Home from surgery & no adhesions... Nerve pain - help anyone?

Good luck with your appt tomorrow. My fingers will be crossed and I will say a prayer for you.

When I first started pain mgmt, the doc I saw was actually pleased that I had done some homework and had an idea of what I wanted to try. My current doc was upset with herself that she had not thought of the accupuncture until I brought it up.

Wishing you the best, and will be thinking about you tomorrow. I hope you are able to come away from your appointments with some answers, direction and pain relief. Sending you many 's
Michelle

PS If you can please let us know how you are tomorrow.

I also know what the nerve pain feels like and have tried many different combos of meds before I found the right one for me. Cymbalta (began at 20 mg. and now take 40mg. daily) helped me the most, Lyrica at 150 mg. also reduced my pain significantly though the 20 lb. weight gain has been a drag. Klonopin and Duragesic pain patch at 25 mcg. helped immensely. Tricyclic antidepressants relieved my pain but the side effects were intolerable, Nortriptyline was the best. 2 lumbar sympathetic nerve blocks worked beautifully but only for a week. We're all different. Myofascial release bodywork completely eradicated my belly pain though it took many sessions. Good luck and keep us posted. Shelley

YAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Okay... buckle in, y'all... I'm about to blow your MINDS!!!! (I mean REALLY, have I ever had a HAPPY experience @ the doc's??)

So, went to my gynie's - he gave me a full set of images from my lap... just like I asked him to!!! Holy smokes, right?! (Details: I had a bloody cyst on my remaining ovary - plus a TINY spot of endo... both stomped to death by the mighty boot of medical science... hoorah)...

Awwwwwwwrightaaaay, now comes the FUN part... So I go to my pain management doc's office (Yeah, I totally walk in there like, "Don't you know who I am?? I'm the SHERIFF of this here town..." - okay, not really, but I'm absolutely prepared to stick up for myself if necessary... and he's SO not used to that... heh heh heh... let the fun commence - Oh yeah, and I brought my DH in with me... that makes him UBER uncomfortable) - When he gets into the room, he looks ultra-snitty. I mean, he's usually a LITTLE prissy... but it was uptight-o-rama.

I had my gynie talk to him about my treatment... and from the looks on PM Doc's mug, it wasn't pretty. They talked WHILE I WAS ON THE OPERATING TABLE. I can just imagine him wanting to slug my gyn or cut my anesthesia or something!! MAH GAWD, isn't it PRICELESS??

In any case, now he's probably worried that if he mistreats me again, I'll tattle like Cindy Brady to my gynie!!!

Ahhhh... justice is sweet, oui?

I asked the PM doc to try me out on the Duragesic patch - and keep me on something for breakthrough pain - AND HE COMPLIED!!! I'm still in shock. Anytime I would ask him ANYTHING before, he wouldn't even hear me out... he would just say no. I have been in bed in pain for MONTHS on end with no relief - and now I'm finally getting somewhere!!

I'm sorry I'm so excited and freaking out in general... I just CAN'T BELIEVE IT.

Oh, another item on the "can't believe it" frontier: I'm waiting for clearance for my health plan to pick up my patches - so I had to BUY one... FIFTY BUCKS!!! $50... $50... $50... I just keep looking down at my chest and seeing a fifty dollar bill plastered there... ugh! But, relief is worth it at any cost, if this thing will do it for me.

Thanks so much for your thoughts over the past few days... It really gave me a boost of courage to ask questions I needed to ask and deal with people I needed to deal with (but was afraid to!)... you are the BEST!!!

Hope this darned thing works ($50... $50... $50... ugh...)
xoxox - your HysterSister in crime,
SlapMyGynie

I'm glad you had a good day! Hurray that your gyn had a talk with the PM doc.

When I started the duragesic my pm doc had a coupon for me. It was good for one free month's supply of the patch. You could check the manufacturer's website and see if it's still available. Just type duragesic in any search engine.

Good luck! I hope the patch does the trick for you. Oh and FYI, there is a generic for the duragesic available. It's called Fentanyl patch. It is much cheaper and I actually like it better. It is much smaller than the brand name. Just another option for you.

If you have trouble with the patch sticking, Janssen offers a bio-occlusive sticky patch to place on over it. It works for me. They will send it to you free of charge! Good luck! Shelley

Dear SlapMyGynie, your latest report on your visit to your PM doc just made my day!!!! I am living for the day to sit in my PM doc's office and say "I told you so"!!!! I have a list of the ones that I'd like to to take a branding iron to for dismissing my severe pain. I'm encouraged about having my upcoming lap. THX!!

Okay... maybe I shouldn't have counted my chickens.
I've just been through three days of H-E-Double Hockey Sticks.
I don't think the Duragesic is my friend. The first day, I felt FABULOUS. No doped up feeling, good pain relief, etc. I went to bed, woke up...
all day long... not to mention the most insane migraine ever - had to go to ER for an IV migraine coctail (couldn't even keep a sip of water down)... all of my veins were flat from dehydration... etc.
I've been in a total fog since... just took the patch off today (had to at least give it a chance). Still feel like poop, but hopefully the gunk will get out of my system and I'll feel better tomorrow.
So, great pain relief - but at too much of a physical price... one set of probs for another
Back to the drawing board, huh?
xoxo -Your HS in crime -
SlapMyGynie

Hello All,

I just wanted to put in my 2 cents on the whole nerve pain. It's not been fun for the last 6 1/2 months. I tried accupuncture but it didn't help, I've had 3 nerve blocks that made things worse not better and I was starting to not be able to drive even a short distance alone. I just kept running into trees. I've had to have my 15 year old drive me around and well, that's not fun either.

My Dr. put me on Lexapro for the depression and that seems to help. I didn't feel so hopeless any more.

I started Lyrica about 2 to 3 weeks ago. 75 mg 2 times a day, then I upped the night dose and today I upped the daytime dose. While I'm not pain free and often feel fuzzy, I am having some pain free times. The first time was after being on it a couple of days. A salsa song came on the tv and I did a salsa step and went... WHOA how DID I do that? I can barely walk. So, I've put up with the brain fuzz that does get better as my body gets used to the medicine. I had horrible migraines the first few days. I still get some headaches, but it's much better.

I also have tossed the pain meds and just use Aleve or Motrin, the pain stuff just didn't help. I have been using the Lidocaine patch which has been very helpful. I try to use if I need to leave my house for any length of time. It's not as strong as the duragesic patch, or so I've been told.

I use ice during the day and heat at night. Does anyone else have trouble sitting? I have an awful time sitting up straight and/or sitting up without my left leg up.

I'm so happy to have found this area so that maybe we can help each other get through all of this mess. Family members just don't understand and it makes it tough.

Thanks for listening and good luck to all that are going through the nerve pain battle!

Kiki,
WHat kind of doctor are you going to for this? I just had a lap two weeks ago to remove adhesions, and the docor said unfortunatly that adhmonial wall damage can't be fixed. I didn't even ask him what he meant. But again, I am back to the heating pad, and the deep incision area pain the I have had for almost three years. I was so hopeful that the lap would help. Now, again I am left not knowing where to turn.