Very sorry to hear this, and I hope a way is found to manage your pain. Best wishes!
Robaxin or Flexaril for muscle spasms. They are probably much less effective than what you are taking, @ambushed. And we all have to learn the hard way that muscle relaxants do nothing for pain. You’ll still need to take your pain meds.
People with chronic pain don’t become addicted, meaning they are constantly increasing their intake. They become dependent. If the pain meds are discontinued abruptly, they suffer withdrawal. It’s an entirely different situation than addiction. And pain management doctors monitor you constantly. They know the personality types and the actions of those who do not do well on pain management.
@ambushed, when I first started pain management, I told the doctor I was taking Vicodin (hydrocodone). He said forget Vicodin, and he put me on Percocet (oxycodone). He explained the oxycodone is more effective for severe pain. I’ve been taking Percocet for over five years, and only recently had the dosage increased.
Another remedy I forgot to mention is Lidocaine patches. They are literally an “OHMYGAWD” discovery. That neck pain that travels down your arm and makes your shoulder and elbow feel like somebody is pounding on them with a jackhammer? I cut a Lidocaine patch in thirds: one on my neck, one on my shoulder, one on my elbow. Relief! Invest in a roll of surgical tape for sensitive skin. The patches don’t stick worth a damn unless you are as still as a corpse.
~VOW
Chronic pain is a harsh mistress, and effective treatment depends so much on just what is causing the pain, in addition to the individual’s particular physiology, fitness, co-morbidities, and even mindset. And often what works for one person’s pinched nerve or degenerated joint won’t work for the same condition in another.
Are you taking both tizanidine AND Robaxin? Those are both muscle relaxers, and in my experience, not often combined.
Lots of good suggestions for chronic treatment have been made here (along with some less good ones) but it’s tough to give direction without knowing more specifics, so I won’t try. Sounds like you’ve got a good working relationship with your doc. Hang in there.
Actually, they can and do. Pfizer made that claim about opioids and got tons of folks addicted to oxycontin.
This is a well known risk of using opioids for chronic pain, and worth taking in some circumstances.
FWIW, I’m another satisfied gabapentin user. I have tendinitis in one shoulder following a two year course of frozen shoulder on the other side and I just got really tired of hurting all the time (I’m heading for year three of this nonsense but the shoulder is responding to deep tissue massage and exercises, thank goodness) BUT I’m on warfarin so most NSAIDs are pretty much off limits to me. I take 300mg of gabapentin before bed, it helps me get to sleep and has a nice little side benefit of also taking my anxiety levels down a notch or three. Good stuff, no side effects for me. My daughter is taking it as well, for knee pain and ancillary pain from a recent severe car accident.
It sounds strange but some people use meditation for pain and it works well for them. Can’t hurt and it’s free.
@ambushed: I once had to take Thiocolchicoside (myoril, muscoril) for relaxing spasming neck muscles, and it was extremely effective. It is a skeletal muscle relaxant and is highly potent. But it looks like this drug is no longer recommended for its primary use due to its side-effects profile. Still a one-week course may be prescribed; check with your doctor.
Apologies. Too many people with pain end up as addicts, of course. I was trying (and doing a poor job) of explaining that dependence and addiction are two different things.
A good pain management doctor is trained to tell the difference between the two, and a user should be removed from treatment.
Unless you know you have a problem with addiction, a person should not automatically dismiss opioids.
The whole Oxycontin debacle is damn near unforgivable. It has destroyed a lot of lives.
~VOW