hi,
I’ve posted a few times before so please help again!
I’m currently undiagnosed but neuro thinks ms- waiting for more tests currently. anyway I’m really struggling with the pains in fingers, and arms;these seem worse in evenings. I’ve not had time off work yet but feel this may be coming as feeling so tired all the time.
Can anyone suggest any drugs- from gp or neuro to help with the pain and numbness? thanks
Hi Beth,
No drug (that I know of) helps with numbness. The reason being that whilst you can dampen down unwanted sensory signals (pain), you can’t replace ones that are missing (numbness). Numbness is an indication the signals just can’t get through properly, due to damage somewhere. The body will attempt to fix the damage, in its own good time. This is sometimes speeded up by steroids. But in the meantime there is no medicine that can let the nerve signals “jump” the damaged bits.
Typical medicines people with MS are on for nerve pain are gabapentin or pregabalin, and/or amitriptyline - although I’ve never tried any of these, as I don’t get much nerve pain, but mainly musculo-skeletal.
Tina
thanks Tina, the main problem is the pain that goes along with the numbness and the extremley heavy legs- not too sure wif gabapentin would help ??
Hi Beth,
As I mentioned, I’ve not personally tried any of them, but they’re all approved first line drugs for symptomatic relief of MS, which means there must be a reasonable chance of them doing something. Sometimes, the only way to know for sure is to ask and try.
Not all will work for everyone, but if you try one and don’t get on with it, you haven’t really lost anything, and can always switch to another.
Not all MS pain is neuropathic (nerve pain). Mine mostly isn’t. If you haven’t already, it’s worth trying ordinary over-the-counter painkillers like ibuprofen or cocodamol, to see if they touch it at all. If they help, it’s an indication it’s not neuropathic. You still might be able to get the painkillers on prescription, even if they’re ones you can buy, as you can get much larger quantities. I now get about six weeks’ worth at once, on prescription, instead of having to buy them twice a week!
If any of your pain is caused by muscle tightness, aka spasticity, muscle relaxants might also help, even though they’re not painlillers. I take baclofen, which helps my tight muscles to relax, and indirectly eases the pain. This is another well-known and pretty non-controversial MS drug.
Tina
x
thanks again, but will the gp prescribe me anything as I’m currently no dx??
hi beth
i’m sure that your gp will be able to prescribe because gabapentin is prescribed for other conditions
do go and ask
love carole x