I am on trice daily Gabapentin for phantom pain following a BKA. Anyway last night was my worst night in a long time. During the day I managed to strain a muscle in my shoulder. It's hard to rest it when you have to do transfers to/from your wheelchair. Anyway I couldn't get to sleep and around 2:00am.took some Paracetamol. These didn't help and with all the tossing and turning my arthritic hip decided to join in. Around 5:00am I took some Oxy-codone eventually drifting off about an hour later. I slept on till. 9:30 and woke with every instrument playing in this crescendo of pain. Cue another Gabapentin and a couple of Paracetamol (by now I also has a headache). 🤕
Still not pain free but hoping I can get a decent night's sleep when I hit the sack shortly. 🛏️😴💤
Not really looking for answers just being grumpy! ☹️
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MichaelJH
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Sorry to hear you had a bad night, night are always the worst when you have extra pain.
I find taking gabapentin 12 times a day, maximum, really helps even the pain out, maybe try upping it a little. Hope your shoulder relaxes a bit for you
Currently I am on 300mg x 3 times a day. OT has been suggested upping it to 600mg doses. Personally I would like to come off it. I did try and get on a pain management course for amputees but was denied a place.
I can relate to that horrible feeling you get when you have so much pain that you can't sleep. I ended up spending the night on the sofa as once I was awake with pain because I was keeping others awake. I then spent the day there sleeping in-between using three hot water bottles.
But just a comment about paracetamol. It works better if you take it four times a day every day rather than just occasionally when the pain gets bad. Can you take ibuprofen? that works well with paracetamol and there is now a 12 hour version available in the UK.
How long ago was it that you asked for a referral to the pain clinic? It sounds like you should request a referral again. Is your GP on your side? If not, can you change? Sometimes locum GPs can be a breath of fresh air because they see things through new eyes, and there are a lot of locums in primary care right now.
hello. i use gabapentin, Horizant , lunesta and tizanidine. i just had a Medial Branch Block to my spine and finally got relief. i’m in california USA. i hope you can get that block where you are. i also am going to have Nerve Ablation to my back and hope that gives me complete and long-lasting help. i have had severe back pain and have neuropathy. this is the first thing that has helped in ten years. i wish you the best of luck and hope you feel better soon. nona
Hi MichaelJH. Sorry to hear you are in so much pain. I take 30mg Amatriptilyne about an hour before I go to bed. It was prescribed for pain but does nothing for me in that regard but does help me to sleep which, as a lifelong insomniac, is wonderful and/or you might like to try a different approach. There are quite a few books now which are suggesting ways to reduce or end chronic pain based on neuroscience. Two of the best, IMO, are “The Way Out” by Alan Gordon who also devised the Curable app. Website is curable health.com and “The Pain Habit” by Drew Coverdale the pain habit.com
Sorry that you also had a bad night. I am a BKA too. On Thursday I had a terrible night. I got back out of bed at 2.30am to allow my partner to sleep. Phantom pain and restlessness in my amputation. So poorly the next day due to lack of sleep.
My heart goes out to you as Im in agony too following a knee replacement that has affected the arthritis in my spine I really really do sympathise and send you all my best wishes that you feel better soon You aren't grumpy at all as I'm sure like me you feel you are in a nightmare
You are in the club that nobody wants to be in!! These are the pain killers I'm on- co-codamol, duloxetine, nortriptyline, oramorph & zomorph. If I didn't take these I would not be able to get out of bed in a morning!! Have you tried any of the pain killers I'm on. I have pain 24/7 due to my many conditions. I have an hour or less sleep per night due to pain. The only time I sleep for longer is when I'm exhausted and then I wake up in agony!!Take care. I do hope you get some relief soon🤞🤞🤞🤞
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