HELP!!! Someone Please Help me!!! - Pain Management Message Board

cardshark · 03-05-2009, 06:00 PM

I have been dealing with severe leg pain and have now been on crutches as a result for 7 months and I spend my day in a recliner. I can't go out with friends or do basic daily things because of the pain. I have now found out that I have Saphenous Neuropathy, Sciatic Neuropathy, and Lumbosacral plexopathy. I have been on Percocet, Neurontin, Lyrica, Lidoderm patches, and tried cortizone injection and everything either didn't help the pain or caused severe effects/reactions and I had to be taken off. I went to a pain mgt. doc and he is recommending a Spinal Cord stimulator but my insurance won't pay for him to do it but they will a doctor in a larger facility so I went to Cleveland Clinic today to see a doc about having it done and he says that there is no way he would recommend that yet. I am to young to resort to that with out trying like 5 other things first. For example a nerve block which the other doc didn't feel was a good idea because of not feeling anything and I am highly allergic to bees and if I were to get stung I wouldn't feel it and could end up dead before anyone knew what happened, another is more pills all of which cause kidney issues and I only have one kidney so the other doc didn't feel that was a good idea either. I am feeling like I'm back to square one and a lab rat. This doc is recommending that I try Topamax. Anyone else been on Topamax for nerve pain and if so did it work and what were the side effects? The reason Neurontin and Lyrica haven't worked is because of the severe weight gain they cause and with the worst of my problem being my leg, especially the knee, this doc nor I felt a med that cause weight gain was a good idea and Topamax causes weight loss so he felt it would be good to try but I'm pretty sure it can cause kidney issues as well so I'm feeling extremely frustrated and don't know where to turn right now!
Can someone please help!!

brianpain33 · 03-05-2009, 10:49 PM

You are definitely a difficult case since you have so many issues going on. I have never tried Topomax but a friend of mine has and he had bad side effects and had to stop taking it but everyone reacts differently. There are several other anti-seizure meds such as Trileptal and Tegretol. You won't know the side effects until you try them however most of them will cause drowsiness, dizziness, tired, fatigue, etc but sometimes the side effects will diminish over time.

Why did your doctor say you were too young for the stimulator? How old are you? Has any of your doctors mentioned the pain pump? This could also be an option of last resort. However the doctors will probably want you to try all other options first. I know it definitely sucks and I live with chronic pain (for almost 6 years now) and I am 34 years old so I know what you mean. One other thing that I forgot to mention was the fentanyl patch(Duragesic). Have you ever tried that before? It is one of the strongest opiod medications and I currently am on the patch.

brian

cardshark · 03-06-2009, 03:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brianpain33

You are definitely a difficult case since you have so many issues going on. I have never tried Topomax but a friend of mine has and he had bad side effects and had to stop taking it but everyone reacts differently. There are several other anti-seizure meds such as Trileptal and Tegretol. You won't know the side effects until you try them however most of them will cause drowsiness, dizziness, tired, fatigue, etc but sometimes the side effects will diminish over time.

Why did your doctor say you were too young for the stimulator? How old are you? Has any of your doctors mentioned the pain pump? This could also be an option of last resort. However the doctors will probably want you to try all other options first. I know it definitely sucks and I live with chronic pain (for almost 6 years now) and I am 34 years old so I know what you mean. One other thing that I forgot to mention was the fentanyl patch(Duragesic). Have you ever tried that before? It is one of the strongest opiod medications and I currently am on the patch.

brian

I'm 26 and have had cancer 4 times the first of which I was 4 and had to have radiation and chemo which is mostlikely the cause of all my problems now. I also have epilepsy and I have been on trileptal and tegretol for that and both of them triggered more severe seizures instead of controlling the mild ones I had so that rules them out as an option. I am allergic to adhesive so patches don't work for me either. Just about any pill medication has kidney problems as side effects so I have to use extreme caution. From the way it sounds my issues are severe and had they been diagnosed sooner they may have been able to do something to treat them but now it is just try to improve my quality of life while I'm still here. Which I do ok with meds that have renal (kidney) complications for short term but I'm not supposed to use them long term and usually have to take a much lower dose which decreases the likelyhood of them working.

brianpain33 · 03-06-2009, 03:29 PM

Well since you have all of those issues I would think you would be a great candidate for the pain pump made by Medtronic. Do a search online for "Medtronic pain pump" or "morphine pain pump" and you will see alot of information about it. If you go to Medtronic's site you can search for PM docs that implant and maintain them. Keep us posted.

brian