Hello. I was wondering who here takes daily pain medication? The strongest thing I have is Tramadol and I can usually get by on a 1/2 or 1/4 a bar. I really don't like the way pain meds make me feel. That floating feeling, itchy, and emotional. BUT I find I am a much easier and happier person to be around. I enjoy the day, I dance with my kid, and smile a bit more. I guess it takes the edge off. Even if there is very little pain registering, I am sure there is pain somewhere.
My hubs and doc have both told me that 1/2 or 1/4 a bar is nothing, and I know some people need major pain meds just to ease the pain. I am stubborn and I don't want to serenader to daily pain meds. BUT, it may be worth it to me and my family to take 1/2 a bar a day...
I fought the idea of taking them daily for more than 2 years. I take vicodin 10/325 twice daily now. I'm sitting here now with ice on my back wishing for the pain to go away. It is not quite time for my next dose. I would rather feel the pain sometimes than feel weird.
I take Celebrex 200 mg twice a day and Tylenol 1000 mg twice a day and along with mtx once a week and Stelara every 90 days it manages my pain most days. I do not know what bars of Tramadol is. I do know it is not a NSAID so I would wonder if that would help you more by lowering the inflammation. When my PsA is not well controlled either as the biologic is not working or I am having a serious flare I take Vicodin. My Doc prescribed 2 every 8 hous but I have never taken more than 4 tabs in a day. I also take flexeril and Trazadone every night so I can lay down to sleep. When I have to take the Vicodin it never lasts longer than a few weeks or a month at most. Then I seem to just taper myself off as the pain recedes. I was a nurse and I know I do not want to be on an opioid or opioid like med routinely until the end of my life. If you and your Rheumy are very sure your disease is under control and a NSAID would not be more helpful than maybe it is what it is. I will keep you in my thoughts.
I don't take prescription pain meds. The most I've ever taken was the 3000mg per day for a couple weeks of otc ibuprofen for my back pain. It didn't help very much. I'm pretty sure what got me through was just laying/sitting around on the heating pad doing nothing. Sometimes ice packs work better--they provided good temporary relief of the neuropathy in my feet until I went on Nortriptyline. I just don't like to cover up pain--maybe my pain isn't bad enough. I don't like anything that makes me feel high or sleepy. I would say massage, p.t., ice packs and a heating pad are my favorite pain "meds".
Karen, I agree. I would rather feel some pain then feel weird as well.
Micheal, I also take a prescription NSAID as well. The Tramadol is for break through pain, which is happening a lot lately. I am allowed one bar (because they are bar shaped) every 6 hours. I take 1/4 a bar once a day. I also take something to help me sleep.
GrandmaJ, I do agree about the heat pads and resting but that isn't an option for me. At least when my son is awake. I don't like feeling high either, but the little bit of pain med does help wonders. I wish they had a pill to help pain that didn't have the opium side effects.
Thanks everyone. I have 3 weeks until my next Stelara shot. I am hopping a bit of pain med each day can carry me until then. I hope everyone has a great day!
I take hydrocodone cut with ibuprofen 10/200 three times a day, but I tolerate them well. Karen you d
Should look into a pain specialist. Nerve burning can help a lot for back pain. I have it done twice a year and after a day or 2 the pain is gone. It’s amazing.
I take daily pain meds, but I’m one of the few. There aren’t many because if they can get the PsA under good control, we shouldn’t need pain meds. I’m pretty sure that I still have something going on that we haven’t figured out yet, which is why I have a lot of pain. I know I should probably be following up about it, but I’m tired of seeing docs for the moment, and will do it in the new year. Anyway, I’m pretty sure that there’s a solution out there that better than the one I have now. It sounds like we should both be making a trip to the rheum! All that said, don’t feel guilty about wanting to have a tolerable amount of pain. Take your pain meds when you need them, and keep looking for the reason that you’re still having pain.
I will only say this IF you have used pain meds (including Tramadol) for more than 30 days on an inconsistent basis You need to consider that you need to get on a better program immediately If at anytime your blood levels of pain med go down to zero they way we are built, the result will likely be rebound pain and a vicious circle starts. If you have a need for daily pain meds they need to be managed by a specialist in the area. Practice committees all over have determined that anyone taking 40 - 80 morphine units/day over 30 days should be managed by someone with either a specialty in the area or at the very least enough CE hours to manage. as well as the meds converted to long acting (and lower dose) in order to avoid the rebound pain as well as dependencey issues. This is down from a 160 units a few years ago and will be dropping again very soon. These are separate issues from what the government is doing which is now requiring a review every 30 days. At long last the profession has learned that mostly docs PCPs, Rheumies etc have NO CLUE what they are doing and have at long last determined most docs should not be doing it. You wouldn't let your Internist doa heart ablation, even though Cardiology is a Subspecialty of internal medicine would you
Here is the required training for docs in terms of pain management:
Good question Sybil. No Naproxen would count as a NASID not a pain med. I do not think even Tylenol would count as a pain med though it has no anti-inflammatory effect. Pain meds would be Tramadol, Vicodin and the other opioids.
Would it be evil to say maybe Tylenol is a pain med???
I was expecting to hear more this week from the US as folks discovered the rules for prescribing changed on Monday and you have to get a written prescription for no more than a 30 day supply of Tramadol.
