How do people cope with the side effects of their medication?

rev229

The gabapentine is 100mg and I need to increase to 900mg daily. The pain clinic said 100mg for a few days then up to 300mg 3 times daily. However my GP said to do it more slowly. At this rate I will not be increasing it as I am so tired. Husband and son where out this pm, DD had 2 seizures fourtunately I was awake at the time. We spend the time DH was out both fast asleep on the sofa. I also have itching from the fentynal drives me mad at night. Morphine does the same. I also take anti sickness drugs.
at least I know that there are others suffering with the side effects of drugs which is also making their lives difficult.

pipkin71

rev229 wrote: »

The gabapentine is 100mg and I need to increase to 900mg daily. The pain clinic said 100mg for a few days then up to 300mg 3 times daily. However my GP said to do it more slowly. At this rate I will not be increasing it as I am so tired. Husband and son where out this pm, DD had 2 seizures fourtunately I was awake at the time. We spend the time DH was out both fast asleep on the sofa. I also have itching from the fentynal drives me mad at night. Morphine does the same. I also take anti sickness drugs.
at least I know that there are others suffering with the side effects of drugs which is also making their lives difficult.

I take 900mg of gabapentin - 3 x 300mg capsules. The side effects aren't as bad as when I first started taking it. I went staight on the 300mg so can't say whether or not you will get more side effects as you increase.

Hope your DD is ok now rev. My nephew had a seizure the other day - the first for a long time

veryunsure

I have disc problems in neck and lumbar spine.
I take 30/500 codeine (co-codamol or DHC) as it works for me and buprenorphine and diazepam. Worse side effect is constipation and sometimes itching if I take too much. Tramadol did nothing for me. A pain specialist told me that 10% of people cannot metabolise at least one type of pain killer so you need to try and try. Gaba and pregaba didn't seem to work either. I know codeine is metabolised by the liver to form morphine so that might work. Have any of you tried plain old paracetamol? It does help in conjunction with other drugs (but check out with GP first). It is a good baseline.
I tried fentanyl but had scary withdrawal from it after 3 weeks use. Buprenorphine is similar but I can start and stop with no withdrawal. I have a cream based on chili peppers. It is a POM. It seems to work in combo with the others.

Good luck to you all. You have to persevere to get right combination for you without becoming so dazed that you are in a dream all day.

lolababy

Something thats puzzled me is why hypnosis isnt tried for pain managment. I remember watching a program on hypnosis for people undergoing operations. They were taught to turn off the pain and so no pain killers were needed. Just a thought.

ladylumps45

hows your dd rev?ok i hope.
veryunsure,i decided one day about a year ago that id had enough of being on the fentanyl patches and the morphine,in fact id had enough of all my medication and the way it made me feel,so i ripped the patch off and stopped the pain relief meds completely and just carried on with my other ones that try to control the illnesses.
well,i would never do it again as it was horrendous,violent vomiting,hallucinations worse than if i took it,felt like things were crawling all over my skin and i just felt like i was going mad.i rang my dad who came round and straight away phoned my gp.he said to get a patch back on and take the oramorph straight away as i was withdrawing from it as it has to be gradual ,not sudden.
i did this and eventually about 8 hours later i was back to how i usually was on the drugs.
pipkin,is the itching where the patch has been as i only itch where the patch is.what anti sickness are you on as i was changed to metoclopramide 3 times daily.
veryunsure,i tried paracetamol but it never even touched the pain.was given topirimate and that is the same but im still on it:rolleyes:
pipkin hows your nephew?
well il stop rambling now ,its just so nice to know that theres others like me!!and that we can chat about it.:D

veryunsure

Hi, I can empathise with your withdrawal from fentanyl. I was similar and had smae advice from GP. I had to cut the patch into smaller and smaller pieces. That said, it took about a week to clear it out of my system.
I'm not sure if paracetamol would work on its own but with another drug does seem to boost its effect with no extra side effects.

I recall a doc telling me that one day, we'll be tested before being given meds to ensure our individual enzymes are suited to the drug. This will mean that there will be more certainty as to what works best. I have no idea when this will be but it sounds like a good idea and better than the 'try it and see' place I am in.
Pain is awful.

pipkin71

veryunsure wrote: »

I'm not sure if paracetamol would work on its own but with another drug does seem to boost its effect with no extra side effects.

