Hello all! Hope you all are well and feeling ok today.
I wanted to talk about pain medication, who here uses it and how often?
Normally I would use tramadol 1/2 a tablet as needed combined with 600 mgs of IBU a couple times a week. More regular with the IBU since that was the instructions my rheumy left me with on my last appointment a few months ago.
Now I have re inflamed my foot, the ball of my foot near the big toe. I inflamed it last year, who knows how, and now it’s hurting again. I started wearing my medial boot but the pain is getting worse in my knees and legs. Probably from walking in the boot.
I start Cosentyx once insurance approves it.
I feel guilty taking the tramadol but there are some nights I am crying from the pain. I also homeschool my son and I know there are days I am less pleasant because I wake hurting. I do try and keep my mind off it but you all know how it is. That constant, nagging pain. I feel bad that my husband always sees me this way. He is patient and kind, very supportive, but I would like a pain free life.
Anyway. I think I went off topic a bit but I would like to know what pain medication everyone uses and how you feel about it?
I am very happy to try Cosentyx and hope it breaks my reliance on IBU and recuse pain meds.
So I have Tramadol in the house. Okay fine, and might be left over from surgery. I almost never use it. Honestly. I generally add in an anti-inflammatory when I have an uptick. I also take it for a week minimum on a schedule. That’s how it works best to really take down inflammation.
I hope that you can get some relief on cosentyx. It would certainly be nice for things to quiet down for you.
@amielynn38 I feel for you , and the sorrow of imposing one’ s Illness on one’s husband. I often think mine made a really bad choice, considering he got me through stage 4 cancer and other life threatening emergencies so often in our long relationship. When I brood on the matter I find confort in the luck of having a family and also in considering ways of being somehow useful to the big picture. People w disabilities may have other things to offer. Cosentyx was a life changer for me, hope you will find the same benefits soon.
I can use tramadol frequently and an anti-inflammatory called Arcoxia frequently as well. I have both prescribed at the lowest possibly dose so I can play with doses as needs be, always seeking to have none or the lowest dose possible. When pain levels are really bad I add paracetemol to the tramadol as that makes the tramadol work even better. I don’t know what IBU is though.
As the Cosentyx is now working very well I’m almost off all pain meds though. But I make sure I’ve lots of both in my cupboard.
While waiting for paper work and Humira to contact me I don’t know what I would do without the Celebrex prescription. 200 mg/day makes mobility possible without wincing at every step. I am a medication minimalist but toughing out pain gets old and makes me look older. I can go up to 400 mg/day but try not to. Adding 1000mg Tylenol also really tames the surges of pain and allows me to sleep better.
Thanks everyone! Yes, I cant wait to start Cosentyx to help with the day to day pain. I agree with you @letizia, I sometimes think that too but my husband tells me I am crazy. So I guess hes staying around, lol. @Stoney I need to be more consistent with my anti-inflammatory medications too. Quiet sounds very nice.
@Poo_therapy IBU is Ibuprofen, and anti inflammatory drug. I also use the lowest dose possible, cutting pills in half as needed.
@Amos Ive never tried Celebrex. I did try Mobix for awhile and it was ok but upset my stomach.
I also used Celebrex, and as a slow -release, found it much more effective than ibuprofen to stop the ups and downs during the day with a little activity - it may he worth chatting to your doc about if you are on NSAIDs for a while.
I have been taking Tramadol regularly for about three years now. I take 2- 50mg three times a day. I have found that it helps a little with dulling pain but also is a great anti anxiety medication. It is not billed for that, but it is a little secret about it. Also my pain doctor gives me 15 Norco every two months, I used to keep the ones after surgery and meter them out, so I made it official. taking them no more then once every 4 days, helps prevent any dependency. It is interesting with pain pills, since I have ADHD, my brain is deficient in dopamine so pain pills are a stimulant to me, really gets the synapses firing. For this reason I am very careful with them, only takingNorco for the breakthrough pain, or long boring meeting…
I agree, Tramadol really helps with anxiety. For me it takes the edge off and gives me a small boost of energy. That being said, I cannot take it a bedtime. It keeps me awake. Haha, long boring meeting for sure!
I counted my pills and found out I am going to run out! If I take 6 a day I do not have enough to last 30 days, for some reason he gives me 120, the script is still take “1 or two”, now I will have to ration them…
I think I will have to get that changed, then I will get the evil eye from the pharmacist…
Don’t give pharmacists an evil eye. My husband is a pharmacist and I worked in a pharmacy for years. Trust me it’s not them. Call your doctor and tell them you need to script to reflect the 2 pills per dose. They should change it. If not, they need to change the wording. You can always count your pills when you first get home from the pharmacy. If there is a miscount call them back right away. They will preform an inventory count to see if they miss counted your script.
I’m sorry you get the stink eye. I know lots of pharmacies are under pressure to be the middle man in finding out pain med abusers and fakes. It is not fair for the patient or the pharmacist. It does depend on the pharmacy laws in your state, not all states are so hard nosed.
I am sure 99% my imagination… Sometimes with hidden illnesses, we just don’t look sick enough to be in pain. I am not visibly twisted into a pretzel or walking with a noticeable limp.The drama is usually about one Class1 medication being ready, but the other not being ready for another two days, especially during the start of the pandemic, I was like seriously? You are going to make me come back in two days to pick up one medication, because I still had two Ambian sleeping pills, what, am I going to sell them on the street corner? It was just frustrating, wasn’t really their fault, but they could have used some judgement and not been a “Karen” about it…
I can agree with that Jon. We dont “look sick” and can be viewed as looking for meds. I think my perspective with being “sick” for so long and my husband’s knowledge of my illness have opened our eyes to seeing the sickness within. Where someone might suspect drug use, we can look at the list of meds and say, no… thats RA.
Karen, lol!! I hear you. Have you tried going to a different pharmacy or switching to mail order?
SInce the Oxy police invaded the state, my rheumy is only allowed to write me a script for 3 5mg oxy a day. I don’t usually take them every day unless I am in the middle of a flare-up. My doc and I decided on the low dose oxy because if I need to take it for a few weeks, I have no trouble stopping it. Hydrocodone didn’t work for me. After taking it three days, if I stop I have problems. I can’t take NSAIDs because they cause my heart to palpate. Tylenol does nothing for me. Thus, no tramadol or toradol…
I’m on 25mcg Norspan Patches during winter and drop back to 20mcg the rest of the year. I can’t take Oxycontin as I had a severe reaction. For breakthrough pain I take Panadine Forte.
I had been on Humara and I’m now on Stelara injections which seem to work pretty good. I must say I have never had any drama with Chemists but I had to change GPs a while back as mine retired. It was difficult to find a GP to take me in. They have all had the fear of God put in them by the Opioid policing.
I just get on with life now. Do what I can when I can and try not to stress when I don’t have energy or I’m in to much pain to achive anything. It did cause me no end of grief for a long time as I have always been extremely active. Sitting around just isn’t in my make-up and it nearly drove me nuts. Certainly caused severe depression until I eventually got a handle on it.
I am glad to hear you have taken control and are feeling better. It’s so hard for people like us to find doctors that will take us in and also believe us. I need to find a new GP since mine moved and I am dreading it.
I was on Stelara for a time and it it did help for a year or so, then started to fail a bit. I hope you find relief with it.
