pain relief

[momander]

I have herniated discs in my back and sciatica. I have recently had an MRI and it showed mild wear and tear/osteoarthritis of the spine. I have been prescribed Ralvo ( lidocaine plasters) 5% lidocaine. Has anyone else been prescribed these? I was told I can use 3 plasters a day for 12 hours then take them off. As I have only been prescribed enough for 1 plaster a day that is all I can do at the moment or I will not have a months supply. What other pain relief do other people take? My pain is chronic and as I had a HA last year I can no longer take Naproxen!!! I have not really got my head round all this yet!! I am fearful of what the future holds??

[Happyrosie]

My doc has tried various medications for me. The latest is Butec (look it up) which takes the worst of the pain away

[momander in reply to Happyrosie]

Thank you so much, I will look it up

[Funnydogs]

You could try co-codamol 30/500 or slow release tramadol. I have widespread osteoarthritis but particularly in lower back and spine and the co codamol puts me in my happy place. I also use deep freeze gels/ sprays and that seems to give me some respite from the pain so that I can get comfortable to sleep for a few hours. X

[momander in reply to Funnydogs]

Hu, thank you. I am on co codamol, and have been on and off for years now. I have also, at times used tramadol, although the slow release made me feel very sick. I have also used freeze gels on my back and hot and cold therapy.

[patrickd]

My husband has 2 herniated discs and has had dealt with them for over 30 years. He's had surgeries, tried natural treatments, exercises, etc. I honestly can not answer as far as your future prognosis goes BUT I can tell you what makes a positive difference! What is very, very important is to make sure you do your research and find yourself a very good doctor! My husband has gone to many different doctors in our area and oddly, each one of them gives him different procedure advice making it even more confusing. Most of them want to do some type of surgery and most of them opt for an extensive type of surgery involving some type of hardware being used and left inside his back. He did NOT want that at all. He just felt that it would lead to more problems as years go on and I agreed with him in his case! He found a doctor who takes a more conservative approach, albeit it requires more frequent surgeries (every 5-8 years) but he would rather do that than go through the other risks. You will NEED to make positive changes (change jobs if your job involves lifting or manual labor), and dedicated exercise to build up those muscles in your back! My husband has a minor surgery that involves cleaning up the herniation (like a scraping) which relieves him for a certain amount of time. It's not a cure but he swears by it. He also takes a muscle relaxant daily called Baclofen, & Naproxen, he uses an Inversion Table that tips him upside down (swears by it for immediate relief on bad days), wears shoe lifts (inserts), and takes one day at a time.

[momander in reply to patrickd]

thank you for your advice and help. My GP does not think my problem warrants surgery and I have had had many second opinions on this and all the specialists agree. I don't have an inversion table I am afraid. I have researched chair yoga and chair exercises, as all the exercises given by the physios are one size fits all!!! It is impossible for me to do most of them as my back will not allow it. I cannot take NSAID as had a HA last year and used to take naproxen which was amazing!!! now not allowed to take anything like that. I work from home so that is ok. I have completely changed my lifestyle since last year, stopped smoking and drinking, started to exercise as much as I can, and eating a much healthier diet.

[patrickd in reply to momander]

Sounds like you are doing what you can to improve your situation as I know from my husband, it's can be very painful at times. He also has neuropathy at times in his lower legs and feet! IF I were you, I'd invest in an Inversion Table. They are very affordable now ($89-150 USA $) and my husband swears by them! He is 6'8" tall so he had to get an extra-long table, extra weight, but if you are of average weight and height (6'0) you can purchase one with no extra costs involved. Again, he's tried special chairs, some Yoga balls, different back supports, Lumbar rolls, special back braces, magnets, etc. and of all of these...the Inversion Table (he claims) gives him the fastest relief. You could probably even purchase a pre-owned one but he highly recommends one!

Good luck to you!

[momander in reply to patrickd]

Are you in the US?? I'm in Scotland

[patrickd in reply to momander]

Yes, I am in the USA! I am so glad your back doesn't require a surgical fix! Honestly, I believe anytime you have surgery on anything it is just NEVER, ever the same as it was. You either end up with scar tissue, arthritis, muscle loss, tissue loss, etc. Now, granted sometimes surgery is an absolute necessity and can not be helped BUT I really try to avoid it as much as possible. My body doesn't like it at all! For me, surgery equals infection (every time). I am not enjoying this grow old thing either! I mean, what is up with it? Every day I wake up and ok...what will it be today? Eyes? Nose? Ears? C'mon?! Everything goes south so maybe I should just hang upside ETERNALLY so I will reverse everything and get younger and firmer?

[Lunje]

It's a pity when I hear the mention of the word " herniated disc". I got it in my neck. It affects my spine and lower back . Then the osteoarthritis, I had TAH with BSO in 2019 Feb. I get headaches frequently. So I use nerve meds, ranging from Pronerve, to Pregabalin, to Meloxicam for my knees, Pure Cal, Tribees, Tramadol, and the list is endless. Am currently on physiotherapy. I feel better depending on how bad I felt when going for it. But it helps relieve dome pain especially manipulation of the spine.

There's one time one neurosurgeon wanted to book me for surgery to replace the herniated disc with a metal place. Another doctor I went to said this was a technical surgery and might take care of one problem only to create another.

Bottom line is that I've learnt to learn myself. Research more on what and why and how etc concerning these issues. I'm learning to embrace every change positively. I've come to understand that when you have a health issue, it forest guarantee total positive results from the doctors. Moreso, you become another Research Project for them. So I decided to learn more how to live with everything that doesn't give me total relief, positively.

This might not be the case for you but it's worth trying.

Blessings.

[Lunje in reply to Lunje]

I meant to say not every problem guarantees total positive results from the doctors.

[kohai]

Awww, my heart goes out to you honestly. Apart from lidocaine, I've previously been prescribed everything others have listed. I have osteoarthritis in every joint and through my spine, severe disc degeneration in the lumbar with wear and tear in four thoracic discs and five cervical spinal discs.

I was initially put on tramadol, and while these did help for some time, the body does start to eventually hurt more than a drug dose can control. My profile lists the various medications i've been put on, minus a few short term ones

One thing I will suggest, if something does work now and is ever changed to something else, there are no guarantees that medication will work again for you. Four years ago I was on slow release morphine patches (Butec), but for a short time. They worked great and I even managed to move from a wheelchair to getting around downstairs on crutches, but for some unknown reason I was taken off them. Early this year I was given them again and had an allergic reaction. The patch area where the morphine goes into my skin actually burnt after the 4th of 7 days. Both of my arms looked like someone had slapped slices of spam on them as the burns from each patch change healed.

Naproxen was a good anti-inflammatory for me personally several years back, but now all it does is give me the side effect of tiredness. I've had my conditions worsening since I was 18 years old, I'm now 54. Only your doctor or specialist can really know what to try you on as not all pain killers are good to mix and match.

If your spine gets worse, I cannot emphasise this strongly enough, keep on at them to not only control the pain, but to keep having mri's.

I was told by a musculoskeletal team in 2012 I had mild wear and tear, like you... but within five years I could barely walk some days, the spinal pain was so bad and not properly controlled. I moved and changed doctors in 2018 and after a full spinal mri, I was told I'm lucky I'm not paralysed yet! So please do make them stay on top of that.

[willat]

I have lidocaine plasters. I also use TENS machine Ibrugel and opiodes with support of paracetamol and amitripoline to help me sleep through night.

Hydrotherapy is a massive help. Doesn’t stop the pains but does give an hours relief with the weightlessness.