meds? do they really work. a sunny day and I'm feeling blue

I take lyrica and topomax and norco and ambien and opana and for pain ( and a slew of others for other issues) but I just don't feel any better. I just wonder if anyone else feels the same. Does anyone else feel like you are pouring all these pills into your body day after day not knowing what the long term effect is going to be and wondering why? Do you really feel any better?When I look at the list of all the pills I have tried, and the side effects that have been warned about them all, and then I realize I have checked a "yes" on the organ donor box in case of my death I wonder, would anyone really want mine? I don't know, maybe I'm in a bad mood today. The sun is shining. My husband just told me thats' suppose to be in the 70's this week. In the old days,BP(before pain) I would love it. Now, as soon as the weather changes I know I will be confined to bed as any change in temp or barometric pressure causes intense pain and I have to hide inside with my ice packs and my narcotics trying to convince myself they are helping. I'm not even sure what my question was. I guess I just needed to talk. Thanks for lending an ear.
Catahoula

hi catahoula
sorry youre struggling. i know what you mean about side affects. for me the neuronton was the worst as far as problems. my memory went and my legs swelled. i kept asking the dr why are my legs swollen. he didnt have an answer and he kept me on the foolish stuff for 5 years until i did my own research and then stopped the stuff. and narcotics are a real treat. they give me bad dreams and make me depressed. i love the sun and wish we had some up here in mass. 15'' of flood waters are now in my basement. anyway a good scream sometimes hepls so heres mine.....ooooouuuuuccchhhhheeeesssss....now you can scream at me.....pete

Hi Catahoula,

You are in a bad slump right now and we all get there at some time or another. I can't count the times I have sat and looked ay my long list of medications and thought to myself, ok which ones can I cut out. Last count I was at 19 pills a day, I decided to quit counting, what is the point of counting what we take it a day, it sure isn't productive.  This does not count the meds in my pump or my shots every two weeks for Crohns disease. If I stop any of my meds then I am going to end up very sick, they are just detrimental to my well being. I will admit to being stupid enough to stopping my medications in the past and ended sick and in the hospital, not worth it. Look at it as one more tool in trying to be healthy. I would give anything to go back to the days of BP medicines only, but that just ain't going to happen. I was a healthy person then with few medical problems. Not that person anymore.

I do get outside as much as I can especially on sunny days. I can't stand being cooped up in a house. The warm sun on my old bones really feels good. In fact they suggest for the folks up north that have short days and not a lot of sunshine to get out in it at least 30 minutes a day. The sun will help your vitamin D levels. My 4  year old grandson was dropped off Saturday morning at my house. I was out front with a cup of coffee and was pulling weeds. We both had our lawn chairs out in the yard and we were sitting in the sun. He said to me "granny how come you like sitting in the sun, don't you want to go inside?" I said no, I do not want to go inside, granny likes being out here in the warm sunshine. He said well "granny the sun will give you some vitamin D". I thought that was pretty good rolling off the lips of a 4 year old, lol.   

I suspect a lot of your problems is from pain being under treated. If your pain medication  is not working then it makes life rough. I have been on both sides of that fence. Under treated pain can bring on many different faces of other problems. My pain is now under control the best it has ever been. I feel very fortunate to have a PM dr that understands this too. None of us want to be on medication but when it means some quality life I am in.

I hope you get to feeling better.

Straydog,

You mention 'undertreated' and 'overtreated' (both sides of that fence) but then only address undertreated.

I just got off a whale of 'overtreated' mess. So bad they were talking about taking my driving license away. I'm being treated for pain with morphine, methadone, lyrica and a couple of others, but no one thought to look at my meds as a possible source of the issues I was facing.

They were much more suited to calling me crazy and throwing away the key. Then after a few months of this, one of the geniuses decides to take a wider look and voila, there it is!

Now I can think, I have coordination back (did I mention I was running into walls?), I can express myself (not 100% back on this one).

Which is worse, under-medicated or over-medicated?

