I went back to my regular doctor today as I have slipped into the abyss of depression. I have had some terrible time woth my insurance approving a neurologist visit. I thought I had it fixed but no… So it is going to be a bit before I get to see one.
In the meantime my pain is unchecked.
My doctor, God bless his caring and beautiful heart, has been researching and talking to colleagues. He has been my dr for 20 years and saw me fight to become an attorney as a single parent. He wants to make sure I don’t lose what Inhave built.
I am on gabapentin. After reviewing my medical chart/file, he saw and reminded me I had a bad reation to amitriptyline ten years ago. I can’t take it.
So he prescibed cymbalta for the depression hoping it would hit the pain of TN2 as well.
If that does not work, he wants to add topamax to the other two to see if that works.
I was put on Cymbalta 9 months ago for depression and did not seem to notice any change in my tn from the Cymbalta as I had hoped to get a 2for1 benefit as well. I'm sorry you are allergic to amitriptyline as nortriptyline has been helpful.
My only experience with topomax was the worst 10 days of my life. However, I still do not know if it was the topomax or the withdrawals as my idiot new neuro at the time thought it wise to stop trazadone, cut my gabapentin from 700mg day to 300 mg day and start topomax all on the same day. My entire body was almost electric from the tingling and I was drinking water non-stop and still could barely speak from the cotton mouth (had to be the topomax). That nasty side effect lasted several months after stopping. I was exhausted and in tears as I could not sleep. The exhaustion was almost painful but the moment I would lay down to try to sleep, I had peripheral neuropathy all over my body. That said, many lwtn members seem to like topomax and I truly wish I knew what caused that nightmare.
Understandable! He said he wouldn’t start me on both as he wanted ro know which drug was the problem if I had an issue. I am so sorry you had such a terrible time.
Between the depression and pain I am sleeping 3 hours a night. I can’t fall asleep at night from pain and anxiety and then the alarm goes off at 6:30 for work…
I hate this screwed up disease and everything it makes us all experience.
Is your doctor willing to give you something to help you sleep? I had stopped ambien for about a year at that point but asked my doctor for a few days worth so I wouldn't lose my mind.
He is. I just got a presciption today. Very low dose of trazadone which I have used in the last. I am one of the few people ambien does not work on! Who knew such people existed but they do!
My very sharp old neuro whom I returned to had me on trazadone for headaches with the added benefit of helping me sleep. I believe it also helps with depression which he mentioned but was careful to not put that in my chart.
Well, I can't answer directly but Topamax has been effective for me. My problem with Topamax is that I can't seem to tolerate the dose I need. I can't take Gabapentin or Cymbalta but what seems to do the trick for me is a combination of Topamax and Lyrica. My doctor has been slowly increasing the dose of Lyrica because I learned a while back, rather accidently, that the combination was VERY effective but it made me very sleepy and the doctor I had at the time said that I couldn't take it because it would prevent me from being able to work. At that time, I was on a very high dose of Lyrica. So anyway, I am trying it again but at a lower dose. Before, when I was on that combo, I had been able to start reducing the amount of narcotics I use. My goal is to get off the narcotics. My doctor's goal is to keep me working....although I am currently unemployed! Good Luck but I can only say good things about my experience with Topamax. Start slow, you may notice some sleepiness but it improved as my body adjusted to it between increases.
It amazes me how little doctors know about medication and the fact that so many of them cannot be stopped on a dime! What you described sounds a lot like withdrawal - which I've had to experience from the same type of poor thinking of my doctor. I always say, make your pharmacist your most trusted source and research everything.
shadow2 said:
I was put on Cymbalta 9 months ago for depression and did not seem to notice any change in my tn from the Cymbalta as I had hoped to get a 2for1 benefit as well. I'm sorry you are allergic to amitriptyline as nortriptyline has been helpful.
My only experience with topomax was the worst 10 days of my life. However, I still do not know if it was the topomax or the withdrawals as my idiot new neuro at the time thought it wise to stop trazadone, cut my gabapentin from 700mg day to 300 mg day and start topomax all on the same day. My entire body was almost electric from the tingling and I was drinking water non-stop and still could barely speak from the cotton mouth (had to be the topomax). That nasty side effect lasted several months after stopping. I was exhausted and in tears as I could not sleep. The exhaustion was almost painful but the moment I would lay down to try to sleep, I had peripheral neuropathy all over my body. That said, many lwtn members seem to like topomax and I truly wish I knew what caused that nightmare.