Medicine question for those with Fibro or pain..

[Misfit Toy]

Hey all! So, I have fibromyalgia, as many of you know. I also have Intercostal Neuralgia, which is actually worse for me. That is when there is a nerve that is inflamed and wraps around the ribs and causes horrible restrictive pain to the point of having a hard time breathing.

So, here is my question; I have been on Lidoderm patches for 2 years and they have really helped with my pain a lot. Problem is; I don't have medicine coverage. Prescription coverage. I receive almost all of my meds for free with patient assistance programs, but this will not be possible as Lidoderm and now the generic, Lidocaine have discontinued any kind of free coverage for patient assistance as of December of 2013. I have searched high and low and there is no coverage for it by any company, etc.

The lidoderm patch is $378 in cost. The lidocaine generic patch is $240.00 at Walmart.

Has anyone tried these and have they worked for you and have you switched to something else? I am trying to figure out what to do because I don't or can't really take pain meds because I have reactions to most pain meds, but the patches I have no reactions to and they work. They do. The bring the pain around my ribs down a major notch.

I need a different alternative to help me get through this because I just don't think I can afford to spend that much money a month for the patches. I am already spending close to a $1,000 and some of that is for alternative methods that have helped like the peptide shot.

Anyway, any kind of insight would greatly help. I also found a coupon for these drugs, but it's not that significant that I have noticed. Meaning, it will still be about $200 a month.

Thanks, all for any info!

 

[Mya Symons]

There are some natural medicines that work great for me for the fibromyalgia pain. They may work for you. One of them costs $4.99 at Swanson's Health Products. It is called Swanson Homeopathy Fibromyalgia Relief. Here are the ingredients:
Each 300 mg tablet contains as active ingredients: Aconitum napellus 4X; Arnica montana, radix 3X, 6X; Berberis vulgaris 6X; Bryonia alba 4X; Colchicum autumnale 6X; Dulcamara 6X; Harpagophytum 6X; Ledum palustre 6X; Rhododendron chrysanthum 6X; Rhus toxicodendron 4X, 8X, 12X, 30X; Valeriana officinalis 2X. Each 300 mg tablet contains as inactive ingredients: Lactose USP, magnesium stearate.

Health Concerns Channel Flow is another good alternative. It is, however, more expensive. The ingredients are the following: Corydalis extract rhizome Yan Hu Suo, Angelica root Bai Zhi, White Peony root Bai Shao, Cinnamon twig Gui Zhi, Tang Kuei root Dang Gui, Salvia root Dan Shen, Myrrh resin Mo Yao, Frankincense resin Ru Xiang, Licorice root Gan Cao. (WARNING ON THIS ONE, Corydalis may show up positive on drug tests as hydromorphone)

Also, for fibromyalgia large doses of Sam-e, and Pure Formulas NAC Enhanced Antioxidant Formula are quite helpful.

Prescription medicines that have helped me the most are probably Savella, Tramadol, and Zofran. You could try getting a prescription for these and contacting the drug companies for assistance.

Zofran has been surprisingly helpful. Here is some info on that:

American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy
Pharmacotherapy of Fibromyalgia
Laura M. Traynor, Christopher N. Thiessen, Andrew P. Traynor

Miscellanous Medications
Other drugs have been studied in small trials for the treatment of fibromyalgia but are not commonly used in clinical practice.

Ondansetron
Serotonin 5-HT3- receptor antagonists are candidates for treatment of fibromyalgia because preliminary evidence suggests that they may possess analgesic effects. In addition, it is thought that symptoms of fibromyalgia may be related to serotonin deficiency. Targeting the 5-HT3 receptor, which is present in areas of the brain important to pain signal processing, is postulated to affect pain transmission in the spine.[75]

Hrycaj et al.[75] investigated the efficacy of ondansetron in 20 patients with fibromyalgia using a crossover study design. The patients were asked to discontinue all medications for fibromyalgia; after a one-week wash-out period, they were given either acetaminophen 500 mg or ondansetron 8 mg orally twice daily for five days and then, after a three-day washout period, switched to the other treatment. Ondansetron treatment resulted in significant decreases in VAS scores for pain, tender-point scores, and average pain threshold. Fifty-five percent of patients were considered "responders" to ondansetron therapy, compared with 5% of patients considered responders to acetaminophen. The most common adverse effects of ondansetron were constipation and dry mouth. As ondansetron is available in a generic formulation, a prospective randomized trial might not be actively pursued.

