Hi l suffere from chronic pain in my leg,as part of my meds l use the anti depressant drug
Amitriptyline to relax my leg,lve been in constant pain for last 3 years.since Christmas time lve been feeling low and finding it harder to keep that smile on my face.ive stopped going to my voluntary job and avoided people for about a month .the last week or so lve been crying a lot not because of the pain more my mood.then the other night l had words with my hubby
And l became almost hysterical ...that's not me l have never reacted that way...
So even though l take anti depression meds ,could l still be suffering from depression. .,.?
I don't know if l should speak to my gp?
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JackieWann
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Firstly I hope you are able to overcome your current low mood with the right help, and hope that you are able to find some relief for your pain. Chronic pain is a tough thing to have, as it inevitably will affect a persons mood with highs and lows we must deal with from time to time. I can relate to how you are feeling now and know how scary it can seem. For me the best thing to do is talk.... With anyone you feel comfortable with, even if the thoughts in your head or feelings you are experiencing are confusing or odd to you; but I am not a health proffessional, and GP's can of course offer advice/help.
Regarding amytriptyline; even though this is a trycyclic drug that has previously been used as an anti-depressant in years gone by, it is now almost exclusively used as a pain relief medication (for you relaxing, and for me easing sciatica). From what I understand it was not as effective as other anti-depressants; but again I am not a health proffessional.
I hope you find something to help you with your current situation. Take care.
Amytriptaline and it's sibling nortryptaline are commonly used to help with chronic pain, but are still in mainstream use as an anti-depressant though it is, as you intimate one of the older drugs on the market. There are lots of different types of anti-depressants with all sorts of effects and side-effects. Drug treatments for mental health problems still hang in scientific mystery really, it's very much a 'suck it and see'. There's usually a 'right' mix of drugs to treat many combinations of mental and more physiological conditions which can be experienced by an individual. Good luck!
Hi, yes speak to your GP, I take an anti-depressant but have been prescribed Amitriptyline for pain. So you should see them.
Hi, I too was given amitrptline for pain, the side affects were horrendous, I had nightmares and depression. Apparently, (and after speaking with several people who have also taken it and had to change meds) it appears to be beneficial to many pain sufferers, but also has devastating results to many others of whom you may be one of them. I was then given Pregabelin and Nefopam and the nightmares stopped as did depression. Pain became more manageable. Hope you can find same.
I am sorry to hear of the depression you are experiencing and, like those posted before me, would suggest you go back to your Doctor. Chronic Pain can cause depression, but perhaps a manageable one and not a deep clinical one. The reason I say this is from experience. I have CFS/M.E with chronic pain in the form of body pain and migrain. I was given Amytryptllne partly as a relaxant and partly to allow sleep to overcome migrain attacks. The side effects from the drug caused cramps in my legs and such a feeling of doom and gloom that it altered my character; I would get distressed easily and cry. I now only take the drug in a small dose at night to aid sleep when I really need it. If I take it for 3/4 days I begin to get the same side effects as before. Depending on the amount of the drug you are being prescribed, you may find that the depression you are feeling is drug induced.
Maybe your doctor would cut the amount you are taking or prescribe a different pain control. Dealing with pain is a challenge in itself but to have the bad side effects of a drug prescribed to help can make matters much worse. I have chosen to only take this drug as and when I needed it. My doctor wanted me to take it twice a day every day in spite of how I was feeling and in effect considered that I was depressed and needed it.
I cope with my conditions and the good and bad times as they arise. I feel more in control of my life and am glad that I do not have the awful depression and cramps that comes from this drug. You have a choice. Its your body and only you know whether you can implement things in your life that will help you deal with your condition or whether you feel the side effects of any drug are worth the cost. I do hope that this is encouraging to you.
I am not sure what the problem is. Living with pain for me is an exhausting business. The mental exhaustion that goes with pain has the symptoms of depression but it is not. Brain needs rest.