But in regards to Tylenol, its funny to me somehow that in the last go round of regulatory changes people were complaining that their opiates were no longer working.... There was no change in the amount of codeine but there was a change in the amount of tylenol.
michael in vermont said:
Good question Sybil. No Naproxen would count as a NASID not a pain med. I do not think even Tylenol would count as a pain med though it has no anti-inflammatory effect. Pain meds would be Tramadol, Vicodin and the other opioids.
So, is it bad to take Naproxen on a daily basis? I started taking it a few months ago for a shoulder issue and it has helped so much with my back and neck pain that I hate to go off, although I can't take it for about 10 days when I have to do the yearly stool card test.
Right now I am taking diclofenac 75 mg twice a day to get me to my next Stealra shot, 3 weeks away. I also take 1/4 tab Tramadol as needed. It's not everyday, just the bad days. I do agree that long term daily NSAID consumption is not in your best interest. Beside lowering blood levels it can also damage your stomach and intestines. Temporary, yes, long term, no. My concern was taking the Tramadol daily, just to get through the day. I wondered who else did so.
Sybil, You aren't high jacking the thread! Silly. I think NSAID qualifies as a pain pill, though it's not opiate based. Yes, Tylenol is a pain pill. Aspirin, can be but it's also used for heart related problems.
I'm highly allergic to NSAIDs. I loved Aleve until it tried to kill me. Ditto for Ketoprophen. So I take Norco 7.5/325 tid. My PsA is not under control. It's probably the worse it has been. I'm still in moderate pain most of the time, and sometimes it is very severe. I work 20-30 hours a week now, and I would be completely unable to work or function without pain meds. The best pain med I have found is 40 mg of prednisone, but we won't go there. Y'all might be happy to know that I have weaned down to 8.5 mg per day and am shooting for 7.5 before my next doc appt in November. The goal is to get off of it completely, if and when I get some control on this monster. I am so ready for something to work.
I take Ibuprofen and Tylenol daily for pain. I have some Rx pain meds tucked away for the really really bad days. I want to stay away from narcotic pain meds for two reasons: One, I want to be able to function during the day and two, I don't want to have a dependence issue. I know the Ibu & Tylenol are not good long term but if I don't take it I don't get out of bed.
I have been on all sorts of pain meds over the years. I fight the urge to take them until I cannot bare it anymore. I was given OxyCodone a few years back for the SI pain and I didn't like the feeling it gave me. I have kids and a full time job. I felt so uncaring about anything and everything and that felt SO WRONG. So I would only take them at night to help me get comfortable to sleep - or if I had multiple major joints affected. Then I noticed that 1 every 4 hrs was not enough, so up to 2 at a time, under the same self inflicted rules.
I had the worst flare of my life in February and was admitted to the hospital for inflammation pressing on my spinal cord. That left me unable to move my neck or open my eyes, just excruciating (5 days of hell). There I was given Morphine, AND Demerol, AND Torodol only to discover that I have developed an intolerance to opioids. Started as an itch and rash, then progressed to facial swelling and dizziness. Now I cannot take opioids for pain. I have tramadol and take the max (under the same rules, only if multiple joints are affected) but it is not very effective at all and I can't sleep on it. So never at bedtime. I started drinking wine from time to time to be able to be with family and friends without writhing in pain, and then to sleep (once or twice a month it would be that bad) BAD IDEA - so I stopped.
So - next week I am getting my prescription for medical marijuana. I have never smoked a joint in my life! However, the chronic pain specialist and myself met a few times and we came to the conclusion that a patch wasn't needed. I can manage most days with deep breathes, some focus for a few moments to help me find my strength. Non-Opioid pain killers typically are taken daily to prevent the pain from starting, and since I am not in pain every day - only maybe 1 week a month, I will try marijuana to take the edge off, help with the stress and anxiety as well as the pain relief. I get the script next Wednesday - the first patient from this chronic pain clinic in Toronto to get this honour. So - I will met with a licensed grower, hospital team, doctors and administration and learn all about pot next week. Nervous, but not afraid. I will not become addicted to marijuana, I will still feel human and hopefully function just a little easier. Anyone else use this medicine?
Prednisone is a synthetic corticosteroid drug that is particularly effective as an immunosuppressant drug. It treats the disease and your bodies reaction to the disease but is NOT a pain killer. It can damage your body over time, so is not recommended for long term use.
Nciole
mimiB said:
I'm highly allergic to NSAIDs. I loved Aleve until it tried to kill me. Ditto for Ketoprophen. So I take Norco 7.5/325 tid. My PsA is not under control. It's probably the worse it has been. I'm still in moderate pain most of the time, and sometimes it is very severe. I work 20-30 hours a week now, and I would be completely unable to work or function without pain meds. The best pain med I have found is 40 mg of prednisone, but we won't go there. Y'all might be happy to know that I have weaned down to 8.5 mg per day and am shooting for 7.5 before my next doc appt in November. The goal is to get off of it completely, if and when I get some control on this monster. I am so ready for something to work.
Wow, Nic.Pat. That’s really exciting news, and I’m impressed with your clinic for exploring this with you. There are a number of threads on the board about MM: you can find them using the search bar at the very top. I know that we have several members who have had really positive pain control experiences with marijuana. Good luck with this! Will you start a new thread to fill everyone in and keep us in the loop?