hi buffy. i just wanted to mention to you that there is a really GREAT pain management board on these boarRAB kind of way down in the "p' section? there are some really knowledgable and experienced people there who all are dealing with what you are, trying to manage chronic pain. i KNOW someone can help you better there than here. the one thing you really do need to know when you are simply dealing with any level of ongoing chronic pain, espescially when you have an ongoing and progressive thing like DDD. getting the 'intensities" down to a more tolerable level is in alot of cases, the best we can hope for( i have the same thing and six surgeries too). pain management is not going to ever make your type of pain just go away, and no good PM would just keep medicating a patient to the point that it would take to even get there. it would just be wayyy too much and disable your ability to even function, you know what i mean?
so we try and shoot for tolerable levels and try other forms of managing pain as well. some good therepies and injections, other types of meRAB, and some really good topicals(and lidocaine patches) along with the TENS unit have really helped me tons with all my crap. all you can do is keep trying new things and just see what may work on particular areas of your pain generators. these are all little adjuncts to the base of narcotic therepy. just back up plans when the flares hit, ya know? my pain levels are right about where yours are WITH my meRAB too. its pretty ugly without them. my plan when i started PM was to try and at least get down to a five. still have not gotten there but my meRAB keep it from blowing up on me at least. i also have RSD and central pain syndrome which just do NOT respond at all to any level of narcotics. they suck the most.
i am wondering about just what it means by "your pain is "eating away' your potassium and vitamins"? don't know exactly how that would occur really. there can be alot of different reasons for metabolic problems. have they run any specific types of tests to get to the reason for this? just wondering what that sentence actually means, thats all. have they run the basics like your kidney/liver functions along with the metabolics? depending upon how much and how long you have been on the percs, or anything containing any tylenol and on what daily intake you are at, that tylenol can do some really bad stuff to the liver and the kidneys too. how many percs do you take per day and what is the ratio of oxy to tylenol? just wondering. does soma also have tylenol too? i have heard of that med but do not know its make up.
just pop on down to the pain boarRAB buffy. i can almost guarentee you that someone will be able to give you some other good ideas there. good luck in bringing down the pain hon, i DO understand where you are at here. and it does suck. marcia