Handling pain can put you very close to your stress breakdown point. Where this point is depends on how exhausted your brain is. You go over your stress breakdown point you enter into "dolala land". A screaming fit can be a symptom of this. I know because in the early years of learning to handle my pain I had a few of these. Pain interferes with sleep.
A Gp are useful but they are cannot help you here. You have to learn to observe and study yourself. What do I do, when do I do it and what happened five minutes before.
Mindfulness as done by the Buddhists is offered free compared to Mindfulness offerred by the psychologists who charge lots of money. Some Pain Clinics offer Mindfulness courses.
I believe Kingston Pain Clinic offer the Alexander Technique. Alexander Technique helps you observe tensions which can make the pain worse. When you are aware of these tensions you can work to reduce them.
Everyone is different. We have to learn about ourselves and how we reacte to things. This reaction is constantly changing. The wrong weather I have found does funny things to how I reacte to pain. I have learnt this by studying myself and have developed I what I hope are the appropriate management techniques. This all takes time.
Sorry to hear you're feeling so low. The dosages for amitriptyline to treat chronic pain are lower than those used to treat depression. I have been on ami for chronic pain and a similar antidepressent from the same family of drugs for depression and the doses were different. I would see your GP if you're feeling like this. There are lots of other medications to treat both problems. There are also things other than medication to treat depression and some people need a combination ( I never found medication helpful in my situation).
Try having a look at the website for Mind - it's quite helpful.
I hope you feel better soon and that the dark clouds begin to lift for you. If it's any help, I got through it.
i too was going to point out that generally the doses they use to control or help chronic pain is considerably lower than the dose of amitriptyline used for depression. even so being on an antidepressant does not protect you from feeling depressed, it may or may not help reduce the feeings. I have dealt with chronic pain for many years now and at times have had severe reactive depression as a result of dealing with chronic pain and multiple other problems. amitryptiline did help my pain somewhat but made no difference to depression- there are many antidepressants on the market now days and amitryptilline is one of the older type- the newer ones work in a different manner and as it was pointed out to me, when it comes to treating depression with medications it can be a case of finding the medication that fits you better so i eventually was on amytripilline for pain and then avanza for depression - even then the medication for depression was not a magic bullet it helped get sleep cycles under better control as a major part of my depression is severe insomnia but the depression does not really lift for me until some of the other issue in my life are addressed- this is quite common in reactive depression
go back to your doctor and be honest about your feelings and they can perhaps help you get the depressed mood under control -simply discussing your feeling with your doctor can be helpful
I'm having the same situation including the meltdown and hiding away from people. I don't take amitrp but think that there are different forms of depression. Situational: pain and life problems. Chemical: low mood predisposes toward breakdown once levels of dopamine fall sufficiently. Hormonal: women with pain still have menopause to contend with. I can't face GP because I know they'll fob me off with pills. Last time I took antidepressants the headaches and nausea etc made me more depressed on top of the normal pain. The depression past eventually by itself but this bout looks set to stay. I have recurring fantasies about running away into the sunset - perhaps we just have SAD - another cause of depression! Or more likely the whole lot rolled into one! Jack ice, what have you decided to do? Best wishes
Hi thank you for all the advice and just being able to write to people that understand
What's going on with me and not needing to smile and say I'm fine,whether l am or not,sadly the ones close to me don't understand what it's like being in pain for months years ....
I feel much better today,a little more ready to face the world .rather than hide ..
