anyone work and take pain medicatons? what job can you do?

[hurtingallthetimet]

hope no one minds my asking..but is anyone on pain medications and still able to work somehow? maybe have someone drive you to your job or from home?

i have worked my whole life even as a kid and loved it...loved providing for my family..took care family house work and exercised like crazy..then got ill and lost everything...i have social phobias amoung other things and its all gotten a million times worse since becomeing ill..but i miss working..feeling productive and valueable...but i hurt so bad and so much fatigue i have to take medications..im too the point i keep getting worse...i like my doctor seems very knowledgeable and has told me that its not uncommon for people to get worse and worse...wasnt what doctors told me in begining but they seemed to know little about htese illness one told me that they didnt really believe in these illness and it was in peoples heads and id be fine in a few years..so i worked as long as i could...ive tried to hide how sick i am from family and im exhuasted.......

i just dont know waht job i could do...my short term memory loss..needing to take medications...i cant drive with medications...all the illness thats come with these illness such as magnified phobias etc...

but is there someting that people like us can do???? id lvoe to bring something to the table again...i use to lvoe being so active...sorry for typos hurt too much to correct..but im so overwhelmed by things now...is this as good as it gets for us????

i just feel so alone im in so much pain right now and fatigue...feel so useless...anyone else feel like this? i just need to vent...i fell today and not doing well either think thats another reason im more depressed..but i was trying to built up courage to ask these questions...i just hate my life now

 

[heapsreal]

Tramadol i find non sedating if anything its energizing and find it good for chronic lower back pain, but some people find they are spaced out on it or get sleepy, all u can do is try it, otherwise try anti-inflammatories like celebrex or mobic.

cheers!!!

 

[Ocean]

I'm not sure what kind of pain medicine you mean. If you mean narcotic pain medication I cannot do much of anything much less work on them. It's a catch 22. Can't do anything when in severe pain, can't do anything when on pain medications that make you very out of it. I miss working too. Sorry you're feeling so bad.

 

[MishMash]

The subject is verboten, a shibboleth, not to be ever discussed among CFS patients and doctors. But I am going to address it anway.

I spent the first 35 years of my life struggling with CFS until diagnosis in the mid-nineties. One of my prominent symptoms has been insomnia. As a student all the way thru my work life, I hated being conscious most days (I can still work, thank god). But sleep deprivation as a way of life renders you the status of a Guantanamo Bay prisoner. It is one of the forms of torture routinely used around the world. My insomnia was such that I would start seeing hallucinations, flashes in my periperhal field that were just phantoms of a sleep-deprived brain. Not to mention the overall worsening of my CFS symptoms.

Several years ago, when I was well into my forties, I visited a new doc and told him about my sleep deprivation. He immediately asked why I hadn't tried prescription sleep medications. My opinions about such drugs had been formed during the Nancy Reagan years "just say no;" or horror stories told to me by my 1950's era mother, who remembers (I guess) when barbituates were overprescribed, and there was much addiction. Housewives, or this or that celebrity, starlet died of taking to many "sedatives." Anyway, it was axiomatic that prescription sleep meds were never to be taken; because the only result would be a long hellish slide into addiction. You might as well be taking cyanide.

Nothing could further from the truth. I have been taking Restoril for eight years now. I do not take them during the weekends, because I am able to sleep at any hour my body wants to sleep. When my body truly wishes to fall asleep non-chemically, it can still do so quite easily. If there is a cure for CFS, and sleep someday comes to me naturally, I will stop taking any narcotic sleep enhancers. Until such time, every day that i wake up feeling somewhat rested and not sick and sleep-deprived is worth every sleeping pill I'm taking. I will continue taking these meds probably till I expire from this earth.

 

[urbantravels]

I don't think either pain medications or sleep medications are a shibboleth among CFS patients. Many of us take one, the other, or both, and it's not considered strange in any way.

I don't work, but I do take Tramadol, and I don't find it makes me feel "high" or "stoned" or impairs me to the point where I don't feel safe to drive, etc. (Of course, it addresses my pain and not my fatigue, so I'm still very limited in how long I can do things like driving.) NSAIDs do absolutely nothing for my CFS pain, and believe me, I tried for a long time; I only keep them around for occasional headaches. Tramadol is the best thing I've found. I've had no problems with dependency, but my pain is not so bad every day that I take it continually - I take it probably at least every other or every third day.

