pain relief ideas

[ham79]

Morning, I'm currently taking 8 paracetemol, 8 dehydrocodiene, 2 temazapam and 2 amytriptaline.
Despite this amount of badly spelt meds I have been up since 2 am again almost in tears with the pain in my legs and feet except chopping them off does anyone have any ideas what else I could do. seeing the quack again tomorrow

 

[hanadr]

seeing the doctor is obviously the best thing and you've organised that.
I've never suffered like this, so I haven't much in the way of ideas, except a warm bath perhaps?
Good luck!
Hana

 

[ham79]

that only helps while i'm in the bath ta though

 

[catherinecherub]

Hi Ham,
You definitely need a review of your medication. The amount that you are taking and still no relief means they have to try something else. They cannot just keep chucking more and more pain killers at it. I am surprised you are not toxic with that lot.

Good luck for tomorrow,

Catherine.

 

[Dobbs]

hi ham79
has the doctor suggested what the cause of the problem is? Is it (diabetic) peripheral neuropathy? or something else?
I suffered from pains and tingling in my feet and legs at the time of my diagnosis (that was what led me to discovering I was diabetic) which was diabetic-related neuropathy (nerve damage). It persisted for about a year and is now practically gone (no pain anymore).
I took over-the-counter pain killers if it was bad some nights but they didn't help at all - if I were you I'd cut them out, or at least down, and see if you notice the difference (seriously! :wink: ).
Apparently the only thing that really helps peripheral neuropathy (if that's what you've got) is reducing your blood sugar levels. That's what I did, and sure, enough, things got better - not immediately, but gradually, but steadily.
I reduced them by the way many here recommend - checking the effect of different foods by testing your blood sugar with a meter several times a day, and drastically reducing my carbohydrate intake. It worked for me.
I take 2x500 Metformin a day, and a blood pressure pill, but no other medication.
I know peripheral neuropathy can be hell but I also know it's possible to do something about it.

 

[hanadr]

ham
Dobbs is right.
If your blood glucose numbers are too high, get them down as fast as you can.to as near non-diabetic as you can( around 5)
Hana

 

[ham79]

down from 20's to 9.1 been told that I got it down to quick and to try and keep it around 10 - 11 as this might be half of the problem which seems pretty stupid to me I thought getting my bloods back to normal would have been half the battle

 

[cugila]

Ham.

Getting your Bg numbers down too quickly can cause as many problems as leaving them too high. You just need to gradually reduce the numbers bit by bit. I'm sure you will see an improvement. You just need to strike a balance between the two. Do not make a 'crash dive' that is not a good idea.

 

[ham79]

well wasted another trip to the quack as the pain killers don't work I've to stop them. He said sorry and made an appointment to see the diabetic doc asap so not allowed back to work and have to try and get as much sleep as possible even though the temazapam don't work either

 

[totsy]

hya ham,
sorry to hear the dr didnt help much,
do u know if you have a pain clinic locally?

 

[catherinecherub]

Hi ham,
I posted yesterday and reckoned you were over medicated.
It could be that you are experiencing "rebound" pain. This is when pain relief medication can make pain worse instead of better. A cocktail of pain killers is maybe what has made your pain more acute. When the meds wear off the pain returns with a vengeance. A cycle of taking more meds and severe pain can be never ending.
Do you feel that the pain has been getting more acute? If you agree then this may be the explanation.

Catherine.

 

[FordPrefect]

I know the feeling just recently on max dose of pregabalin and I was awake for hours last night with pain in my legs and arms. Even having sugar levels that are pretty good most of the time seems neuropathy is getting worse atm. Didnt help that when I could finally get to the sleep I was awoken every few hours needing the **** toilet...

 

[FordPrefect]

well wasted another trip to the quack as the pain killers don't work I've to stop them. He said sorry and made an appointment to see the diabetic doc asap so not allowed back to work and have to try and get as much sleep as possible even though the temazapam don't work either

Diabetic nerve pain/neuropathy is a very particular type of pain and none of the over the counter stuff like asprin or paracetamol should or could touch it according to the neurologist I saw. There are mulitple options for treatment normally starting with a trycyclic anti depressant such as amitryptaline, 2nd line is normally gabapentin and then pregablin both of which were originally for eplipsey. If these fail then there are other drugs but these are far more heavy duty. Where you are at I really think its probably time to see a specialist either a diabetologist at your local hospital or even a neurologist and I would discuss with your doctor and try and get a referral. I was lucky that I have private cover and my insurance wanted me to see a neurologist as well as a diabetologist when I was first refered.

 

[ham79]

Thanks peeps. The meds never even touched the pain so there was no point getting addicted to something that does'nt work. If this keeps up the doc says it's the hospital for me to get controlled pain relief and after the year I've had that is probably where crimbo will be. Just had a scalding hot bath which felt very good then whilst getting out my leg folded and my head hit the door post so just the cherry on the cake that is my luck :lol: .
As Russell Howard says it could be worse I could be a slug and my tears would melt my face

 

[janabelle]

Hi,
You're on a lot of medication, but are you still on taking Lantus?
Joint, muscular and nerve pain are reported by many patients, including myself, on Lantus-many on this forum.
If you haven't considered changing your insulin, I would strongly suggest that you do.
i was in constant pain while on Lantus, although mine was mainly in my upper body, chest, arms and shoulders. I couldn't see an end to it, and hadn't got a clue for 4 years why I was suffering from it.
I'm not an unusual or isolated case,and it was caused by Lantus.
Best of luck
Jus

 

[Angeldust]

Hi ham79
Honesly, I know exactly how you feel. I could have written that word for word.
But, hold hope. You can take the strongest opiates in the world and they won't even begin to touch on your nerve pain. I am on lots of medications for lots of things (all diabetic complications) and the only medication I can honestly say makes any significant and notable difference is gabapentin (neurontin). It's an anti-epeleptic and it will take a few weeks to kick in. I almost gave up thinking it was never going to work but I'm so glad I perservered.
It's my miracle drug. Dare I forget a dose the tingling, stabbing, shooting, burning starts to come on right away until I take it again.
It's amazing.

Good luck

 

[ham79]

cheers thats the next one on the list for me

 

[Angeldust]

Yeah I really strongly advise you bring this suggestion up with your doctor.
I'd been through pain speialist cpnsultants, every medication ever (most of which gave me nausea and vomitting), TENS machines... NOTHING. Until I met a very good consultant who outright said 'you should be on gabapentin. Now I don't speak highly of many things but this is like a miracle.
In the first few weeks while your body gets used to it you may feel dizzy and faint and maybe tired but this will subside once your body gets used to it and it starts to take full effect (3 weeks for me).
It really is amazing. All the best and let me know how you get on.

Linda

 

[ham79]

don't deal with my g.p anymore he's a clown my first diabetic nurse phoned me out of the blue and informed me I'd been under medicated less than half of the start dosage for amytrip up to 60 not that it's helped. Cheers though your post has given me a much needed lift and given me a bit of hope