I'm a great believer in the spiritual world and mother nature l put a thought out to ask for a little extra energy and I feel l gt it....prob sounds nuts...lol
hi, i have constant pain and take among other things amitriptyline,i have also had 4 breakdownsit's not the pills which cause the mood problem it's the constant pain.i have seroxat for my moods and although they take quite a while to get up to speed in your system they do help because they even out your moods.the very best thing you can do for yourself is gfet out and about.meet people with the same interest as you.i also believe in mummy nature.and you are suffering because you are sensitive to other peoples moods and your surroundings i like to watch nature like a bumble bee doing it's job,or my cats when they don't know i'm watching,or watch the birds and imagine what they can see from up in the sky.nature is wonderful and you are part of .you lucky lucky person
Hi thank you for the reply,l liked that you got what l was saying ...so l think you would like to know ,what made a big difference to my mood too.l got a private sitting with a spiritual medium last Friday and it's made such a difference ,a few days before I went l had sat on my door step out back and thought l wish l could turn the clock back before pain ect...well I wasn't going for fortune telling l just needed to know that spirit were listening and would they send encouragement and strength ....
Well they have been watching and listening and they are trying hard to send love and support....and that gave me such a lift ,do you know what l mean...
hi,i know exactly what you mean,i lost my fabulous mum 5 years ago.she died in my living room.in our area they have released breeding birds called 'red kites' these are such beautiful creatures like eagles,on the day we found out that my mum had lung cancer we saw 4 of the birds in the sky,the day after she died i saw 5,so as far as i'm concerned she joined them.now when i see the kites i say 'morning mumsy' and when i need solace i look for the birds, they are always there somewhere.they give me great comfort.when i say 'please help with the pain' it seems to lessen,which in turn lightens my mood,i hope you can find someone or something to bring to peace with your self.i will ask mumsy to help you.
Hi knowing there around gives me so much comfort and today l saw my 1st butterfly
Of the year ,now l always think of her when l see a butterfly ,and l always smile and say hello,and the butterfly flew right around my head,so I couldn't miss it if l tried
Ps,thank you for asking ur mum to help that's very kind ((hugs)))
Hi, I know what you both mean. I have the cats and watch the birds too. And it helps to think of loved ones gone sometimes but at other times like this it just feels empty and full of the pain. I hung washing out today for the first time and its lovely to smell the freshness...small steps. One day at a time. X
Hi Jackie. I am sorry you are unwell. What is wrong with your leg?I find that Amitriptyline is not good. I have tried it several times and it makes me more depressed It seems a favourite of Docs and they dish it out willy nilly.Get back in touch becauuse I am new on this site and I feel if your leg could be treated!! then there is no need for Amitriptyline. Take care Regardes Moggiemay xx
you said they put you on the Amitriptilline for your leg pain rather than for depression- i mentioned in a previous post that it was still possible to feel depressed even when you aree taking this medication for leg pain. one reason is that the doses they use for pain are considerably lower than those used for depression and the other thing is that no all antidepressant will work for an individual in fact amitriptilline is an older one that is not used a great deal these days. If they do put you on antidepressant it can take trying more than one type before they find the right "fit" for you- i only got some help with the third type they prescribed nd even then it only helped by improving sleep
if you are getting down primarily because of the pain then getting some help for that will be the best thing for you depression but it sounds like you are getting some help by thinking of family etc- use anything that works. if you search the term chronic pain toolkit, you may find some useful tips there- it is an internationally recognized approach for helping those of use with chronic pain manage.
but getting back to the amtriptilline, if it was precribed for you leg pain it does not sound like it is working, i would advise you go back to your doctor and discull it with him or her. if this is a gp that has been helping you it would be worthwhile to ask about a pain clinic referral. there are many other medications that can be used for nerve pain and many of them happen to be drugs that were designed for treating epilepsy, they just happen to be very effective for certain types of pain. ther are also things like TENS units that can be very helpful for some But the other reason for suggesting the pain unit referral is that pain is an incredibly detailed subject and yet it is something that is not well understood by many health professionals. the pain units use teams of helath professionsals inluding physios, psychologists psychaitrists, surgeons, neurologists and believ eit or not Aneasthetists (these guys are probably the one who understand pain the best!) and the inclusion of psychiatrists and psycholoists is not because they think you are mad- but it is a normal response to become depressed with onging pain and the depression can definately make it harder to cope with the pain, they can also teach you skills like visualisation and self hypnosis to help reduce your pain levels. it can take a while o get into a pain unit but its still worth doing- they will teach you a lot more about pain an believe it or not, that actually helps cope with it. there are things that you can do that while they may not stop the pain they will help you to deal with it better and to function.
