Meds: Specific Effects

[billanschell]

I thought it might be informative for us to describe the specific benefit of each med that we take. We've posted about many meds in many contexts, but I can't recall us ever breaking down which med addresses each symptom for us. It will almost certainly vary from person to person, but it still might be helpful to people considering meds they haven't yet tried. So here's mine, including the side-effects of each:

Neurontin:

Plus: Suppresses the quirkier nerve symptoms: Tingling, burning and touch sensitivity.
Minus: Grogginess, fatigue, short-term memory impairment.

Xanax:

Plus: Makes my knee feel less tightly clenched.
Minus: Grogginess, seems to require escalating dosages

Vicodin:

Plus: Seems to freeze my ankle pain somewhat. Slight euphoria makes it easier for me to ignore discomfort and get more work done.

Minus: Must be taken in small doses, and somewhat infrequently, to avoid any possible escalation/addiction. Some "crash" after six hours or so.

A couple of other notes:

Nothing seems to really help the squeezing feeling in my ankle, which is bad enough to keep me from sleeping both at night and in the morning.

Neurontin seems to be the most essential for me.

Having a beer or glass of wine tightens my legs quickly. Bummer...

I'd love to see others offer similar assessments.

Thanks.

--Bill

[8338]

Hi Bill,
I just take Neurontin and it also calms down the tingling, burning sesensation.
Sometimes I have to remember to take it because of that but when I have waited too long in between doses, WOW! tingling and burning come back full force.
I don't find any fatigue or memory impairment from it though.


The trouble that I am having are the spasams that my foot and leg get when I'm laying down.
It likes to tighten up and then let go and really, really is anoying and painful. Any help with that?

Barb

[Grabbit]

Tonic water.... drink it. It contains quinine which calms the spasms. I know....... seems too simple. It will help most people with the nasty symptoms you've described. Upon the onset of these symptoms fill a large cocktail glass with ice and tonic water.... add a slice of lime and enjoy. Although vodka works nicely with these ingredients there is really no benefit. Please let us know if quinine works for you. Quinine is a bitter white drug that is derived from the bark of the cinchona tree.... its an 'old school' drug that is often overlooked. Go with it!!!! If it fails to work add the vodka and call your pain team for yet another appointment.

[cindylee]

Barb!!! I too have those same spasms. I did not have them the first year, it's only in the last 9 months or so they have begun to well, spaz me out. At least I don't feel quite so bad now. I haven't found anything that stops them yet. But at least now I know I'm not the only one rolling in pain at 3 am. Hugs, Cindy

[peilynne]

Hi Barb and Cindylee,
I too have muscle spasms in my left leg/foot, that's the side i have the deficits on since my surgery. For some reason, they were really bad Wed night, night two after botox, they woke me four times, i'm hoping its a good thing, the muscle trying to let go. Here are some things I have discovered help my spasms over the past year:
I sleep in a hospital bed so I elevate my legs slightly, or put a pillow under my left leg,if I don't put a pillow my leg feels like its digging into the bed after awhile
try heating a magic bag and putting it under your leg for awhile
calcium, i take 1250 mg twice a day
when my leg spasms now when i'm sitting in my wheelchair, i just let it spasm to loosen the muscle up
my spasms seem to be less frequent, but i always get them worse first thing in the morning, or when i go from chair to bed or exercise equip at physio, but they have gotten less painful over the past year
i hope some of this helps, take care everyone,
lynne

[8338]

Lynne and Cindy,
Thanks for the tips, I'll give them a try. I forgot to mention that I usually get them when I've been on the eliptical or grocery shopping, being on my feet a long time. It helps to get out of bed and walk on it a little, but I am soooooooo tired in the middle of the am. I few weeks back I was in the show when the leg decided to do a jumping bean act. Now try to hide that!!!

[tc]

Ever since I found out about my tumor in 2007, doctors have been offering me neurontin (gabapentin) prescriptions for my symptoms during this "watch and wait" period. I didn't take anything the first year, but the tingling has changed to distracting stinging and burning (feet and wrists) . . . so I finally decided to try neurontin (and so many of you all take it, so I figured it would help me, too). I didn't get beyond 3 days at a low dose. By the third day, my feet hurt worse on the drug than before. My two big toes felt like they were going to explode with pain. They felt like I had gout. Also, I had a really bad stomach ache by the third day. I stopped taking the neurontin and was very happy to get back to my previous level of pain within 24 hours. I have been taking amitriptyline (5 MG once in the evening) for over 2 months. That drug has helped me a lot with the nerve pain. The pain is still there, but toned down enough that I'm not so distracted by it. On amitriptyline, I get a good night's sleep, though I am requiring a full 8 or 9 hours sleep or I feel hungover when I get up. Anyway, I just wanted to share that I wasn't able to take neurontin. It made me hurt worse.

[susan]

Neurontin
plus: helps pain and really annoying paresthesias, ie feeling that someone is sitting on my shoulder, crampy muscle feeling in my arm (I don't think it is really cramps, just feels like it). If a miss a dose, I can feel it.
minus: at higher doses (800mg twice a day, 900 at night) I got really sleepy, other than that the only side effect I had was a brief euphoria the day I started it and when I increased the dose, but that passed quickly.

Oxycodone:
narcotic, I take it only at night if needed if pain is bad
plus: I can sleep
minus: It makes me sleepy, I can only take it if I'm not going anywhere. Narcotics are addictive, so I don't like to take it much.

Ambien
mild sleeping pill
plus: I can sleep, if I don't take it, I wake up multiple times during the night because my arm is numb (it gets numb when I lay down). It doesn't leave me drowsy in the morning.
minus: If I get out of bed 1/2 hr or so after I take it, I am unsteady on my feet and I stagger around, so I try not to get up after taking it. That is hard though, I always think of something I forgot to do......