Retiredmom et al-
feel free to "jump into my thread" at any time. I truly believe over medicating is just as bad as under medicating. As a caseworker I saw it so often. People turned into zombies because it made it eaiser for staff to handle them. I truly believe I am in the under medicating column right now. Too little of too many meds. That was primarily the reason I sought out a new pain doc. My old doc, who I have been seeing for 5 years now is just not aggressive enough with meds. His concern , or so he says is that I will get immune to the meds. He gives the exact limit and no more and after nine years, the "book limit" just doesn't work anymore. This is a big problem I am finding and one of the reasons I have decided that I will not have any more surgeries or procedures. I had to have a colonoscopy last year and because I was wearing a duragesic patch at the time, the doctor would not give enough to put me out. I FELT EVERYTHING...and I mean everything during that procedure. The same was true when I had the trial implant of the occipital nerve stimulator this past May. It was a horrific ordeal. I have yet to find a doc who actually offers any pain control.
Now that the season is changing and its begining to get warm I know whats coming. I know how my head pain increase with the change in temp. I know I will not be able to go out and enjoy it and that is the one thing I long for. To be able to go out and garden, or sit on the deck and read a book, heck, even to be able to go out and clean up after the dog would be a dream come true. After nine years I know exactly what is going to happen. Its not negative thinking, its just fact. I just wish I could be positive, I wish I could look forward to spring and summer again buts once again I'm just fearing the amount of pain I know will come.
I go see the new pain doc on Wednesday for my second appointment with her. I have been going to the physical therapy she ordered. I wish I could say its helped. She wants to do a nerve block at C1, which is new for me as all the previous blocks have been in my head but I'm going to go ahead with it. I'm nervous about brining up the issue of medication with her as if I do that will mean the contract I signed with my old doc will end if she agrees to take over the medication aspect of treatment. If she has no new ideas, then what? I hate being negative when I know only being positive helps but boy its hard. Its all so hard. Thank you all for listening. It helps to have a place where its safe to "rant"
Cata(houla)

well..we'll find out tomorrow. I hope so.
catahoula

Old pain doc did not reccomend a new doc, instead he told me to go to Johns Hopkins as he was out of ideas. I decided to come back home to the suburbs and get in to see a doc I have heard about but never been able to get into due to insurance issues. Now that Medicare is primary I can pretty much go where I want if I can get in. I went again yesterday and she did 7 ( count them 7) trigger point injection all along my shoulders, and up the side of my neck on the right side and directly on the right side of my head near me ear where I have always stated there has been pain but always been told there was no site to inject. ( hmmm.....interesting) I also asked her about the PT I had been receiving with the electronic gizmos and such and she was suprised that I had not received any "hands on deep tissue massage". I told her that the therapist had not touched me once in the 4 weeks I went but only used these gadgets and gizmos. She was not pleased She also stated it wasn't her direction to stop the diet sode with the phenylalalane( sp. sorry), said it can't hurt to quit but certainly wasn't going to kill me and she enjoyed a diet pop herself. Needless to say, I got an order to go to a therapy site 5 minutes from my home ( the other was a 22 miles drive each way) and they were able to get me right in. I had my first deep tissue massage and BOY did that woman have strong fingers. I had a terrible night, and very sore. Woke up in severe pain at 2 and haven't been able to get back to sllep yet and the Norco sure isn't cutting it. I can't say that either the injection or the massage had anything to do with it or not as it was also 80 degrees for the first time yesterday and warm weather always reeks havoc with my head. Could have been one or all 3 or none of the above. These injection and PT may do absolutely nothing for my head but my back feels wonderful. Its only been one day so I am game for more.
Doc was willing to wite scripts but did not want to do any med changes until we seem if injections do anything.
I have called and left messages with my old pain docs office 4 times now trying to get an appointment . Their message is to leave your number and they will return the call at their earliest convienence. I guess after 2 weeks it has still not been convient for them to return my call. This is one of the primary reasons I am looking for change. Last time I called in for a med refill they called in the wrong refill of 120 tabs. I get 180 per month. I called and left a message, could they call the pharmacy to dispense the extra 60 tablets. Again I get a message, no they can't do that, just let them know when I run out and they'll call in a new prescription. I called back but again got the old "leave a message". If you can't talk to an actual person, how can I make sure they will call the right one in this time???I've signed a contract with this doc. I can't seem to get an appointment to get in to tell him whats going on ( he still has to have a connection with me, he implanted my stimulator and even the new pain doc says she does not "service" them so no matter what I have to have some long term connection with him)
Anyway, the new pain docs' office is suppose to call today to see how I am after the injections so at least I can check in with them about the intense pain and what I can do until it settles down. I will try again to get an appointment with the old doc but the message has to be left today because they are closed tomorrow... Sometimes ya just want to knock your head into a wall....but it hurts so bad already....;O(

cata(houla