Nerve pain in my leg. It only affects my right leg and only at night. After three hours sleep it starts. It is like a shooting intense pain going right down the buttock and into my foot. Only relief is to sit on a chair with my foot raised. Desperate for some quality sleep!
I am on co codamol 30/500mg four times a day am constantly trying to reduce that to three times a day.I have spondylothesis ( sp?) and degenerative arthritis in the spine. I will appreciate any suggestions Thanks Ann
Morning
BOB here,
Ann
Amatryptalene excuse spelling is for nerve pain, see your doctor.of course you may need the NSIDs and a decent pain pain killer, also paracetamol to get the full spectrum for relief.
Also TENS
All the best, ANN
BOB
Thanks Bob, have tried Amtryptiline and they made me so lethargic for two days and that was at the lowest dose. I stopped them. Might give them a go again. Ann
hi superannie
i too have nerve pain similar to you, worse when i try to lie down and eased when i sit up- it seems we are a bit unusual as i am told most with nerve impingement find it hard to sit, standing or lying down is supposedly more comfy -just proves we are no all in the same mold. my issues were caused when i fell transferring from my wheelchair in the bathroom, i landed hard on my but and crushed a couple of lumbar vertabrae causing spinal stenosis, bulging disc and nerve impingement.
some of my pain is helped by taking lyrica twice a day and endep at night, i also have a drug delivery pump implanted that gives morphine directly to my spine and clonidine to the fluid around spinal canal (intrathecal space) but this was already in place when i fell for pre existing problems.I have not been able to lie flat or even a 45 degree angle for a few yrs now, infact i have been sleeping in a recliner chair for all that time while i waited for disability services here in south australia to help with an electric adjustable bed but it is compounding the problem as being in a seated position 24 hours per day has meant i am getting very tight through the hips making lying down even harder. i have been asking for help from my pain unit re this for ages but they seemed to think that as long as i could control my pain through sitting all the time (i am wheelchair dependent as i am an amputee with MS), it did not seem to be an issue but it is getting harder an harder to manage when i have to lie down for medical procedures such as mri's to check how the ms is or even my regular catheter changes! so they finally have agreed to do a medial branch block on Tuesday this week. this basically done as a diagnostic procedure and if it gives me temporary relief they will do what is called a rhizolysis where they use radio frequency to zap the same nerve with the hope of giving 12 to 18 months relief.
if you send me a message after the 18th of june, i will be happy to let you know how he initial procedure helps.
they can also sometimes do facet joint injections that may help, i had one lot that did for a while but the next lot were useless but i think these are shorter acting at best anyway
i finally have an adjustable bed now and i have found f i start seated pretty upright and then work on relaxing, i can then slowly use the eectric recline function to do the work ad this way i can lie down a bit more than if i use my own muscles to get down into more of a recumbent position.
not sure if any of this helps but i would also try physio, you should avoid allowing yourself to stiffen so that lying flat is harder and they may be able to help you a little in keeping as flexible as you can
i will let you know if i have any better luck. you can try tens, it can b useful for a while certainly cant hurt
the only other options i was told of was perhaps surgery buti am considered a poor risk so we have not even looked down that path. something needs to help though because i don't know about you but when o try to lie down its not just sore or uncomfortable but the worst pain i can imagine and i am used to the pain related to having a limb amputated and complex region pain syndrome etc but this is far worse
wishng u well
Hi Kebsa, firstly you have made me feel so humble, Reading your story makes me grateful that I do not have as many problems as yourself. I would also like to thank you for taking the time to reply. All you say is very interesting and I feel better knowing that someone knows and understands what I am going through. It is, to me anyway, very difficult to actually describe this pain. Most times I am reduced to tears as the pain is so intense.
I will contact you via this site as to how your procedure went.
At the moment I am so tired I shall reread your post a little later and take on board all you have said..
I have had a steroid injection in the spine and it worked for about a month. Here in the UK I have read that a lot of the hospitals are not offering the procedure as the poor results do not warrant the cost of it. My specialist told me it is no longer an option for me anyway. He has also advised I do not have an operation. I am busy researching those options at the moment. I am not in a position to go private so I assume it will be up to the specialist to say whether I can have one. I am not happy about the op anyway. I just want this nerve pain sorted and with the help of meds and alternative methods, I am sure I can keep the arthritis pain under control. Many thanks, Ann
Ann, how about acupuncture and gentle massage ?
