Dealing with chronic pain 24/7

I am quite lucky in that I do not get addicted to pain killers and I have been on all the common ones, nor do I "get used" to them to reduce their effectiveness. Ofc any doctor I explain this too doesn't believe me and starts either misdiagnosing me or quoting "guidelines" as if they were rules.

Firstly let me cover one subject. TENS machines, Physiotherapy, massage and gentle exercise are all for muscular pain, which is the lowest type of pain.

Second level of pain is physical damage, arthritis damage, crumbling spine and others.

The third and final level is neural pain often called referred pain caused by bones impinging on nerves. Nerves cannot feel pain they simply report to the brain that whatever part of the body they are attached to is hurting. Sciatica and slipped disks usually fall into this category.

There are only 5 pain killers that directly affect neural (mid-nerve) pain. They are not in any particular order but ALL are also mild anti-depressants so often have, like AD's, unacceptable side effects. They are....

Pregabalin
Gebapentin
Amitryptylene
Nortryptylene
Duloxetine

Other pain killers (nerve-end) I will try to rate but don't forget that sometimes trade names are used in prescriptions rather than the chemical name. I will also rate their strengths vs Morphine.

Paracetamol      1/360  (also Aspirin)
Ibruprofen          1/222  (NSAID)
Naproxen           1/113  (NSAID)
Diclofenac          1/14     (O)
Codeine             1/10     (usually prescribed as Cocodamol)
past here are all opiates
Tramadol           1/10
Dihydrocodeine  1/5
Pethedine           1/3
Morphine            1/1       (oral form, prescribed as Oramorph)
Oxycodone         1.5/1
Morphine            3/1       (IV form)
Methadone         2.5-5/1
Diamorphine       4-5/1
Buprenorphine    40/1
Fentanyl              50-100/1
beyond this there are many other opiates but only Ketamine is given to people and only in hospital under normal circumstances.

There are many other opiates of various strengths not normally prescribed. This list is the common and well-known ones.

Most level one pain is treated by Cocodamol and or Diclofenac plus paracetamol and Ibruprophen. Despite claims on a few sites no opiate is very good at dealing with nearal pain and neural pain killers are hopeless at strong non-neural pain. However the neural pain killers are often prescribed for depression and not for pain unless diagnosed as neural. GP's generally do not understand why these work the way they do but if a script they follow says "prescribe" then they do.

You will find some sites altering the numbers a little because it depends on which chemical compound is used by certain manufactures and whether they include small amounts of something stronger / weaker or perhaps less carefully isolated. Tramadol and Oramorph, for example, are based on Morphine Sulphate. I won't try to list them all you can google if you are really interested. For those chemists out there Morphine is a multiple carbon ring structure, what was called way back in my day as a Benzene ring. They avoid that description now as Benzene is toxic and they do not like to associate negative connotations.

I hope this helps people clarify what they are on and why.

TK

Sorry, I forgot. The problems I have with Chronic Pain are listed in another post.

https://community.scope.org.uk/discussion/45757/how-much-pain-is-bad#latest

TK

I can relate to that @Shona1. Up until the last few weeks I could drive my car but now it just sits outside. Even though it is fitted with a hoist and inside is a mobility scooter, I cannot use it to go indoors as my home is not suited to wheelchair and scooter use and I have no ramp to get through the door. So I'm stuck indoors and quickly going crazy. I can't use public transport because I cannot go that far to get the scooter nor could I get it on or off the bus. Even if I could though the shaking of the vehicle would cause terrible pain. However, even more of a problem is my agoraphobia which, for me, is an irrational fear of strangers and strange places. A bus would be a nightmare and I have had a panic attack on the very few occasions I have used a taxi ti get home from A&E. Being in such close proximity, even in the back seats, is more than I can cope with. Without the car I am completely lost.

Maybe if I could use my wheelchair indoors and could bring the scooter in then I could g out at least a little but I have waited a month so far for my GP to refer me to Occupational Therapy and now I have to wait again for someone to be allocated.Even if they agree I can move to an accessible place I will have to wait until my turn comes up and then try to figure out some way of figuring if it will suit me without being able to go and see it.

The thought of dealing with situation is making me very anxious before I even start the process.

TK

Hi, my first post. I have fibromyalgia, 2 slipped discs in my lower spine, arthritis in my hips and knees, I take Gabaphentin 900mg 3 times a day, I also take Zapain, it all only just touches the edges so to speak, I got fed up with taking so much medication each day and still in severe pain so I started doing cold water river dipping and meditation, I found that in the cold water I can't feel no pain I feel weightless, but it's only 3-5 minutes in the water but wow just feeling pain free for those few minutes makes you feel so good, and after coming out you feel vibrant for the rest of the day, it's hard to explain unless you've tried it, I recommend it highly, after the river I come home and meditate and then feel relaxed, but it's not easy getting up every morning and doing it especially this time of year, you have to push yourself and really want to do it, so for me it's a combination of medication and cold water therapy and meditation, I'm not saying this works for everyone, getting in a river at 6am was well out of my comfort zone and once I did it I couldn't get enough, if anyone has local groups in their area its worth thinking about having a go. The doctors and specialists told me I'll never get rid of the pain and I'll have to manage it for the rest of my life, so that's what I'm doing the best way I can 🕉️