I’d like a bit of advice on pain relief. Just wondered what everyone takes to ease their pain symptoms. My neuro put me on pregabalin, but I had major side effects from it. They took me off it and haven’t given me anything since. I’d like a bit of advice as to what people find works for them as I am in pain almost every day and nothing I am taking from high dose ibuprofen, naproxen or anything I have at the moment helps, and I am due to see my neuro in a few days and would like some advice ahead of that.
I take Gabapentin everyday. And for a non-drug option, I do mindfulness meditation - google ‘mindfulness for pain meditation’ and you’ll find out more. But if you’ve not heard of it, mindfulness is simply the practice of noticing what you are experiencing in the moment - things like what you’re feeling physically, what your thought & emotions are, what you can hear, smell & taste etc. But the trick is to let go of the desire to label those things as good or bad. The aim is simply to accept things as they are.
When it comes to pain, the idea of noticing it & not doing anything about it sounds like it could be hell. But the strange thing is, it does help, and I find my experience of the pain lessens. I used to say I’m in pain, but actually that’s not true. It’s only a tiny bit of me that’s in pain. By being mindful of the whole of my body, I notice that almost all of my body is feeling different things other than pain. It’s a bit like looking at a map, and the pain is a feature on the map. Noticing the rest of my body is like zooming out of the map, and so the pain becomes smaller. Alternatively, I can zoom in on the map, and explore the pain. Then I notice that it’s not constant - it comes & goes, and has different feelings. Generally, if I’m wishing the pain in my leg would go away, I’m more likely to feel tortured by it. But if I’m able to give my leg permission to feel whatever it’s feeling, then it tends to ease off quicker. It takes practice though, and can be really hard to do when all you’re feeling is just the desire to make the pain go away!
I take 2400 mg Gabapentin (900/600/900 through the day) and 20 mg of Amitriptyline at night, along with 800iu Vit D3. I also meditate (having been doing that almost my entire life).
Only side effects slightly dry mouth from the Gabapentin which can affect the sense of taste a bit - drinking water before eating helps with that though.
Thanks for all your advice. When I speak to my neuro I am going to see what she suggests, hopefully it will be one of those that you have all been suggesting as they certainly sound as though they will help me. Anything has to be better than how things are at the minute.
I take 20mg amitriptyline for neuropathic pain. It is an old drug but it works for me and I could increase the dose if needed. It took a week to work for my extreme pain at the time but now it helps me to sleep without leaving me feeling groggy. I’ve been taking it for 4 years now and I keep trying to cut down/cut it out but the pain comes back so I just keep taking it.
Some people don’t get on with it though, but you have been given some other options above. Good luck