as for your comments about spirit- i worked in paliiative care for over 20 yrs and there are a lot of things i am still undecided about but one thing i am sure of is that we never really do lose our loved ones. even my person experiences with my late mother- as a family we migrated to australia in the 70's when i was a child a few months later m mother woke distressed saying she knew her father had passed but we had not heard from her family- she had seen him walking down the lane near the cottage he lived in tords her mother who had passed yrs before but when she tried to follow he had pushed her back saying we needed her. i remember that so clearly she was absolutely certain- it was a few weeks later after chrstmas that her sisters told us he had passed but he had insisted she not be told til the new yr as he did not want the first christmas in a new home far away to be marked like that. She also knew when her mum passed, she was in labor with my brother, it was early and her first child- her mum had cancer but she had just seen her a few days before but during labor mum was frightened about the babies safety as it was earl and she was at home etc anyway the midwife left the room momentarily and mum said that hermother was at the die of her bed and told her not to worry, her son would be small but safe - she also said a few other things i won't recount but it all came true! mums gift was with family members but it was remarkable. i went on holiday when i forst left home and i injured my leg- id\ did not mention it in my post cards but when i came home i was on crutches, mum's face was really lined with worry and dad told me she ad been so worried - she knew sothing hadhappened and dad kept telling her she was just a worry wart! anyway initially the injury seemed like somthing that would not be too big a deal but she still was worried- anyway, that e\leg was the source ofongoing issues over yrs til over 17yrs later it was amputated - she told me that is what she had dreamt of and why she had been so worried when the problems contined. and as an RN i worked with a collegue who just had an uncanny 6th sense hat we learnt to listen too. theres too mcu to to go into here but i do believe that somehow our loved ones stay around us and help and guide us after they have gone as loneg as we are prepared to listen. i live alone now and i feel a lotof comfort knowing i am not really alone
anyway, i hope you get some relief from you pain soon
Hi thank you for taking the time to write ,you asked what's wrong with my leg,well
I was born without a inferior vena cava,my body made lots of little veins instead .
But the last 7years lve had gross swelling and drainage problems ,trying to get the blood up the leg to the heart.
As my leg gets more swollen and lve developed vascular ulcers .this big one lve had for the last 3 years,it's very painfully and totally impacted every part of my life
I use morphine patches for the bad pain ,but amitriptyline to relax the muscles in the leg and help me sleep at night through pain.
I'm doing a trial of shockwave therapy at the hospital ,lve had 4 sessions and the ulcer has halved in size ,now it has reduced the pain,but l still feel lowland lm still struggling to get through
i can imagine you are feeling low, i have lymphodema in my remaining leg, a side effect of some treatment some time back and made worse from being wheelchair dependant but even with no ulcers that shere dull heaviness from having a grossly swollen limb is very draiining. i also know all too well how any any little scratch or scrape, hurts all the more because the tissue is so over stretched and the awful double whammy is that it makes ulcer formation all the more of a risk. after many yrs as a nurse i have seen far too many chronic vascular ulcers and you have my greastest sympathy. having such a swollen leg and the problems you describe probably means the pain is from a mixture of different mechanisms. amitriptilline when its used for pain is aimed at nerve type pain, when that would only be one part of the issue. i don't know who overseas your pain management but i would really advise you to speak to your gp about a pain unit if you are not already attending one because sometimes it takes more than one kind of medication for a particular problem. the other benefit too is they can teach you non drug ways that won't necessarily take the pain away but certainly can help you deal with it better. if you can get a better hold on the pain sdie of things hen the depression and dark moods lift a bit.
