Coping with pain

For those who suffer neuropathic pain… Best self help strategy?

I’ve been dealing with terrible neuropathic pain since 2010. Was put on gabapentin in April and currently take 600mg a day. Doesn’t seem to be helping during this relapse. I also have tight muscles in my legs and arms but marked more on my left hand side compared to the right. Can’t get any relief and I’m finding it hard to get a good nights sleep and painful trying to walk around the house. I have 2 young children, one who has duchennes M.D and has limited mobility so I don’t really have the chance to rest. Also have the lhermitte’s sign

At the moment I’m waiting to hear whether I can be prescribed oral steroids for my relapse. My neurologist is on annual leave (who told my m.s nurse she would prescribe them for this relapse) so now the decision lies with a neurologist who has never met me or knows my medical history well.

If the gabapentin isn’t working then you could ask the ms nurse about trying pregablin - it’s stronger than gabapentin and worked for me when I was having a relapse and the gabapentin wasn’t working. The thing to bear in mind with steroids is that it won’t suddenly make things better it may speed up recovery but its best taking them early on in a relapse- also they do have side effects which not sleeping/insomnia is one of them and if you’re already struggling with sleep bear that in mind. I’ve recently been prescribed amitriptyline to help me sleep as I’ve been having problems with sleep for a long time and it has helped so this is something that you could also talk to your ms nurse about. It sounds like you’re having a hard time of things lately - is there anybody helping you out with things? Anyone that can give you a bit of a rest each day?

Hi I sympathise with the neuropathic pain, 600mg gabapentin is a small dose so ask your gp if you can increase it. I take amitriptyline as well and increased the dose 10 mg at a time until it helped at 50mg. Take it at night it should help you sleep and you may feel groggy in the morning for a couple of days but this will wear off. Hope you feel better soon Becki x