost in the past or never received.

I also found that when the referral clerk knew I wanted to get in

earlier and was hurting really bad, she got me in earlier. I hate to hear you

have headaches and pain so long without relief or response from someone can

maybe get you relief. I hope that you get relief soon.

Bennie