I have had severe back pain for 5/6 years now, have had various injections and spine surgery but no relief and slowly over the past year been trying various pain killing medication, still no relief and the GP has now put me on Duloxetine 60mg which he says is the last option he can offer.
Has anyone tried this for pain relief and did it help?
Hi Spursboy ,
Thank you for your post and sorry to hear that you haven't found a way to alleviate your pain over the years. It must be tiring to have gone through all those treatments without relief.
It sounds like you and your doctor have gone through a variety of medications to help with your pain but none has really been working so far. This could be because neuropathic pain - pain originating from the nervous system - is not always responsive to traditional types of pain killers.
Sometimes antidepressants, like duloxetine can have a better effect on the misfiring nerves. If you are interested reading about this type of medication, our website resources have a leaflet on the topic: painconcern.org.uk/wp-conte...
I'm wondering if you discussed pain management beyond medication with your doctor. There are people with neuropathic pain that find that pain management techniques, such as meditation and relaxation as well as certain lifestyle adjustments can make a big difference. If this is of interest to you, there is a great leaflet on the Pain Concern website as well, which you can find here: painconcern.org.uk/manage-y...
I hope you will find this helpful.
Have a great weekend,
Moderator 3 on behalf of Pain Concern
My son has tried both amitriptyline and duloxetine for his neuropathic pain, and he found amitriptyline worked for him better. On the other hand, I have a friend for whom duloxetine worked really well and gave her her life back.
Each of these types of drugs have a different action at very low doses that seems to help with that type of pain, but each one is slightly different and what works for one person won't necessarily work for another. For instance there is something they use called Number Needed to Treat (NNT) which measures how many people have to take the drug for it to work for one person. For amitriptyline it is 4, I think it is a bit higher for duloxetine.
So give it a couple of weeks and if it doesn't work don't be afraid to go back and ask to try another one. what works for one might not work for another, so you need to find the one that works for you!
It didn’t do a thing for my pinched nerve pain.
Just wondering, what have you tried?
Co-codamol 30mg/500mg tablets
Gabapentin
Pregabalin
Tramadol
Amitriptyline
Nortriptyline
Non of which helped unfortunately!
You might try hydrocdone 5 mg. It’s constipating long term but keep hydrated and you’ll be fine.
What about a fentanyl duragesic patch? They range from 10mcg to 100mcg. Very effective for nerve pain. Keep in touch.
Duloxetine is effective but it has horrendously difficult withdrawal symptoms and, because of that, was banned in the US in the past - now licenced again.
I suffer with lower back pain and can be crippling at times the only thing worked for me was Indomethacin. Try asking your doctor for that. Hope this helps
Yea, your doctor is using your medicine to help nerve pain, but to say he's come to the end, surely can't be true as there are many, many opioid medications to be considered. It took a while for me to be prescribed an analgesic, which gave me relief so I may enjoy life, which I had forgotten was there. If your doctor does not wish to further prescribe an efficient pain tablet, change to one, who will.
Hi, I am new to the site.
I have had very similar history to you and had a spinal fusion in Oct 2017. Unfortunately, I am no better post surgery.
My surgeon recommended Duloxetine a couple of years ago and I have taken it since.
I kept taking it but wasn't convinced it was helping as I was still in a great deal of pain. However more recently I completed a Pain Management Programme and part of the course was explaining about types of meds and teaching other ways of dealing with the pain.
I decided after speaking to my GP that I wanted to start coming off the Duloxetine....well the pain skyrocketed. As it turned out, I saw my surgeon not long after that and he asked why I had cut them done and promptly advised me to go back on the dose I had been on. I did feel the difference and the pain did improve.
You say your doc said it was the last thing he could try....have you attended a pain management course? If not and it is offered to you I would advise you to consider it.
Hope this is of help.
Not sure. Is it helping? Is spursboy because you have spurs? Be well
Five days of Duloxetine 600mg, think there might be a slight improvement in my back pain or it could be one of my better pain days, hoping anyway.
Not so keen on the side effects muzzy head, stomach pain, restlessness, sweating, trembling or shaking, dizziness.
Hi again,
I'm glad you're feeling better today and truly hope the Duloxetine does improve things for you.
If I remember correctly it can a wee while to start working and having been on and off many meds, from experience side effects can ease once your body becomes used to the new med.
Fingers crossed for you...
Just spoken to my GP as I now have severe stomach cramps and had no sleep last night whatsoever, suggest I try to keep going and use Buscopan Cramps for the pain, will give that a try.
5 weeks in, might be slight improvement in the pain, but the side effects of theses pills are awful, messed up stomach, hot sweats and feel so anxious and irritable.
So I am coming off them SLOWLY, rather be as I was and just cope with the pain than feeling so bad all the time.
Back pain
Duloxetine
knee pain post surgery 
Tumeric for back pain
