I have chronic pain syndrone for the past 20 years. I unfortunatly had a doc treat the nerve with?

I totally know how you feel! My husband does not understand either. People who do not have chronic debilitating pain do not understand what a drain it is and how it affects every aspect of your life. They cannot understand why you just cant "buck up" and get on with things or try to tell you to just ignore the pain and do what you have to do. They dont understand that it is so severe it just overwhelms your every thought! It is easy to become preoccupied with the pain so you have to be careful the pain doesnt start to rule your life. It sounds like to me that you may not be having adequate pain relief and that is why you become preoccupied with counting your pills and worrying about running out.

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Why do they give you 30 days of meds then make you come back in 37 days? That doesnt make sense! Are you taking more than you are allowed? You must be very careful to stick with the amount of pain medication you are allowed but that becomes easier when your pain is being adequately controlled. You have to become honest with yourself and ask if you are really looking for relief or are you looking to get a little buzz? If it is truly only for pain relief then you need to let your Dr know honestly that your pain is not being adequately treated. Go online to get a pain log and fill it out so your Dr knows when you take your meds and how much relief you are getting and for how long. This can be a very useful tool. Most sites related to pain have them. Try looking at the National Pain Foundations website. I believe they have pain logs you can download and print to take to the Dr. There should be links to other pain sites too. Arm yourself with as much knowledge about pain as you can. With the nerve procedures, they do a very good job of killing nerve pain for some people but the nerves are tricky little devils. They dont grow back but they learn to re-route. Often those procedures need to be repeated. Has the Dr mentioned anything about repeating the procedure? You might try looking into it. There are also nerve procedures that use ultrasound to kill the nerve rather than a chemical. They are called RFA's or radiofrequency ablations. They work well for a lot of people and may last longer for you but again they sometimes need to be repeated because the nerves learn to re-route their pathways bringing pain again. You may also try drugs other than narcotics that work well for nerve pain like Lyrica, Neurontin or gabapentin, Cymbalta and others. You want to try to use methods other than narcotics because while narcotics help pain briefly, your body gets used to them requiring more and more medication. Narcotics also, believe it or not, can make you more sensitive to pain so that even stimuli that should not be painful becomes very painful. That is called hyperalgesia. Make sure you are trying to get some exercise every day. I know that is a challenge when you hurt but it is important to push yourself a bit to take a walk or do some stretching to keep your natural pain relievers (endorphins) working. You may also benefit from physical therapies, pool therapy, massage, and chiropractic care. Pain is best treated from many different angles. You may even benefit from talking to a psychiatrist to help you with coping skills. They can help you find ways to cope with pain and keep it from taking over your life. Pain will take over if you let it. Hang in there and welcome to the site. You are not alone. There are many of us on here who deal with pain every day and every long minute of our lives! We are here for you. Encourage your wife to go to Dr visits with you. Share information you find on pain sites with her so she can learn to help you. Pain is difficult for your loved ones to understand because it is subjective and doesnt show up on any monitor but maybe if you include her in some of your Dr visits she will not feel shut out by your pain because we truly do tend to shut others out as we try to cope with our misery. Ask her to walk with you and be sure you do your best to try to spend time with her and try not to mention your pain when you spend special time together. Keep us posted on how you are doing and we are here for you when you need to talk to someone who understands!!

i relate to you more then you know i have had chronic pain for over 10yrs, and have been on every narcotic and opiate out there. at one time i was on 300mcg of fentynel and it did nothing. i have had four back surgeries three which are fusions, they cut one of the nerves in the second surgery and it grew back painful and hypersensitive. a slight breeze hurts. after going to one specialist after another last year i found my third pain mgmt doc, and she is wonderful and has changed my life. i'm on methadone, lyrica (for the nerve pain and it does work, only problem blurry vision) valium (for the muscle spasams, norco (for break through pain) dalium (for sleep). i used to be like you a pill counter then i found the right combination and i never run out and usually have some left over.

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hang in there the fentynel will not help with nerve pain, so if you can get off of it stay on the methadone it does the same thing as fentynel, you really shouldn't be taking both opiates together. one or the other is good, the methadone works a lot better and you don't have to worry about the patches sticking and coming off. i sure hope this has helped you, if so let me know mark yes at end of answer. your friend if needed AMBER.

Hello (I know what Chronic pain is about) I lived through Polio and the after effects many years later, since 2003. You are right it's so important to find the he/she out there who specializes in pain, once you do you need to be as honest and open as it means the difference in all the world! Because of my low body fat and my body's ability not to be able to function I had to be removed from the Fentanyl.

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there is hope and still a chance and I really do believe that, If you see a pain specialist have you shared this information with/him/ or her? it allows them to have a look at what you really need, Don't be running out of patches sooner than you should, that concerns me far better to talk with the doctor about the possibility of other options that really will work but your life does not need to surround that, nor do it need to hang on to counting wondering if you're going to run out and then considering whats the next option, I believe you can get better, but please feel free to come here and feel free to be open I am going to make you a friend so you can send me a private message if you ever choose to do so, meanwhile hang in there, my site name is caringsonbj and my first name is Billy, I want to try and support you in every way that I can

Hi: I know this may sound stupid, but the Rx pain patches never worked for me--so I kept experimenting with OTC patches and found that the ICY HOT extra strength (largest) size for the "BACK" DO work!
I have cervical stenosis with muscle, tendon and ligament pain--so don't know if they would work on nerve pain or not. I get these patches at Costco~~2 packs of 5 each, per box, for $9.69. Just a thought--and cheap to try.
I've also had insomnia for over 35 years, and tried all the traditional sleep meds.
Yes, some would work for up to two weeks, but then you had to increase the dose--which left me feeling hung over the next morning.
I went to a Sports Med doc in 2006, who put me on Soma, which is a muscle relaxant. I only take it at bedtime, but it has a 'side effect' of 'letting' you sleep--not 'making' you sleep, and I wake up clear-headed and ready to face the day!

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And, the best part--I have never had to increase the dose--it just keeps on working, night after night! I HAVE had to take an additional 1/2 pill in the late afternoon a few times, when I've had a super bad day... but was always able to go back to the regular dose again. (Because this med DOES make you sleepy, you need to be careful when you first start to take it, that you are not going to be active--like driving a car--until you see how it affects you.)
There are people on this site who absolutely hate this drug and have had horrible side effects from it; however, this has NOT been my experience. The literature says that you can NOT use it if you have an 'addictive personality'... but otherwise, it is safe. Plus, it is super cheap--I get 90 tabs for around $14.00 in generic form!
****YOU MUST CHECK IT AGAINST EVERYTHING ELSE THAT YOU ARE TAKING--FOR POSSIBLE DRUG INTERACTIONS.
I know that these two suggestions probably make NO sense to you, but they both worked for me--when nothing else did!
I wish you the best... chronic pain sucks! Mary, madhattersbash