[Harston]

Hi,
My doctor prescribes me Norco for pain relief, possible rumatoid arthritis, carpel tunnel syndrome, shooting pains from my neck to the bottoms of my feet and the same from my neck through my shoulder to the tip of my finger.

It is not exactly very effective however it does allow me to not concentrate on the pain and try to get work done.

Recently my feet started to swell up, then got really bad and he put me on lasix and aldactone to get rid of the water but they don't seem to work because the only thing to lessen the swelling in my feet is to get off my feet for several days and lay in bed, but after a couple hours of being in my chair in front of my computer my feet start to swell up again.

Anyway, tha't s a brief history, now the doctor has prescribed Lyrica, which I've only now read has a possible side effect of leg swelling and gaining weight. Well my legs are already swollen and Im fat enough that I don't need anymore. Is that just a rare side effect or it occurs to everybody?

Also how does lyrica work? Is it one of these drugs that works to get rid of the pain right away like Norco does or is it something that you take for weeks before you see any relief?

P.S. I've already had a heart stress test that shows no problems with my heart which we were afriad might be causing the swelling in my legs and feet which the doctors can't seem to figure out what is causing it.

I should also mention that I hardly sleep, I usually sleep for about 1 hour a night and that goes on for 4 or 5 weeks then my body usually collapses and Im in bed for 3 to 5 days, this is why he's prescribed the dalmane but that doesn't work at all. I take one 30mg pill before bed and IM back up in an hour again.

Im feeling pretty exhausted and swollen by now.

[vduda]

Harston,

Maybe your doctors' should "dump you like a hot potato". Of course, I am being facetious. It amazes me that you are struggling with your own pain, yet you have no compassion for another person who is struggling. I hope the best for you and pray that God will soften your heart. The swelling in your legs and feet sound painful. My friend takes Lyrica for fibromyalgia. I will ask him how it works. I am a friend, don't take my somewhat sarcasm negatively. I was trying to make a point. I will pray for you. God Bless

[Harston]

It's not a lack of compassion, compassion is a feeding device unfortunately. I've lost one brother to compassion. We kept trying to help him when he didn't really want any help and we kept feeding his addiction until the addiction took his life. My other brother on the other hand genuinely wanted help and we gave him help, and he cleaned up his life, but he didn't really always want help in the beginning, in the beginning we kept feeding his addictions through our compassion and he kept right on with what he was doing.

The only solution with an addict is to take a hardline approach and stop feeding their addiction The lady said she can't keep paying the bills indicating that the husband is either spending all their money on drugs booze, and sex calls or that he isn't working at all and a great burden on her. She needs to look out for herself first with a person like this and needs to take a hardline approach with him that will either work or not, either way he will be out of her life if it doesn't.

A very close friend of mine was a major alcoholic and his wife was fed up with his getting up at the crack of dawn to go to the liquor store and get more booze, drink all day, all night until they don't sell it anymore (2AM law), sleep for 4 hours and start all over again. She tried "helping" him through different therapy programs and while they worked briefly he'd fall back into the same pattern. I advised her that unfortaunately she must take a hardline approach and remove the one thing in his life that he loves more than life itself. That was to remove herself from his life.

She threatened to leave him if he didnt' stop drinking, he swore up and down and promised that he would quit. And he did quit for 3 days then started all over again. I explained that she didn't take a hardline approach at all, she just gave him a warning, now take the hardline approach, pack your bags, grab the kids and go to your mums house. She did. He immediately called her when he was sober enough and swore up and down that he would stay sober but just please come home. She told him that if he stayed sober for 3 months and kept sober after that then she would come home again.

He stayed sober for the 3 months, not a drop (I know because I was the one stopping in each day to see how he was getting along), she came back to him with kids in tow and he's been sober and a solid provider for the family ever since.

Had she just kept feeding his addiction with compassion he would never have gotten sober.

So with the information that she provided I still believe its best to drop him like a hot potato and see if he is going to sober up or not, if he does then maybe they can work out any bad feelings that she may have against him for all that time of smoking away their money, if he continues down the road of drugs going up his nose, then she's better off for having gotten rid of him from her life.

Now as to me... Yes I've read that the lyrica is often used for fibromyalgia but I wonder what else the lyrica drug is used for. I know that there are a lot of drugs out there that are prescribed for things that they have not been FDA approved for but that work, I wonder if there is another reason besides fibromyalgia that doctors are prescribing Lyrica for.

P.S. Sorry to sound harh, but when you've been dealing with addicts that make all kinds of promises for over 40 years, you start to learn what actually works and what doesnt.

