Saturday, September 15, 2012

Getting into a pattern with pain and meds

I've noticed lately that I'm getting into a pattern of feeling pretty good in the morning then the pain rushes in between 3:30pm and 4:30pm every day.  So I think maybe that my Cymbalta, although it is a delayed release med, is dropping off in the late afternoon.  There is another drug similar to Cymbalta but it is given twice per day and is not a delayed release drug.  It's called Savella.  I'm going to contact my pain doctor and see about switching.  Taking that medicine twice per day might be what I need to get through the day.  I've also switched to taking prescription strength naproxin (Aleve) instead of ibuprofen.  It works better/longer at reducing the inflamation in my head without taking as much medicine.  I was taking 800 mg. of ibuprofen 2 to 3 times a day for a total of 12 pills.  The ibuprofen works better at onset but does not last as long. For instance, I was taking 800 mgs. of ibuprofen and it was wearing off after 4 hours and I couldn't take the next dose for 2 more hours.  With prescription naproxin, if I keep on top of it, it will last around 10 hours so if I take one in the morning when I get up, it relieves the inflamation for the day.  Then I take one before bed. I also tried Tramadol today for the pain when it set in this afternoon and it was pretty affective for keeping the pain from escalating.  So I think I will take it now instead of tylenol which doesn't help much.  Tramadol is a low level opiod (narcotic) pain med.  There is less chance of getting addicted to it than some of the other stronger narcotics like oxycodone and endocet.  So just to have it documented somewhere this is my medication list and when I take what.

Morning:
90 mg. of Cymbalta (anti-depressant/pain med)
25 mg. of Triemptarene (diuretic)
375 mg. of Naproxin (anti-inflamatory)
25 mg. of Prevacid (antiacid)

Afternoon:
50 mg. of Tramadol (narcotic pain med)

Bedtime:
30 mg. of Nortriptaline (antidepressant/pain med)
800 mg. of Skelaxin (muscle relaxer)
20 mg. of Ambien (sleeping pill)
375 mg. of Naproxin (anti-inflamatory)
7.5/325 mg of Endocet (narcotic pain med) Only if pain is too much that I can't get comfortable to sleep.

This combination seems to be the best for me at this time.  I'll see what the doctor says about switching the Cymbalta for the Savella.

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