Yes, I take the paracetamol alongside the tramadol slow release and that increases the amount of pain relief. The paracetamol is no use on it's own but works well with the tramadol sr.

Ladylumps, my nephew is ok now. He was diagnosed with epilepsy a while ago and often had frequent seizures, but none for a while until the other day. thankyou for asking

I take 10mg of metoclopramide three times a day and lansoprazole each morning.

Pain is an awful thing, and I don't know how I coped with the amount of pain I was in before taking this cocktail of drugs

ladylumps45

that is a very good idea.it would be nice4 to know if particular drugs suit our body before we take them.
the consultant im under at kings college has referred me to another consultant there who deals with pain and im going to see him on the 26th of this month so im hopeful that i may be able to change my meds for something else but i will definitely wean myself off of it !
the plan is that when i go back to kings to see my normal consultant,he will have heard from the new one as to what to do with me lol(gotta laugh eh:rolleyes:)
do you find the gabapentine better?

rev229

well I am going ti increase the gabapentine today, so that will be 200mg daily just 700mg to go! I will take it about 10am and will hopefully be ok, don't need to drive today. I take cyclazine for nausea but only when I feel sick as it makes me drowsy also. How do you cope with having such a dry mouth? Another side effect of the drugs! when I went to the pain clinic I wrongly thought I would come away painfree or at the very least some different drugs. Instead I came away witha prescription fro more drugs! When I was taking MST I didn't take it if I had to drive during the day but the withdrawal even fron one dose was awful. I would have tummy pain and diarrohea and feel really trembly and could not stop yawning. I really hope that one day I can come off all these drugs. I get so fed up at times as I am still in pain that I think I will just stop the lot and see what happens. But then I realise I will feel awful because of the side effects.

lessonlearned

Just been reading through some of the problems you are all having with pain relief and I'm shocked at what you all have to put up with.

Having had a lot of problems with pain relief I now try to manage my pain (mainly from arthritis in the main joints and a bad back caused from a fall from a horse) by not relying on pain medication but from a variety of other methods.

Pain medication simply causes too many stomach problems for me, aggravating my IBS, even when I take acid inhibitors or various forms of 'stomach protectors'. Having had a stomach ulcer in my teens I'm desperate not to repeat the experience!

If it's any help here are a few things that have helped me.

Glucosomine (liquid - I can't swallow the tablets). 1500mg - takes a couple of months before you feel any real benefit. Really helps my knees .
Cod liver oil capsules - oils the joints
Ibruprofen gel - max strength 10mg - applied to the joints that are playing up. Stopped taking Ibruprofen tablets due to stomach pain.
Cortisone injections - direct to the joint - very painful and unpleasant but they do work for me. Relief can last up to two years, although sometimes only six months - it varies.
Sunshine - when I can get it.

A once a month trip to the osteopath to 'click everything back in place'. The treatments feel like torture but it helps because without it one hip becomes higher than the other and everything falls out of alignment.

General soothing and relaxation techniques - a warm bath, a rest on the sofa with a hot water bottle or a heated lavender/wheat bag. I give myself (as best as I can) a mini massage with lavender oil.

A copper bangle and copper insoles for my shoes. I know a lot of people scoff, and I'm prepared to admit the benefit may only be psychological, but they work for me.

Without wishing to appear Little Miss Goody Two Shoes I do find exercise helps. If I'm really in a bad way I just do a few Yoga type stretches, but I do find if I exercise I loosen up and things improve. If I can't walk much I go on my exercise bike. I read somewhere that exercise produce endorphines which apparently are the body's own form of pain relief. Somertimes I need to take a couple of paracetamol before I can do any exercise.

I also try to pay attention to my posture - I can end up not being able to stand up straight if I'm not careful, so I try to sit with decent back support and try to 'walk tall'. No heavy lifting (lugging my husband's wheelchair around doesn't help).

For my IBS I've learned (the hard way) to watch my diet and avoid too much wheat, eat plenty of yogurty things and drink milk. If I get really stressed then I'm in big trouble and do have to resort to Omeprazole.

I think I feel more pain when I am tired and cold, so I try to keep warm and get enough sleep and rest.

Hope the above helps someone.