 

[hurtingallthetimet]

thanks for the replies and advice/info...i take generic vicodine and morphine...i do take sleep medications and anxitey..depression medications...

i miss work terribly...as i said i had worked my whole life and was extremely busy with family and home, and friends and exercise all at same time until i become ill..

i understand the catch 22 that is how i feel i cant take the amount of pain and function...and i stay exhuasted but the pain medicatons make me kinda spacey as they would anyone i suppose..

i have tried many many different medications tramadol celebrex most everythign...i am weird with medications...always have been...either they do nothing...or i have a side effect...throw up constantly..insomnia...weight gain etc. etc...but when first ill i did alot of physical therapy etc. helped some while doing it but was too expensive and as time went on too exhausting and painful..

i was just wondering if anyone else was on pain medications and could do something at home maybe...i know its crazy but maybe have someone drive to job but still be able to take pain medications...im just really depressed over it all...i just needed to vent...thanks for listening...hopefully more researach will be done and there will be a cure...i dont mean to be such a downer but i jsut get so tired of living in pain 24/7 i miss my life from before i was ill...miss living...miss feeling productive and healthy...

 

[Ocean]

thanks for the replies and advice/info...i take generic vicodine and morphine...i do take sleep medications and anxitey..depression medications...

i miss work terribly...as i said i had worked my whole life and was extremely busy with family and home, and friends and exercise all at same time until i become ill..

i understand the catch 22 that is how i feel i cant take the amount of pain and function...and i stay exhuasted but the pain medicatons make me kinda spacey as they would anyone i suppose..

i have tried many many different medications tramadol celebrex most everythign...i am weird with medications...always have been...either they do nothing...or i have a side effect...throw up constantly..insomnia...weight gain etc. etc...but when first ill i did alot of physical therapy etc. helped some while doing it but was too expensive and as time went on too exhausting and painful..

i was just wondering if anyone else was on pain medications and could do something at home maybe...i know its crazy but maybe have someone drive to job but still be able to take pain medications...im just really depressed over it all...i just needed to vent...thanks for listening...hopefully more researach will be done and there will be a cure...i dont mean to be such a downer but i jsut get so tired of living in pain 24/7 i miss my life from before i was ill...miss living...miss feeling productive and healthy...

Are you able to do something simple from home? I don't know what kind of home jobs area available but sometimes there are different things like answering calls from home, or putting info into a database or something. Those might not be the best examples but if you look into it there may be things you could do a few hours a day or even a few hours a week? Or you could do something volunteer? Or you could do your own thing, like start a blog or web site on a certain topic you feel strongly about. Lots of things you can try these days if you have internet access.

 

[mellster]

Where do you live? If you are in so much pain and need to take a lot of meds you might want to look into alternative medications with less side effects to complement the treatment, such as high dosage curcumin (e.g. Enhansa) or medical cannabis if legal in your country/state. cheers & good luck

 

[Valentijn]

Nothing could further from the truth. I have been taking Restoril for eight years now. I do not take them during the weekends, because I am able to sleep at any hour my body wants to sleep. When my body truly wishes to fall asleep non-chemically, it can still do so quite easily. If there is a cure for CFS, and sleep someday comes to me naturally, I will stop taking any narcotic sleep enhancers. Until such time, every day that i wake up feeling somewhat rested and not sick and sleep-deprived is worth every sleeping pill I'm taking. I will continue taking these meds probably till I expire from this earth.

Restoril works by enhancing GABA, which works by opposing glutamate. High glutamate is a likely problem in many people with ME/CFS, especially in regards to sleep dysfunction. An less risky way to reduce sleeping problems caused by glutamate is to supplement N-acetylcysteine (NAC). It works by combining with glutamate to form glutathione, thereby reducing glutamate levels.

I had the anti-drug brainwashing too, but still remain cautious when there are numerous studies indicating the likelihood of addiction and tolerance. In the case of Restoril, it sounds like tolerance usually occurs after a week or two, and getting off of the drug can be very problematic, though maybe your lack of use on the weekends is protecting you from those problems.

NAC has resolved my sleeping problems, and doesn't have the risks present in hypnotics. Plus the glutathione produced as a "side-effect" is highly beneficial. While I'm not anti-drug, I am in favor of trying the most natural and least risky options first.

 

[Valentijn]

thanks for the replies and advice/info...i take generic vicodine and morphine...i do take sleep medications and anxitey..depression medications...

Are you taking any of the supplements that usually help with ME/CFS pain? High doses of sublingual B12 are usually useful. It sounds like people that try the "real" pain meds don't usually find them very useful in ME/CFS. Supplements are often far more useful.

I know just how difficult it can be to adjust to the mindset that supplements can be just as effective as prescription durgs (or more effective) ... until I got sick and tried them, I viewed them as basically being fake drugs for new-agers

But if you think about it, prescription drugs are just trying to influence the action of natural substances in the bodies. Vitamins are essential for many chemical reactions involving those substances in the body, and supplements are a way to get more of things our bodies need, but are lacking. It makes sense that sometimes the most direct way of influencing the body (via vitamins and supplements) is also the most effective way.

There are many studies showing that high dose B12 is effective for pain in ME/CFS, and I can say from personal experience that it makes a huge difference. The same goes with a normal dose of omega 3 fish oil for the headache.