 

[barbc56]

@Misfit Toy , so sorry to hear this. Absolutely awful that you can't get the pain meds through patient assistance. There have been times that I have also used these programs and they were a lifesaver.

Can you get something similar through another company? It was a pharmacist who gave me the information about two of my scrips I could get at reduced rates.

There may be some social service agencies who may be able to give you assistance. Where I live there is a free clinic if your income is under a certain amount. Another source might be a church or synagogue.

While I can only report what has helped me as we all react differently to meds, is Tramadol, Zoloft and clnazepam.

Good luck. Keep us posted and take care.

Barb

 

[Ema]

Try Canadian pharmacies.

A 90 day supply (3 boxes) costs about $150/mo.

 

[shah78]

please consider that pain has a physical component as well as a physiological component.. This" intercostal neuralgia" diagnosis is an allopathic construct which sounds real fancy. What you have are tight, spasming rib muscles. Find a competent local Neuromuscular Therapist and they can fix this problem in a few hours of therapy. If you want to try to fix it on the cheap, buy yourself a large pink pencil eraser with a sharp eadge and start methodically digging into the space between each rib joiint, side and back (releasing the intercostal muscles}. You will quickly figure out where this pain is coming from. It may take many hours by yourself, but you will clean out all/much of the pain within a few weeks. Neuromuscular therapy kept me out of the allopaathic system for almost fifteen years, giving me the time to find metabolic cures for my pain.[Paleo diet, cold therapy, methylation.] It still digs me out of pain when ever I tweek myself at the gym. I'll find you a good therapist in your area and interview candidates for you.

 

[barbc56]

@Misfit Toy I'm not sure if this has anything to do with discontinuing the patient assistance program but interesting nevertheless.

Puerto Rican pharmaceutical wholesaler Drogueria Betances launched its antitrust class action Friday in Pennsylvania, and a union health and welfare fund filed a similar complaint Tuesday in California, both alleging that Endo, Actavis and their subsidiaries unlawfully restricted Lidoderm competition with their so-called pay-for-delay deal. That agreement harmed consumers and caused them to pay higher prices for the pain patches, the complaints claimed.

http://www.stollberne.com/ClassActi...-to-delayed-generic-drug-to-replace-lidoderm/

I just happened upon this while looking for something else. Strange, eh?

Barb

 

[Misfit Toy]

@barbc56, thank you so much. Unreal that you found that. I am in PA!! I think Endo is too. So crazy! Again, thank you!

 

[Misfit Toy]

@Mya Symons , hey thank you for all of that info. That was great that you wrote all of that out, or typed it. Thank you.

Ema, thanks for that info too. Will look into it. Any saving would be great.

@shah78, digging into that area absolutely kills and I would not sleep. This pain causes me to not breathe so digging with a pencil eraser will never happen, but thank you. Intercostal is ribs Neuralgia is nerve so it makes sense to have that name to me. I have never had pain like this ever so it's pretty hard to deal with. I have many pain syndromes including IC, Endo and Fibro, but this one takes the cake and wins in pain intensity hands down.

 

[heapsreal]

What other meds have u tried that have helped or not?

The rib type pain u explained sounds similar to something i sometimes get. feels like the ribs are clamping down on each other.

I also get a neuropathy type pain in my lower legs when i try to sleep. Both lyrica and neurontin have helped.

I also use a sr tramadol for lower back pain with good results and it does help the other pains i get ie rib pain and neuropathy.

Everyone is different but thats what i find helps me.

 

[Misfit Toy]

@heapsreal , I use tramadol and naprosyn, but if things get really bad, Fentanyl. I have more reactions from the pain meds that sometimes it's not worth it. Neurontin makes me quite depressed. It shuts down any kind of happiness. Lyrica is even worse. Pain meds should be the best thing, but to me they are the enemy.