[vduda]

Harston,

I respect that you had the courtesy to answer my response in a civil way. Maybe we are not talking about the same situation. I was referring to the husband who is on Paxil an SSRI prescribed for Anxiety and Social Phobias. Nonetheless, I am sorry that you have been hurt in the past by addiction. It is a terrible dis-ease and can destroy families. But on the positive side I am one of those addicts who have been delivered from my addiction. It took 10 yrs and twice through detox, dying three times from overdoses, and basically losing almost everything. But if it was not for my true loved ones and God I would not be here today. In other words, I am very very thankful that they did not give up on me. Now I am clean and feel great. Just a little over 8 months ago I was given 2 weeks to live because of the damage the opiates did to my body. I have made a miraculous recovery and even the doctors are at a loss. The pain is minimal and I live a very active life now. Just throwing this out, but do you think that some of your meds my be causing you to get sick. Many times Doctors prescribe meds that are contraindicated. Side effects can kill you. And do you consider yourself addicted to the opiate narco (hydrocodone) that you take? Just curious. Look I am here if you need to talk. Through my experiences God has given me the gift of empathy, compassion, love, understanding and hope. So if you need anything I am at your service. God bless

VJ

[ymccormack]

Have you checked your kidney function? Kidney disease can cause feet and leg swelling too.

YM

[Robert_325]

Originally Posted by Harston

Hi,
"My doctor prescribes me Norco for pain relief, possible rumatoid arthritis, carpel tunnel syndrome, shooting pains from my neck to the bottoms of my feet and the same from my neck through my shoulder to the tip of my finger.

Recently my feet started to swell up, then got really bad and he put me on lasix ....... don't seem to work ......... but after a couple hours of being in my chair in front of my computer my feet start to swell up again.

.......... now the doctor has prescribed Lyrica, which I've only now read has a possible side effect of leg swelling and gaining weight. Well my legs are already swollen ................. Is that just a rare side effect or it occurs to everybody?

Also how does lyrica work? ........ get rid of the pain right away like Norco ........... take for weeks before you see any relief?

P.S. I've already had a heart stress test that shows no problems with my heart which we were afriad might be causing the swelling in my legs and feet which the doctors can't seem to figure out what is causing it.

I should also mention that I hardly sleep, I usually sleep for about 1 hour ................IM back up in an hour again.

Im feeling pretty exhausted and swollen by now.

I would not recommend Norco long term for RA. I have dealt with RA for over 20 years and Norco just masks the problem. You should see a Rheumatologist to determine what your problem is exactly. RA is an autoimmune disease and this is one of the specialties of a Rheumatologist. There are some great new non-narcotic meds specifically for RA that the Rheumatologist will know and they will help if you do have RA. It is ok to use Norco and other pain meds for short term acute pain, but RA is forever. You need to have some blood panels run to determine what is going on with the RA. It is one of easier autoimmune diseases to diagnose. The shooting pain throughout your body does not sound like RA pain to me. You could have RA, but what you describe is just not common to RA in my many years of experience.

I was prescribed Lyrica for another autoimmune disease besides the RA. The Lyrica did nothing for me. But it has helped a lot of people with pain from nerve problems similar to what you describe. I just did not have the type of pain that it worked on. Eventually I discontinued the Lyrica and I did not gain weight, this was after taking it several months. Lyrica is a medication that you start out with a small dose and add to it as you progress. It can take some time to work effectively, that is why I took it for a while before stopping it.

I also read about the weight gain with Lyrica and it seems it does that to some people, but not all obviously as it did not cause any problems for me. Lyrica has been proven to be effective in treating Fybromyalgia ... another autoimmune disease where nerve problems exist. It is one of the meds that has kind of replaced Neurontin, which used to be prescribed for most all nerve pain problems. The pain you describe with shooting pains through your body sound like you could be a good candidate for using Lyrica.

As far as the leg swelling goes from Lyrica, I take Prednisone ( which is a steroid ) on and off for my autoimmune disease problems, and it sometimes causes leg swelling for me and others. So it is hard for me to tell if my legs swell if it was coming from the Prednisone or the Lyrica. The Lasix that you take is a good medication for the fluid retention.

Remember that sitting in a chair at a computer is one of the worst positions you can be in for fluid retention in your legs. You should be in a chair with your feet extended and on an ottoman. A chair cuts the circulation to your legs. I would personally have a problem with a dr that does not tell you that sitting in a chair would do this.

The sleep problem will be easier to straighten out after these other problems are corrected. You may find the sleep issue corrects itself to a degree when the other problems are corrected. Good luck. Hope this helps.