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

pipkin71

ladylumps45 wrote: »

do you find the gabapentine better?

The main benefit I have had from the gabapentin is that the unrelentless agonising pain that lived in my ankle has eased tremendously. That alone is worth the side effects. As the pain was caused by nerve damage, it was angonising and even morphine alone wouldn't touch the pain. Now, I still get periods where it flares up, but not at the same level of intensity and it is now manageable.

The dry mouth means I'm never far away from a bottle of water, even during the night, but of course also means I need to wee constantly , which adds to the bladder problems caused by the nerve damage :mad:

ladylumps45

good evening alll!
rev229,how did your increase in meds go today?the dry mouth is awful,i thought it must just be me lol.the thing is i cant figure out what medication is causing it.if i list my meds maybe you can tell me whats doing it please? fentanyl patches upto 75mg per hour,metaclopramide,oramorph,topirimate,acetazolomide,diazepam,efexor,amitryptiline
,tylex,asprin.think thats about it for now.dry mouth is awful and it makes my lips dry too.
rev you mention MST,whats that?
glad your nephew is ok pipkin.does the lansoprazole along with the metaclopromide help the sickness more?
thankyou for those helpful words lessonlearned.its very good to hear what others go through and what helps them.as much as our family love us they cant really understand what its like as they dont go through it,therefore its good to talk on here to people that understand more.
anyway enough rambling and i hope you are all ok.

mealone

lessonlearned wrote: »

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.

An ulcer can be misdignosed for an IBS, I was for 6 years even after having ulcers previously. I dont have IBS and even Nextrum dosnt take away the symptoms totally, if I look at fatty food I need to run to the loo and passing pure acid from your anus isnt pleasant.

Thats the main diffrence between the two, if it burns your anus straight away its an ulcer, if its IBS you can go to the loo a couple of times befors it burns.

sorry if TMI

Invasion

ladylumps45 wrote: »

good evening alll!
rev229,how did your increase in meds go today?the dry mouth is awful,i thought it must just be me lol.the thing is i cant figure out what medication is causing it.if i list my meds maybe you can tell me whats doing it please? fentanyl patches upto 75mg per hour,metaclopramide,oramorph,topirimate,acetazolomide,diazepam,efexor,amitryptiline
,tylex,asprin.think thats about it for now.dry mouth is awful and it makes my lips dry too.
rev you mention MST,whats that?
glad your nephew is ok pipkin.does the lansoprazole along with the metaclopromide help the sickness more?
thankyou for those helpful words lessonlearned.its very good to hear what others go through and what helps them.as much as our family love us they cant really understand what its like as they dont go through it,therefore its good to talk on here to people that understand more.
anyway enough rambling and i hope you are all ok.

In my experience both Topirimate and Amitryptiline made my mouth and lips dry, chewing gum is the only way I found made any difference, drinking lots made little difference. Vaseline or Blistex for lips, and Blistex every night, covered in vaseline so it doesn't rub off. I realise it wasn't me you asked

rev229

MST is slow release morphine. Pretty sure (referring to nursing days!) Morphine and the metrocloprimide and amytrptaline all cause a drying up of secretions. All ant' sickness drugs do that which is why they are used as pre-meds (in my day!). Amytriptaline is/was used for bedwetters for the same reason. As for morphine no idea why thet gives you a dry mouth. Drinking makes no differance. My mum takes drugs for cholesterol that also cause dry mouth. Hate chewing gum as it makes me hungry? And I really don't need to eat any more (already very overweight!). I inceased the gapapentine to 200mg yesterday and fell asleep for 2 hours before the kids came home. Woken by a phone call from my mum. No idea what she was talking about as I could not wake up. She gave up in the end and told me to go back to sleep!
I have just taken some more gabapentine. Feeling very sluggish, had quite a bad night, Husband snoring!!! Will probably fall asleep later! Other side effects constipation!! Managing drinking lots of fruit juice have lactulose for when it gets really bad. I also have lansoptazole but don't take it very often. I had it just after the accident as I was taking lots of brufen and had horrendous heartburn. Gp advised me not to take brufen again and prescribed it.

pipkin71

I had to stop taking brufen, so now take diclofenic sr. For me, drinking water does help in that it relieves a dry mouth but doesn't stop it drying up again hence having to drink regularly.

Constipation is another side effect of the combination of drugs

Hopefully you wont feel so spaced out once your body has adapted to the meds rev. My worry is I will become too used to them that they lose the affect they are having at the moment and the pain becomes unbearable again

tenacioust123

Gabapentin is great for me it has really helped with those horrible pains in my legs, it used to feel like someone was atacking me with an icepick!!! When I 1st started taking it I thought I would never be able to deal with the side effects however, after about 4 months most side effects have settled down really well.

I do get a dry mouth occasionally but it's a good excuse to have a cup of tea. The worst side effect happened to me about a week ago, my back had gone into spasm so I was taking my Oramorph and Diazepam, plus all my other medication and I suffered terrible constipation to the point that i was being very sick and looked about 7 months pregnant. I had no action for 7 days, the doctor was at the point of sending me to hospital, luckily things did get moving. It took me a week to get over this it was horrible.

MSE_ForumTeam1

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