Has anyone ever been given Toradol (Ketoralac Tromethamine) for pain relief? I have looked it up and it is an anti-inflammatory in the NSAID family.
I am unsure how it would help with TN, but it seems to be the 'go to' drug in my local ER. I have seen at least 5 different Doctors on various trips to the ER for pain relief and this drug is their solution EVERY time. A few have offered codeine options (Tylenol 2), but I cannot take codeine and they all say Toradol is the only other option.
I have never seen this drug discussed on this site and would like to know more.
As a side note:
The reaction / treatment I have had from these Doctors has been a variety of ranges. Most have heard of TN, but only in its intro text book form. They all think the only drug I am supposed to be taking is Tegretol. They look at me funny because I am not on Tegretol ("your Doctor is a quack if he has given you something else - everyone knows you are supposed to take Tegretol"). In regards to the pain, I have been asked "have you tried taking an advil?"
A few have understood the pain concept - but the only solution they have is to give me a shot of Toradol which basically doesn't do a darn thing.....so what's the deal with this Toradol???
Elaine
Just to confirm - the Doctors give me the "quack....." look, they don't actually say it out loud...though one has sort of made a reference in that regard.
Suggest you tell your doctors that they need to read up on drugs used to treat trigeminal neuropathic pain and trigeminal neuralgia. One good source is http://www.drugs.com. Their listing for Toradol is at http://www.drugs.com/toradol.html .
As a Non Steroidal Anti Inflammatory Drug, Toradol would not be a first line choice for treatment of facial pain associated with neuropathy or neuralgia. Advil is almost a laughable recommendation. In 16 years of talking with over 3,000 facial pain patients and family members, I've never yet heard from one who benefitted from Advil as a monotherapy. It is sometimes helpful as an adjunct to other medications noted below.
Trigeminal neuropathy of all types is generally much less sensitive to this category of medications than to anti-seizure agents like Tegretol, Trileptal, or Neurontin, possibly combined with one of the tricyclic antidepressants such as Amitriptyline or Nortriptylin. Although the effects of opioids are not consistent for all TN and ATN patients, they are known to be effective for many people and are widely accepted as an element of treatment planning for all forms of neuropathic pain. Several members here at Living With TN can testify that Methadone has been highly effective for them, under appropriate medical supervision.
I hope this gives you a starting point. For more on medication treatments for TN, please refer to the Face Pain Info tab on our page menus.
Regards, Red
Yeah Red - I was kind of thinking they just stuck a band aid on me because they had no clue what else to do. The problem is when I asked my Neuro for an ER plan - he looked at me like I was nuts too!! Its so time to find a new Doctor. Thanks for your input. Its refreshing to know that even when these meds leave me feeling a little out of sorts, I still have some white cells left in there somewhere.
Elaine
Right now toradol is the only thing working.
but i have to go in and get a shot of it. for several days now in a row. I am not sure how much of this i can stand.
I am afraid to try the tegretol route because I am home alone with five kids everyday for many hours. it might make me too drowsy to care for them.
Morphine and percocet did not touch. Advil, motrin, alleve, tylenol...hahahah... did not touch one bit
baclofen-did not touch
Toradol is often given to people that cannot take opioids or are in recovery for pain relief in the ER. Sounds like the ER docs do not want to give you heavy narcotics even though those drugs can break the pain cycle. Tegretol is still the gold standard for TN so it makes since that the ER docs would know at least that much.
Good luck!
Aren't heavy narcotics morphine and percocet?
That stuff didn;t work. I got the morphine IM and did not bring the pain down. I got the percocet pills and I took one and it didnt do a thing.
They gave me the heavy stuff straightaway but toradol is the only thing that works for me right now.