sciatica, drugs and outcomes

[jilly-124]

I have taken both Amitriptyline and Gabapentin both did not work. I put on 3 and a half stone with Amitriptyline which did not help at all. Have multi problems myself, crushed nerves in ,my spine causing incontinence with urine and having an operation as could go to back passage. I also have had a stroke which has given me Thalamic Pain Syndrome which means my nerves never knitted together after my stroke and will never get better for the rest of my life. The worst thing is I have the Thalamic pain on one side and the crushed nerve pain on the other. I found that nothing has helped me and although am having an operation to stop incontinence I feel I will live with my pain forever. Us with such pain must grin and bear it I feel and if you can join a group with like people that always helps

[Sgoodwin70]

Hi Jillie check out the group Curable they could help.you

[Acocoa]

Sending hugs and healing blessings 💜

[Trenholm]

Amitriptyline didn’t help me. Gave me awful dreams and hallucinations. Gabapentin works better for me.

[KnittIngnannyJ]

I sympathise with you completely. I too suffer with chronic back pain. I take up to 600 mg of Gabapentin twice a day but haven’t found it helps much with the pain. It also makes me put on weight.

[psytrancer]

Hi Jilly, whilst I don’t suffer from as much pain as you I do have to contend with a fair bit of pain now for many years. I’ve had Fibromyalgia for many years & the muscle spasm pain that comes with that, I’ve got Degenerative disc disease & Osteoarthritis in my spine, both top to bottom. My pain meds are Pregabalin, Amitriptyline, Clonazepam & until about a year ago Tramadol. One or other of those had started losing efficacy so my pain management consultant suggested trying to change both Pregabalin & Tramadol, one at a time to work out what wasn’t working. First, & so far only change, was to drop Tramadol & go onto Buprenorphine patches. Now I’m in UK like you & despite NICE coming to weird conclusion that chronic pain isn’t helped by pain relief meds!! My wonderful GP agreed to this change so I went onto the patches. In case you don’t know Buprenorphine is Morphine which has been tweaked so that you don’t get high on it but as well as pain relief it helps with the anxiety that comes with chronic pain. I don’t think the patches are much stronger than Tramadol but they are better in that you wear one patch for a week, it releases a measured amount of the drug 24/7 which does make it better than Tramadol. The most obvious plus for me was whereas I used to wake in the morning, take first lot of meds then go back to bed till they worked. With the constant release of the drug you wake up in a lot less pain than without it. Another advantage is that you’re not taking so many pills which gives your stomach a rest! Patch goes on upper arm or chest, takes about 3 minutes to put new one on & old one off then forget about it for a week. I currently have bouts of bad breakthrough pain from Cervical Myelopathy & for this my wonderful GP has given me some Oxycodone Hydrochloride. Tastes revolting but I can be in tear inducing pain yet within a minute of taking that the pain subsides substantially & it works for 3/4 hours. I appreciate that GPs vary round the country with how much pain relief they are prepared to give you but that is part of they’re job, to help relieve someone in pain, may sometimes be a good idea to remind Drs of that! If your GP won’t prescribe either of the above drugs ask for referral to a pain clinic where you may have more luck. As an aside about Pregabalin it also made me gain a lot of weight, some of that weight being in the breasts that grew after starting it, I’m a man by the way, apparently it’s a side effect in 1 in 100 people & muggins here had to be that one. Fortunately they didn’t grow too big & don’t show if I wear baggy clothes. But ten years after starting on it I can still remember many occasions when I’d be on the floor in tears because of very aggressive muscle spasms so on balance I’ll settle for breasts & weight gain. Sorry about long post, I’m no good at short ones. I hope some of my experiences with pain & pain meds will be of some help to you. O, & no side effects from the Buprenorphine patches👍

[Evonne02]

Hi jilly-124, I've not had Amitriptaline before, only Gabapentin. I'm so sorry you are going through this. I've been on Gabapentin for around 5 years. In that time I went from size 10 to verging on a size 16. I decided to research when I became a Coeliac and my gp surgery wouldn't do the tests for it. I found it makes you gain weight, throws you into a Coeliac and can affect your liver or kidneys and affects your bowels too. I demanded to speak to a gp as I decided I wanted help to wean myself off the Gabapentin. I didn't notice at first, but after reducing the 5 tablets by just 1, I'm not a Coeliac anymore and was shocked to find I'd lost 1 stone in the space of almost 2 months.

I'm prone to side effects of medication but never attributed all these symptoms to Gabapentin. It has affected my bowels so much that I have to do self irrigation to get the poo out & order the kits every fortnight 😖. Apparently only 4% of people have bowels affected by Gabapentin...it would have to be me !

I don't particularly want to lose weight as I cannot afford to replace my clothes. I will be weaned off another tablet next week so fingers crossed.

Please take control and don't allow your Gp's to give you more cheap medication. Research what you take and speak to your Gp if you're not happy with the side effects. This medication has ruined my bowels and I've been informed I will be like this until I die. So I'm not happy at all. Hope all is OK with you. Take care 😍

[cj75s]

Jilly-124

Hi,

I too have and still am, suffering from Sciatic pain. I damaged my sciatic nerve at work a few years sgo. I am now on Gabapentin and Naproxin. Gabapentin does rske a whike to work as it builds up to a level in your body. Hie long did you try it gor. I was told it can take up to 6 weeks to work. I gound relief after the 4th week. It has been upped in the time i have been on it. Started out at 1200mgs then upped to 1800mgs a few months later and finally I’m on 2700-3000mgs per day.

I take Naproxin daily as well to reduce inflammation.

Its not a complete fix. I’m still in pain but its vontrolled yo a level I can cope with.

Maybe its worth you trying gabapentin again and also ask for naproxin. Bith, in conjunction, work for me . I take about 1000mgs to 2000mgs per day, depending on the pain.

I hope I have veen of some help. The big problem is what do you take while the gabapentin builds up?

All the best.