i was on slow realease morphine capsules and at one time i was on the patches but for over 10 yrs now i have had my spinal pump- it administer morphine and clonidine directly to the fluid around the spinal fluid -for me it was far more effective than the other methods but i still have some additional nerve pain from the amputation of my other leg and nerve damage in back after a nasty fall so they have fine tuned things with the amitriptilline and a drug called lyrica. i have been on high dose antidepressants when things were really bad but now the depression is not really an issue- it only occurred because i was in so much pain
i have been out of acute nursing for a while now and am not familiar with this shockwave therapy for dealing with ulcers but if it has halved the size of your ulcer in 4 treatments it sounds wonderful, i hope they can continue to help get that ulcer healed and then perhaps help you get the swelling in your leg better controlled- have they ever tried you with compression stockings?? i know as much as i hated the idea of wearing thick elastic stockings in our very hot summers, it worked so well and got the swelling down to almost nil- my leg was so muchmore comfy then but i really need some new ones as they have won out now and i have o save up for some new ones, sadly they are not covered in our health system but its high on y priority because keeping that swelling down if possible really helps
i hope you can ge you ulcer healed and get you pain in better control, no one deserves to be in pain all the time, i wish you well.
ps sorry for lots of typo's- i have Ms and my hands do not always work as they should!
Hi I will ask about the pain unit,as for the stockings l hate them. But ,lm back in compression bandages now them l hate more....lve been in 24hour compression for th last 3years ....I've been back in bandages for about a year...
stockings I wore two on same. Leg for extra compression to force the blood up the
Leg..
I'm in Aberdeen Scotland so l get treatment free ,l couldn't amagine how much stockings are very expensive so l compression bandages and l use two boxesa week
i am in Australia and we have a public health system so as a person a a disability pension i do not pay to see my GP, i get medication very cheap and i am entitled to free treatment at the public hospitals but sadly things related to chronic health problems are not well covrerd at atimes- i have been seeking a lymphdemaclini in our public hospital and have not found one so i saw aprivate practicephysio who did massage and daily bandaging to get the swelling under control , then i had to buy the compression stocking, they are the real heavy weight one (30-40 mm/hg) which were $130 a pr for below knees but now the the swelling is pretty bad to mid thing so i should get full leg- i know that does not ound all that expensive but i have a type of sleep apnoea due to the MS and i have to buuy the masks etc for that and her should be replaed every 6 months-12 months at $300 the machine i have was $6000 and you are restricted in the masks you can use with it -if it were the standard sleep apnea it would have been a lot cheaper. then i have t buy catheters and chather bags etc, so iam afraid the stockings were the lower priority but sadly that means most of the really good work the physio had done has now reversed making my leg pretty heavy and sore- the skin is very sensitive to touch or if i knock it at all. i mentioned the catheter before, i have a permanent catheter and thats not so bad but the drainage bags are so called "leg bags" which get attacted to the leg by elastic straps- i am sure that even though i am careful about not having them tighter than absolutely necessary,it still is making the lymphodema worse.
our summers are very hot and i was worried about wearing those really thick compression stockings but actually it was far better than having swollen legs and bandages- nowhere near as hot! and having the swelling well controlled really did take that soreness away. i really should start from scratch and go back to the specialist physion get the leg drained out again - it was daily massage then he used the 3 layer bandage system(stockingnette, cottonwool type stuff and then the compression bandage, but he even bandaged each toes separately and very firmly so each day he would repeat it so they never worked lose, by that last day they had stopped shrinking and thats when he knew it was ok to work out my size- then only time i was supposed to go without the stockings was in bed and in theshower. i have been doing the bandaging the best i can but i just have trouble reaching my foot well enough to do a real good job. initally i hated the stockings but once i realized how much than i felt with the bug hard swollen leg i decided i lked my stockings after all! i g through a lot of the bandages too but i find the rirm compression bandages last a few washes before they lose the stretch- so the cost about $15 a piece and i use 4 of them- it would be cheaper to use stockings long erm its just a case of getting all the cash in one hit- sadly everytime i get close something else comes up!
