Best/strongest pain relief options needed for leg ulcers, bones and muscule (nerve?) pain

Brain and nerves
1

Bottom line (for those that don't want a long read); need strongest pain relief options and where to find them for nerve pain. Those in the know, please, please help. Docs happy to wait and test, wait and test, for all manner of things due to 'mystifying' root cause. Not at all willing to give me something that helps this crippling new level of pain, during the process. Can pay, can travel. Please help.

More details: Ulcers down the left (mid way right down to achilles and ankle joint). More tests await as initial tests came back with more questions than answers.

Pain increased during a 3 month period to what is now 'sessions' of 4-5 pain in, around the ulcers, inside the bone, up to the knee. Stabbing, burning, pulsating, full on pain, switching locations in the whole of my lower leg. The last 6 days it's gone through the roof, now all the time, no chance of sleeping.

Pain relief offered to date: naproxen, codamol, amitriptaline. Ami caused slurring of speech after a few days, suspected mini stroke, results inconclusive. Enough to freak me out from trying Gabapentine.

Private and NHS docs seem happy to keep investigatint but unwilling to provide anything that will get rid of this pain. Even now. heard of pain patches, injections etc. Completely new to me, as first time so many serious (for me) symptoms, problems have hit me at once.

Have cash, will travel if need be. Sick of being treated like a junkie for asking docs to help. Those in the know please, please help with options that will at least shut this down for a while. I am emotionally and physically drained from fighting the pain and losing. Please help me. What does a person have to do not to be treated like a junkie when docs have seen my messed up leg? Not here to rant on docs, just out of my mind with pain overload and no break. can I go somewhere, pay and get something that will help, both short and long term?

It makes sense to me to at least take the edge off, while tests etc are being done, playing the waiting game. Harley Street comes to mind as one place but it's way out of my area. I'd do it if that was where my salvation was though. That sounds silly, but I'm not proofing this. Please help, I hope it comes across as sincere.

2

You sound like you are going through hell.  Any nerve pain meds take most people

4 to 6 wks. to know if they even are helping.  I tried gabapentin....nothing but sleep..

no relief of the pain though.  In Toronto there is a neuro muscular clinic at Toronto 

General and Toronto Western..... long waits thoough and no treatment ... just

what's going on and why.  In Toronto there is also the Chousky Center which 

could help.  If I had to do it over again (I went through years for a diagnosis)

and I had the means I'd go to either Clevelands House of Mayo Clinic.

Good luck

3

One more suggestion:  a pain clinic can help - Alevio is a good one...maybe

lidicane injections or something!

4

Hey there,

you say you can travel, where is your starting point? UK somewhere?

i take oxycodone long acting 30mg am and pm and oxynorm IR (instant release) 10mg up to 3 times a day as required for more instant top up relief. This might not be for everyone as it's considered highly addictive. I don't seem to have a prob though, doesn't make me sleepy and I can leave it for days then go back to it. Obviously that isn't the best idea though because it takes a couple of days for the long acting to get back into your system to be effective.

i just had an op (England) called a lumbar sympathectomy (lumbar sympathetic block). Have a Google on it. It's injections in the back to try and affect the sympathetic nerves which control leg pain.  I have chronic neuropathy (6years now) and so many sleepless nights, pain filled days. The block has taken the edge off the chronic pain.

good luck.

 

5

Hello, sorry your suffering so much pain. I also suffer nerve pain. If your in the UK then you can try Gaberpentin and Amitriptyline, i have had Amitriptyline and now on Gaberpentin both drugs have helped me. Only side effects are tiredness. 

Elizabeth.

6

Meant to say that these drugs are by prescription.

7

Btw, gabapentin can be harsh on the kidneys so just make sure they are up to it with the doc. I can't take this one any more as my kidneys aren't very good and I'm on anti rejection meds after a liver transplant and they are hard on the kidneys too. I have CKD 5 so it's a no no now.

8

Omg I suffer bad chronic leg ulcer pain. I'm on 100mg mat morphine slow release twice a day. And gabapentine 3times a day paracetamol . The Drs took my oramorph due to saying I took too much. I am in severe stabbing burning nerve pain like crazy can't sleep I'm like a night watchman my legs really hurt all other painkillers don't work . I just want my oramorph back wat do I do

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For nerve pain I use the strongest available in pill form. OxyContin 30mg prolonged release am and pm an also oxynorm 10mg instant release 3 times daily. Hth

 

10

New to this site so only just seen your post. Did you have any success in finding relief for your pain ? I'd be interested to know what you settled on. I would only add that I had awful side affects with amitriptyline but haven't had anything serious with Gabapentin. So don't rule the latter out.

I hope you've had some relief since your original post.

11

The only medication that will wrk is diamorphine

12

If the doctors think your taking more than you should or abusing it they will take you off it, you should of stuck to your dosage and told them that you are still getting pain but say to them you need some pain meds to manage the pain you have  and go from there but they won't give you oramorph again

13

I am not at all condoning the use of illegal drugs at all but because the pain started getting unbearable I ended up turning to heroin to get rid of the pain and managing what I take each day as I've found a perfect balance so I don't get anymore pain and that I'm not taking too much but that is my experience of how I manage the pain coming from my leg ulcer