Thanks am going to try this.Ann
i really do understand the exhaustion and the lack of sleep, as for beeing humbled- thanks you but really there is nothing that says my pain is any greater than yours, it sucks for both of us! i also under stand the the proble describing the pain, i get anything from itching/burning sensations across the skin of my right buttock and hip to really intense pain that goes down my right leg and sometimes the same character of pain going through the centre of the leg but its really intense, it is triggered the moment i try to lie back at all!
i am not keen on surgery even if it were offered, and i dont think it would be because i would not be considered a good surgical risk but my original problems with my leg became a nightmare series of operations as each led to problems that needed more surgery to fix. i ended up with severe pain so bad my foot was useless and i was begging for amputation! no way i want to risk that kind of thing again! i did have a vertabraplasty where they inject bone cemet into the crush fractures to help ease the acute pain, it did help some, with the acute bone pain but i was left with the pain from nerves that are being pinched etc.
i had the steroid injection too, that was different to what they are doing today, the steroids helped a little but not much, i had had them into other joints and the issue with steroids into joints is that the first one tends to be be the most effective, and then each subsequent shot is less effective as a rule- i was warned of this when i was having them in my foot. The big down side is that they actually speed up the degeneration of the joint and the progression of arthritis, so i think that is why the are not done as much- with my foot they knew i would have to have the joint fused eventually anyway so they were not concerned about the arthitis being made worse if the shots helped but that would be different with a spine. the procedure i am having today basically is using long acting local anesthetic and if it works then they use radio frequency later on to deaden the troublesome nerve in the hope it would help for a few months at least- here's hoping! its 3am here and i am tired but can't sleep because of pain
tens does help block the pain but does not help ,e sleep because the tens itself keeps me awake! its better than pain hough. the lyrica and the endep definately do help the pain too
take care
karen
Hi, thanks for the reply and good luck with the treatment. I made the big mistake of taking a low dose amtryptiline last night. I did manage a few more hours of sleep, but boy have I paid for it today. My whole body is aching and my joint on my foot near the big toe has become so painful and inflamed. I looked up gout and see that is a form of arthritis. Anyway I won,t be taking that med again. I am sure my husband and the cat will be thrilled as they have had it in the neck all day! Till we chat again, stay well, Ann
See a chiropractor. They may be able to help.
Thanks, have been thinking of doing that. my husbands suggested them too. Ann
Hi Ann,
Suggests something about your sleeping posture is aggravating nerves. Have you tried stacked pillows under knees to take stretch off nerves going into legs? Might take you longer to drop off but you might sleep thru. Broken sleep seems horribly habit forming. I always seem to wake at 3 and then the birds start chirping at 3.57! Gah...I also have a cosy maternity pillow which I wrap around which seems to keep my hips comfy. Maybe some trial and error to keep nerves happy (they don't like being stretched) and then try to break the forming habit of waking. Best wishes
Hi, yes I am tending to hug pillows now and not my husband. Pain is ithe main man in my house. To top it all my joint near the big toe has become inflamed and am hardly able to walk. I remember a friend having gout and looked that up and I see it is a form of arthritis, my goodness, what next? I have started getting rheumatoid arthritis in my wrists and hands. I seem to be getting attacked from all angles. Oh, well will just have to attack it back! Have a good day, Ann
Have u tried hrt for arthritis Ann,it helps a lot of women,just a thought....good luck to u x
Thanks I will ask the GP when I see him in two weeks, I have since had another MRI and am booked to see the surgeon on the 24th Jan regarding an operation. no idea what is involved but have loads of questions before I decide what to do. Ann
Good luck to u then hope all goes well for u x
Sorry to hear you are having a hard time. Life is like some sort of unrelenting endurance test sometimes.
Re Amatrip it took about a month before I felt normal on it. I took it for about 2 years but stopped because it really was only helping me stay from falling into a black hole it did nothing for pain reduction. But some people have good results. If you can bear it and haven't already tried popping it for a month. Think about it. Big ask this side of Xmas. I did feel dreadful to start with. I could only stay with it because I was off school for the summer.
Also have you got a tens. Would be round the bend if it wasn't for my little bit of fizz every evening.
X Ned x
Hi there, not going to carry on with the amatrip, I have a system now, I get up as soon as I have had enough, usually 6am, get a cuppa and take my pain meds. Then sit with my legs up and my cosy blanket over my knees ( just like my Gran) and read, I usually doze off for an hour. Working for me at the moment. its all a juggling palaver. I used to have a tens which did work while I used it but as soon as I took it off, pain back. I gave it to my daughter. I shall see what my options are with this operation they are wanting to do. Also having cataracts in both eyes removed and now blood pressure is very high so am backwards and forwards to the GP. He is trying out different meds. Not working so far. I am concerned that it might hold up all the procedures I am scheduled for. All happening at the moment but keeping a smile on my dial. It could be worse. I shall let you know how things go. Ann xx
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