i spoke to someone on a lymphodema forum in US once and she used stockings by daybut then at night she had a special electric air pump with these inflatable cuffs that repeatedly inflate and deflate as if they are massaging her legs during the night- the pump is set to a particular pressure level prescibed by her specialist- it sounded wonderful- her legs had been so bad the fluid was oozing through the skin!! mine was never that bad but i have had cellulitis and even blisters a couple of times but not for the past yr or so but once it got to the point of blisters etc it really only would have taken a samll kncok or a scratch and that could have been the beginning of an ulcer. thats what i still worry about with that catheter strap round my leg all the time- as you know the skin gets really fragile and damage happens quickly yet is slow o heal afterwards
that shockwave therapy sounds like it must be pretty amazing to be improving you ulcers so quickly, i mentioned previously that my background was nursing so i understand the vascular system but i just can't imagine how you cope without an inferior vena cava, its not surprising you ended up with vascular ulcers- even with the therapy you must be doing a great job wit the bandaging!
anyway i really hope you ulcers will heal over soon, even that will make you legs feel so much better- i know it will not stop he pain you must have with such a serious vascular problem but not having to deal with the additional pain of dressings would be great so i keep my fingers cross for you
Wow I couldn't amagine living in a hot country...my legs would swell up like balloons ,as you probably know ,Scottish weather grrrr were not known for our hot weather...lol
I should tell you. Little about me,lm 44 with a mental age of 32....hee hee,but my legs feel like that of a 70yr old,the vascular surgion told me
I'd be walking with sticks about 5yrs ago and ld be in a wheel chair by 7-10...l hope he's wrong about the chair and l might get a little more time,l know you are in a chair and lm finding it hard to think about me being in one ,my house has just been adapted for wheel chair accesses ,my OT thought we should get it ready so that when the time comes grrrr
For the last 5years lve worked as a support worker in the Aberdeen Scottish court. I support vulnerable adults and children while they give
Evidence in court for criminal trials,
I've been off work now since Xmas ,l just couldn't cope on my legs l do miss working l miss the people and the purpose....I hope l might get back part time soon ,we will see xxx
Lm married lve been with alan 12years ,he doesn't understand about
Pain and being in pain 24/7....it's very hard on relationships when your
In pain constantly how about you have you got a good partner
sounds like you have a pretty good sense of humor jackie, thats always a help - i must admit that like many nurse i can and do resort to black humor at times as a way of oping- that old thing about sometimes if you don;t laugh you cry, is very true and most of the time i can see the funny side of the situations i find myself in. according to my birth certificate i am 51yrs old and that freaks me out somewhat as i still feel basically the same as in my thirties- mentally and emotionally anyway- my body definitely feels older though!
i was originally from the UK, i lived in Reading berkshire til i was 11yrs old and hen i migrated to Australia with my parents and my Brother. I have often said my parents di the right thing by migrating even if you just consider the cold- when i read of some of the cold snaps you gys have had in the UK in recnt yrs i can't help but think how tough it would be to have a mobility problem with snow and frost. i remember how when we were little kids we'd skid up and down over the snowy footpaths outside the front door so that it became like a skating rink- we had great fun but we thought 2 old ladies who lived p the road were really bad tempered because they'd growl at us when they saw us making our skind pans- now i wish i could say sorry, we were little $%&*#@! for doing that we could have broken a hip for them with our fun (bu it was fun thouhg!)
these days i also curse the really hot weather too- i used to love it except the really hottest parts of the summer we get days of up to 44 degrees Celsius and they are tough even when you like the heat and being fair skinned i have always had to be careful about not etting burnt - but i used to love going down to the beach in the evening when i was a really hot day sadly one of the effecs of MS is that exposure to heat will make all you symptoms worse, its what is known as a pseudo flare because when you cool down your symptoms ease off.
