I know I am not suppose to drink with my meds but I did and now am having the worst attack ever. My husband does not understand my pain all he sees are pills and how they have changed me. What should I do?
Carrie,
Sorry to hear you are in pain. I suffer from tooth, jaw and gum pain..I take Amitriptyline for it. Every night I have a big glass of red wine..It relaxes me and causes no extra pain. I think alcohol affects everyone different. During an attack try heat or cold.Heat works for me. Did the doctor prescribe anything for "breakthrough" pain? Its hard for loved ones to really understand what we are going through since we look "normal" on the outside..My family has told me to "just pull the tooth" or just take some ibuprofen"..(which doesnt work)..But they love me and probably feel helpless when it comes to making my pain go away..I hope you get some pain relief soon..
Hi Carrie Ann Shafman Hyman, I'm so sorry that your BF can't understand what is going on with you and your pain. Its bad enough when we have an attack let alone have to fight to have it believed. Doctors feel the same way and thats bad because you get placebos pushed off on you. I had that PNR operation a year ago and the pain is back. My doctor said I can't believe you are have any pain I have never heard of a person have the operation and having the pain return so soon. I have to see him again Dec3 and we will have an understanding then I'm sure.
In your case I guess all you can do is keep trying to convince him it is VERY real. I don't know how you can do it but I give up. If he cares for you at all he will start to understand that this stuff is NOT a joke it really hurts.
Best of all love to you ,
Wheels4legs said that.
You probably should take leaflets or doc's advice about possible interactions seriously.
Sorry to hear about lack of understanding from your spouse. This must cause you additional emotional pain.
Ask your husband to please read the following.
http://m.wikihow.com/Understand-Someone-With-Chronic-Pain
Alcohol is an instant trigger for me, and for others. I do not drink at all. Not easy to get used to…but also not worth it.
Keep Heart
Bellalarke
Ask your pharmacist what risk is with certain amounts of alcohol… They can tell you if having a little is ok or not.
No worries I will not drink anymore with these medicines. I see doc Wednesday. I am still in excruciating pain with all the meds I am on.
I am so sorry you are having such a bad flare. My understanding from the pharmacists is that the alcohol is not a good mix with meds because of interactions. Increased sleepiness and increased effects of the alcohol. Alcohol should not increase your pain in and of itself but perhaps it’s the motion of drinking. Either way though, you are in pain and I am so sorry.
I was told that alcohol, in small doses, was fine. I love wine and it was the first thing I asked when I got my Tegretol prescription. (I also have pills for breakthrough pain, though I don't like to take them as they mess with my head/stomach.) I know not everyone will agree with it being a big deal, but it does relax me and I enjoy the taste of it. TN messes with enough in my life; I blog about food and wine and we do a lot of travel with it, so it wasn't something I wanted to forego if I don't have to. Alcohol's not a trigger for me at all though and I'm fairly new to TN still (just dx'd a few months ago) but I think everyone's triggers can be different. At least alcohol you have an option with; as far as someone not understanding, I'm sorry...I don't know that there's a fix for that but I wish there was. Take care.
For some people with TN and related neuralgias and neuropathies, the epithelial lining of the gums and palate can be instantly triggered by alcohol. I am one of those people. It’s not the mix of meds and alcohol, it’s the stimulation of the alcohol itself. Same with vinegar and acidic foods and beverages, and sugar.
Bellalarke you brought up a good point about the epithelial lining of the gums and palate being a trigger area for some people. I can no longer eat anything with pepper, spices or vinegar, even salt is a problem. A couple months ago I ordered butternut squash soup when we were out which was loaded with nutmeg. It took only one small spoonful (and not because it was too hot) to set off instant searing and burning pain in the right side of my tongue, roof of my mouth and right side upper gums which hung around for 2 days, all from one spoonful of soup. Lesson learned. I've had to accept that a lot of foods are totally off limits now and there are many things I can't eat anymore. I still have a beer occasionally, no problem with that. I guess TN affects everyone differently.
Bellalarke said:
For some people with TN and related neuralgias and neuropathies, the epithelial lining of the gums and palate can be instantly triggered by alcohol. I am one of those people. It's not the mix of meds and alcohol, it's the stimulation of the alcohol itself. Same with vinegar and acidic foods and beverages, and sugar.
Obsidian, thanks for weighing in on this. I think it’s really important to identify our triggers. I sympathize with you on the nutmeg episode. I find it almost impossible to eat out these days. Salt and spices misery for me too. But oddly, I can also have a warm flat beer from time to time as well but I don’t often feel up to risking it. Carbonation turns to acid the moment it touches epithelial tissues.
It’s important to keep alert to triggers because they have predictive value as well.
TN does affect people differently because TN is not just one thing. It is a cascade of neuro chemical events set off by a variety of issues that are all too often not medically identifiable. And we are all genetically unique so while we will all suffer a significant number of symptoms in a similar way, we will all experience our own version of TN.
So it’s good to share triggers because sometimes it’s really hard to sort out what’s happening. (And sometimes, quite frankly, I’ve felt a little nuts when something so seemingly innocuous causes so much agony.)
Very interesting. I never knew about food triggers.