Pain

Part of why I started this blog was to record where I am right now so that I have something to compare to when I get “there”, wherever that is. I’ve had a lot of people ask me what I’m doing for the pain – and I feel an implication (that may not be there) that unless I’m on oxycodone it’s not that bad? I don’t know, that may just be my insecurity coming out.

Back in February I was prescribed tramacet. This is basically tylenol with a bit of a mild opiate in it. For a few weeks it seemed to really work; it made me feel sleepy and I fell asleep easily and stayed asleep without pain for the whole night. But not long after that, it started keeping me up at night but still helping the pain. And then it started keeping me up at night without helping the pain, so I basically stopped taking it although I take it occasionally now and it doesn’t seem to keep me up at night when I don’t take it regularly.

My GP also prescribed Celebrex, which I took many years ago during the Vioxx/Celebrex heyday and stopped taking due to the panic that ensued when people started dropping dead from it. So I took that again, and I played with the dosage and timing, and it literally did nothing. No effect at all.

The only thing that has consistently worked well for me is Robax Platinum (ibuprofen with a muscle relaxant), and regular ibuprofen. I take a lot of those. I also have to take a proton pump inhibitor because the ibuprofen is causing an ulcer; fun.

Of course everyone wants to know if I’ve tried cannabis. The problem with cannabis, specifically THC, is that it takes time to build up your tolerance to a point where it’s really effective. But I can only take it when I don’t have to be somewhere responsible the next day, because I don’t really know how the increasing dosages will affect me. So taking it once or twice a week doesn’t really help build up tolerance, and basically I have only dabbled in it. I also have CBD oil, which you don’t need a tolerance for, and that works extremely well for making me feel very relaxed. I still have pain but I don’t  really care because I’m sinking into the bed. I think I should also try topical CBD; it feels like rubbing it into the muscle/joint might be quite effective.

I’ve also recently been getting acupuncture for the muscle pain in my glutes and hip flexors. That’s been really effective and due to the community acupuncture model, it’s quite cost effective ($40/treatment so I can go twice a week).