i do understand the feeling about the wheelchair - these days i am completely wheelchair dependant but i can still stand for a few moments to transfer from chair to chair but its getting harder. my amputated side is still quite strong but the other leg has been affeced badly by he MS and then with the lymphodema as well, that leg is pretty weak and as i am a knee level amputee i need to be able to stand well enough for a short time to get a prosthesis on and its gotten too hard. As an abve kne type prosthesis, it takes about 80% extra energy expenditure to walk but it also causes a whole lot of strain on the other leg and on my back but the final straw was when i started having problems with my waterworks. because of the MS i would get very little warning when i needed to go to the bathroom abd as a female with that type of leg i would have o race o get to the bathroom but then i would have ti get the leg off to actually pee- it got too mch plus i had been struggling with using crutches for so lomg- using a manual wheelchair occasionally meant that i was more mobile than i had been for quite some time so i figured there are 2 ways to look at the wheel cahir (or even a walker) you can either see it as a sign of failuer, that your body at least is failing you and when you think in those terms it get depressing and as you out it so well Grrrr! On the oher hand once you get you arms a bit stronger you will find that the chair can be a ticket to more freeom- not perfect freedom but certainly more than without it~ now, you do have to be careful and remember the old thing about use it or lose it, its a very true saying- its a lot easier to lose function from weakness and muscle wasting if you are not careful so don't be scared to use the chair occasionally. A good example is if you were going out with others and would not be able to keep up as well on your own two feet, whats wrong wih making use of the chair- and if you are wrried that others will stare at you, i think your friends will understand and will not make a big deal- thats why they are friends and those you don't really know just simply will niot pay you any attention because they just don't know its any different form normal- does that make sense??! so i guess whay i am saying is that ou can either see the chair as a symbol of disability and what you cab't do OR you can see it as a potentially fanastic tool that helps even the score a bit in terms of function
your job sounds wonderful! my background is nursing and i miss it a lot- i did work in a call centre where i gave nursing advice over the phone for a few yrs and i dealt with mainly palliative care patients but i was made redundant with a whole bunch of collegue and it has been hard to find suitable work since then and i can only manage about 12-15 hours per week. i have just found a job in a locum service call centre but its not as a nurse just a person who books the visits- but i am looking into the idea of some advocacy work. ive managed to get on a panel at the local council that deals with access and social inclusion and i am also going to start some volunteer ork on an advisory panel for the oganisation that supplies most of our equipment such as wheelchairs and beds, shower chairs etc -ANYTHING TO STAY OUT OF MISCHIEF- PLUS THERE ARE PROBLEMS IN THE SYSTEM AS IT IS AN I WON'T GET BETTER IF WE DON'T WORK with them- oops sorry for the typos. my vision is playing up- yesterday was a tough day with back pain and i have not slept-at present it looks like their is grease all over the scren (or something like this) -its a nuisance but will improve once i get some rer
Boozybird, love the screen name! thank you for the kind words, we are not saints i know i certainly have days where i am anything but saintly! but you are right pain is torture and trying to see the funny side of life in the tough times can make things easier to cope with- i think so any way. i mentioned before that i come from nursing background and nursing do tend to use black humor as a coping mechanism. Take care of yourself Boozybird- its 6am and i have had no sleep so i am not makin much sense- and its pretty cold at the moment so i thin its computer off time and go get a cup o coffee! hope todays a good day for you, not too mcuh pain!
I would say so. I also used to take these for my fibromyalgia but found I couldn't sleep on them and felt lousy so I stopped. Just because these are used as an antidepressant doesn't mean they are working to keep you from being depressed. When I suffered with depression yrs back these were the ones that were theeast affective for it. That is why they are used more so now to help with nerve ending pain and sleep. They work on a lot of people but I have a high tolerance to even sleeping pills so refused to take a ymore than 20mg at night even though I was told I could take upto 60mg. Go back and see your go and discuss it because it could be these that are giving you these symptoms xxx
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L5/S1 microdiscectomy 
16 months in with sciatica & fed up!
Nerve pain meds
My First Post! 
