I am off to have the injections next week due to Spondylosis in my Neck, the pain is evil , hardly mive my neck to the left ,headaches,pins and needles on the face.I lead such an Active life and also Volunteering it has knocked me for 6. I was told the Injections are not Guaranteed to relieve the Pain .My question is if they dont is there anything else available for me ?? As I feel I cannot cope with this pain for the rest of my life.I have taken Gabapentin and Pregbalin but neither did anything.
thankyou look forward to answers..
What injections are those? Steroids? They work for some people, not for all, and even where they work, the effect dissapears after several months or even weeks.
Opiates like morphine work for some types of pain but I don't think this includes pins and needles, gapabetin / pregbaltin target that. Again, they don't take all the pain, just the edge of it.
Last resort option is surgery, which again is not guarranteed to resolve pain and too often causes even more. Surgery is only supposed to save life, where it is threatened by severe stenosis of the spinal cord. Any pain relief should be considered as a lucky bonus, not a controllable outcome.
Pretty much anything which has to do with the spine has more in common with plain luck than things we can do about it.
I hope you have pain relief with the injections,please let us know how you go on.
Thankyou benggo I will, not holding out too much hope and dreading it but better than constantly putting up with the pain. my Doc gave me Zapain 500 mg and they are strong , but they do nothing.I didnt want to get hooked on them so just take 2 a night just to sleep.bevause I do so much with my life its been coming on gradually over the years but never thought it would get this bad.. I try not to let it stop me. Best I can..Thanks will be going next Thursday so will let you know.
Thank you for your answer Michael but Gabapentin and Pregabalin did nothing except affect my legs, had to come off them..the pins ans needles doesnt bother me too much its the pain, but we will see next week if there is any effect.
Looked up Zapain and it's yet another name for 30 mg codeine + 500 mg paracetamol. 30 mg it's actually very little.
No way they won't give simple codeine pills cuz you're going to abuse them and take 2 or even 3 at at time and become a drug addict. No, they put paracetamol in it so that you can't take more than one at a time, unless you're an ignorant, case when paracetamol destroys your liver.
Well. Ghankyou Michael for that interesting piece of info. Thats why there not helping with the pain then, must learn to understand tablets and medication more.
I meant to say. thankyou.
My prescribed dose of co-codimol,30/500 os,one or two every two hours and a maximum of eight in 24 hours.
Same here but do they do anything for you ?? I presume u have same condition as me ??? I felt a but dozy when i first started taking them and then just went onto 2 of a night..If they help I might take them regularly.
Thankyou
Eight pills of 500 mg mean 4 grams within 24 hours. According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracetamol_toxicity this exceeds the maximum recommended daily dose of 3 grams. Even that should not be taken long term, I bet you anything it eventually causes liver failure.
Plain opiates (like codeine) on the other hand are safe to use indefinitely. Howard Hughes took it for nearly 30 years (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Hughes: "As a result of numerous aircraft crashes, Hughes spent much of his later life in pain, eventually becoming physically dependent on codeine" ). Words such as "physically dependent" or "long-term addiction to opiates" have absolutely no negative connotation in the context of a chronic pain person. It's not true that pain doesn't kill, after a certain threshold people will either die in agony or commit suicide to escape it. What's better, addicted or dead?
Rather strong words Michael. I will carry on and wait for my Injections next week and will be in a better position to comment.Thankyou
They deaden then pain in my neck,but don't kill it completely,I take them as little as possible as they cause constipation.
I guess it's a case of putting up with it.
Michael,the Wilki report makes interesting reading,I have not had eight pills yet and on reading that I certainly will not.
Hi Michael
I have been told that I have CS.
Did the injections help.
Appreciate if you can reply.
Thanks.
Hello to. Everyone
Well the injections I had approx 3 weeks ago , slightly better but I find more painful laying down of a night, that is definitely worse, so dont know what the Injections really did and not got my follow up appt until Dec...So what next. ??? We will see , it was rather disappointing. must admit the actual Injections were nowhere near as bad as to what I had been told, so will never take notice of anyone else...Hope this helps but have to be honest and they say its not guaranteed to get rid of the pain...
Hi, I've been battling this for over 10yrs, sadly the steroid injections didn't work. I've had 2 ops removing discs at C5/6 with a bone graft and C6/7 with metal trabecular spacer.
as has been pointed out the ops don't take the pain away but stop further damage being done.
Im allergic to mainy meds eg morphine does it's very best to kill me, but currently managing on Tapentadol (palexia) which is relatively new, a synthetic opiate, I'm on a children's dose of 50mg MR am 100mg MR nightime and 50mg instant release as a top up if needs be. I also use lidocaine patches for easy muscle spasm in my neck. Also paracetamol during the day.
i was also very active, and now I can't be, I'm told I have to learn to "manage the pain" so I know what causes some flare ups but the nature of the condition means some come without a reason.
Heat & ice pads can offer some relief, different pillows do too. I have regular Physio and massage. It's all about what suits you. When things are really bad I put my neck brace on (as advised by all the medical staff) but as yet I've not found an ideal solution.
apologies if this sounds depressing, but might offer you other alternatives to try.