femoral nerve damage - Pain Management Message Board

Laurel48 · 03-04-2008, 10:22 PM

I have permanent femoral nerve damage in my left leg, and was just prescribed Topamax, because I have tried many many meds and nothing will take away the chronic pain I have. Is Topamax the correct med for my chronic nerve damage?

SpinalMalady · 03-05-2008, 05:15 AM

Topamax is a medication used for nerve pain. I can't answer the rest of your question though. Sorry about that.

I take it as a preventitve for chronic (almost daily since age 7) migraine headaces and it has given me my life back. Some cannot tolerate the side effects of it. For me, I have had no issues with it, and could not tolerate some of the other nerve medications such as Neurontin. There's another one that is being used an I can't recall the name right not. Starts with a "P". On both of those meds, I got S-T-U-P-I-D. I did things like stopped at green lights, couldn't spell for squat, bumped into doors and walls, etc. The only real side effects for me with the Topamax are 1) weight loss: I've lost over 100 lbs and am still losing, all without even trying, and 2) The horrible taste of sodas when you take Topamax. I can live without soda! LOL!

Water is much better for you, and I LOVE me some sweet tea.

Hope that helps. Good luck!

ozzybug · 03-05-2008, 05:38 AM

Laurel-
Fellow nerve damage person here. Mine isn't femoral, but saphenous though.

Are you seeing a neurologist, and if not, are you seeing a PM doctor? You mentioned trying other meds, but didn't list any of them. Do you mind giving us a little more information? Sorry, but sometimes it's necessary.

Without knowing the other meds you have tried, I can only say that Topomax has given many people great results, so try and give it a fair shot. Hopefully it will work for you.

I personally take Neurontin and have gotten wonderful results from it since getting to the right dosage. Neurontin is actually used "off label" for nerve damage as it was originally made for seizures.

Lyrica is another med that some use and get good results from as well. There are so many options.

I hope you will get great results from the Topomax. Please keep us informed.

brianpain33 · 03-05-2008, 10:31 AM

I have permanent nerve damage in both feet and have been on many, many meds to try to control it. I am sorry to say that you probably will never be able to eliminate all of the pain. The goal in pain management is to get a reduction of 50% of the pain that you are currently having which will allow you to function better and have more abilities. Here are the list of meds for nerve pain and I will list the ones that I take:

1. Anticonvulsant medications - Neurontin, Lyrica (I take this 600mg/day), Topomax, Tegretal, Trileptal, Gabitril, couple others I can't think of

2. SNRI antidepressant meds: Cymbalta (a lot of people on here take this and have had much success for treating nerve pain & depression), Effexor

3. tricyclic antidepressants: nortriptyline, amitryptiline

4. SSRI antidepressants: too many to list (Prozac, Zoloft, Wellbutrin, Paxil) - not as effective on nerve pain as the others listed above

5. opiate/opiod medications: hydrocodone (I take this), oxycodone, tramadol (I take this), hydromorphone, oxymorphone, fentanyl patch(I take this), methadone, morphine - not very effective on nerve pain but they do work for some people

It really is trial and error to find the right ones that will work for you and the ones that you can tolerate the side effects to. I hope this gives you a better list of meds and possibilities. You might want to print this out and take to your doctor to get his/her opinion. I would say the top favorites are Lyrica, Cymbalta, hydrocodone, tramadol(Ultram)

Brian

Muskokagirl11 · 03-05-2008, 11:49 AM

Laurel, I have just read the series of 'posts' and obviously Brian has provided you with a very comprehensive list of the types of drugs that might be prescribed for nerve pain.

May I ask how you ended up having the chronic pain of your lateral femoral nerve. I have been searching several months to try and find someone who has damage like I do. I have damage that was the direct result of a laprascopic surgery...the pain was not addressed immediately, in fact it was almost 4 months until I saw neurologists, a pain management clinic and a surgeon...Anyway, I am not answering your question but if you might let me know what has happened to you I would be very grateful.

I have been on medication for almost 9 months. Originally I was on Lyrica but my body could not handle the side effects. I am currently taking neruontin, oxycontine and oxy-IR for the break thru pain. The pain clinic is recommending that I continue to increase the neurontin but I have had to be very careful with this as I have found the side effects brutal...my body has adjusted over time, but I still really struggle with these meds. Everyone's body is so different. I still have significant pain so I am not in a position to say that these drugs 'work'.

I look foward to hearing your story.

If there is anyone else that reads this that has damage to their lateral femoral cutaneous nerve from surgical trauma, I would love to be able to connect. I have been reading this website for a very short time, but what a blessing it has been to know there are others out there that 'get it'.

Thanks