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Created in 2008, Phoenix Rising is the largest and oldest forum dedicated to furthering the understanding of, and finding treatments for, complex chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia, long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.
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I am suffering from pain. It is mostly located in my legs (muscles, feels like lactic acid) and in my arms.
If I use my hands and arms to read a book, use my laptop, or something else and it burns, and my joints eventually makes strange cracking sounds, especially when i stretch them out.
I also suffer from pain in my legs. Walking or standing still a few minutes can lead to muscle tension or cramps which also hurts.
.......
I agree to that. In the best of the worlds, patients should be able to contribute to the decision making when it comes to their health care, but it gets very difficult when it comes to pain management, especially in the light of having ME, and especially in this day and age.
I find that making sure I take magnesium daily or twice daily helps to reduce the lactic acid type pain. Sometimes ibuprofen helps with joint and muscle pain....but not always.
Perhaps I am lucky. Some doctors in Norway (and I guess in many countries as well) about prescribing strong opioids against pain that is considered idiopathic. Perhaps I convinced my doctor that my pain was real indeed when I did some joint cracking in front of her. She said that the sound was horrible that she couldn't stand it lol.
I got Palexia IR (tapentadol) today. It targets neuropathic pain better than Oxycodone. She said I could try it out.
OxyContin was also on the table, but if I can limit the use to every other day, or slightly more than that I can continue to use IR. I don't like the idea to drive on opioids, so I will try IR versions of opioids for a few months and see if I can manage. My goal is to only use 30 pills per 60 days, but if it was necessary I could get "slightly more" (whatever that means).
Written by liability-sensitive drug manufacturers, the PDR is notoriously defensive, listing every known possible contraindication to any listed drug, any conceivable adverse consequence (side effect) for which there is any medical evidence, etc.
Therefore, although the PDR alone will not provide a "balanced" perspective on the likely side effects of a medication, it will at least enable you to identify the main purpose of any prescribed drug.
This book was recommended reading from my pain doctor:Has somemone of you ever tried a kind of anti-stress- and/or anti-pain-training? Does this help?Are there exercises concerning pain reduction? Do you know some links?
This book was recommended reading from my pain doctor:
http://www.amazon.com/Managing-Pain-Before-Manages-You/dp/0898622247
I thought I got some benefit from reading books written by Devin Starlanyl, MD, a rheumatologist who has fibromyalgia:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias=stripbooks&field-keywords=devin starlanyl&rh=n:283155,k:devin starlanyl
Don't you find opioids kill your emotions (anhedonia I guess) if you take them for too long?@Violeta, thanks. I must say that I am not very concerned about dangerous side effects of opioids (except tolerance/addiction).
Don't you find opioids kill your emotions (anhedonia I guess) if you take them for too long?
Don't you find opioids kill your emotions (anhedonia I guess) if you take them for too long?
That's good. I've limited my opiate use to once every 3 days because of that. If you haven't ever tried 100mg tramadol ER i would highly recommend it. It lasted way longer and had given me incredible sleep! Paradoxically tramadol IR would make it difficult to sleepI have no clue.. I only take instant release every other day or less. I haven't experienced anything like that.
It is mostly located in my legs (muscles, feels like lactic acid) and in my arms.