medications

[peilynne]

Hi everyone, I have a question concerning medications. I had an intramedullary subependymoma, 10 cm, removed last june from my spinal cord, c3-t2, plus laminectomy, five removed. I am still in therapy and have quite intense pain in my back. I also have spasms in my legs, worse in my left. The following is the meds I currently take:
baclofen 10 mg 4 times a day for spasms
nortriptyline 10 mg 3 times a day for nerve pain
nortriptyline 25 mg once at bed for nerve pain
time release morphine 10 mg once, in morning for pain
clonazapam 5 mg 1 for 4 times daily for nerve pain
detrol once daily, to relax bladder
motrin 400 mg 4 times a day
As well, I also take colace/sennokot/zantac/vit a/multivitamins/calcium
It bothers me that I take so much med, especially when I read that some of you are on no med, please, tell me your honest thoughts on these meds

[Joel]

Have you been to see a pain management doc who is familiar with SCT survivors? Meds usually involve a tradeoff--there are the side effects to consider. If you feel loopy or out of it, then maybe you should look into changing something. But if you get benefits from the meds and the side effects are not too bad, then maybe keep it up...

[peilynne]

Hi Joel, thanks for responding, I read a lot of your posts, you're quite humorous, i haven't looked into seeing a pain management doc familiar with sci, i live in the smallest province in canada, fortunately, we don't have a lot of spinal cord injuries, its a small community of sci survivors. My physiatrist is conservative when it comes to meds, most of my meds are for jumping, burning, nerve pain in my back near the surgery site which i hope will diminish soooooooooon. I don't seem to be loopy, I function quite well throughout the day and am very alert, no memory problems, i just worry about the longterm cumulative effects of all these drugs and hope to get off some of them soon. I will look into a pain mngt doc and I have used acupuncture in the past and it works for me, so that is probably something I should try and resume.
Thanks Joel, have a great day!!!!!!!

[ScrapHeap]

Maybe ask your doc to try you on low to moderate doses of Lyrica. Many of us are on it w/good results and few side-effects. Lyrice is a mainstay for me - twice a day, everyday. It may be worth a shot. I keep hydacodone apap/10/650 (vikatin) around for worse days dealing w/pain. 1/2 a pill w/the Lyrica dose(s) seems to help a lot. 150 mg of Lyrica twice daily, occasional 1/2 pill of Vikatin, and an assortment of vitamins is all I take and have taken for the better part of the last year. June 1, 2008 marked my 2 year "wall."

I was on a lot of meds, post op, too. A few of the things you mentioned are less medication and more towards the stool softener products and others to keep things moving along in the bowels. Those things didn't serve me well as my bowels moved (and still move) very slow. High doses of vitamin c (thanks joel) works better for me. But everyone is a bit different.

It's still sort of soon, post-op, for you. Most of us see our overall improvements around the 2 year mark. Hang in there and keep w/the PT routine. It seems to help a lot in the long run!

-Mike

[peilynne]

Thanks Mike, I'll definitely discuss trying lyrica with my doctor, i see him again soon, its not a common drug given to sci patients that i know, however it is related to gabupanten, which is commonly prescribed here, its tricky, finding the combination that works for you, i've had a lot of back pain this week, but i'm blaming it on the cold, damp weather we are having in the Maritimes, summer has not arrived yet, can you believe that? It's July!!!!!!!!!!!! But its Canada,eh? I'm not quite to the 1 year mark as my initial surgery to remove the tumor was june 21, but i suffered a spinal fluid leak three weeks later and they had to re-open the op site. I'm trying really hard to get to the "walker stage", then i hope to work with a personal trainer and see how much further i can go. I wish you all the best and thanks for responding.

[john8888]

It may be a good plan to write or call to the Lyndhurst Centre and ask your medication questions. I called them after reading an old post by you recommending them.

Ask your last Lyndhurst therapist for a good plan to get you to the walker stage. Ask how medications can help or hinder you.

Keep fighting and good luck.