Re: Nerve pain management- help!!
 

Hi again, OH uses tridural to back up the lyrica when he is having a bad day and that can help - it is an opiate though so can make you feel a bit spaced out.

He has had his traumatic neuropathy now for ten years (still waiting for the predicted "don't worry the nerves will eventually heal") and has tried a gamut of pain relievers with varied success. Pain relief seems very personal.

Can sympathize with you as I've seen him nearly chew off his fingers with the pain.

Best of luck for a speedy recovery, J :)

Re: Nerve pain management- help!!
 

It's really rather a shame that the substantive case never came to court - the chiropractors' association dropped their claim after Singh won a procedural point about "fair comment" defences. A loss in court would presumably have bankrupted the BCA, and since the main crutch of their ludicrous suit was pulled out from under them, they realised they couldn't possibly win.

Back to Greenhill's question - my OH was knocked down by a car on a zebra crossing while pregnant with our firstborn and smashed up her wrist... as she wasn't allowed much in the way of medicinal painkillers, the NHS pain management clinic referred her to an acupuncturist, mainly for managing the referred pain in her neck and shoulder due to the immobility in her wrist causing her to hold her arm awkwardly. She was highly sceptical until after her first treatment, after which she became a firm advocate in favour of acupuncture for chronic pain relief.

I have no idea if this would be appropriate for nerve damage, but that's my $0.02 for what it's worth.

Re: Nerve pain management- help!!
 

Just to wade in on the chiropractor thingey

I am amazed by how many people here regularly use them and swear by them. They tell you how fantastic they are and then tell you how they have been going twice a week for 4 months then once a week for 18 months and now once a fortnight which is forever.

I have hurt my back again recently (bulging disc) and go to physio. His treatment goal is to get me not to see him again. Its an open plan physio and I have seen lots of people, a number are finally ditching their chiropracter as they are fed up with the 'come back once a week for ever' approach. My physio says its just not healthy to require once a week adjustments for life.

Since doing my back I have been bombarded by people trying to get me to go to their chiropractors, but when questioned these people are all the same, they love them, but they see them once a week. Constantly at the chiropractor and no sign of any preventative treatment.

PS my BIL is having acupuncture , NHS funded, for his back pain. Surely there must be some clinical evidence to support this, and therefore its worth trying. He's found it very helpful.

Re: Nerve pain management- help!!
 

Was going to leave this thread but can't help myself - after a few weeks at the chiropractor my pain was improving so I stopped going. No-one says you have to keep going and I wasn't under any pressure to. Have had no problems since, so haven't given it another thought. I guess what I was saying was I was desperate at the time, willing to try anything, and yes it did seem to work for me. I've also seen as osteopath at another time for back pain - similarly, went for a few weeks, pain was better so I stopped. Each to their own - all the best Greenhill for the recovery!

Re: Nerve pain management- help!!
 

I was the same.. I went to a chiro for some lower back/hip-pain (unrelated to the fractures - these were caused by trapped nerves that resulted from pregnancy/unstable pelvic joins)...

3 sessions, 1 week apart and it sorted me out... and she didn't pressure me to keep going, just said that if it recurred to go back.

She also suggested ways that I could do some self-help as well (lying on the floor, flat on my back with knees bent, flexing them from side to side as I recall)

I have to say that the crunching/popping noise when she manipulated my sacro-iliac joint was a bit scarey, but the relief it gave me was almost instantaneous.

Re: Nerve pain management- help!!
 

I know someone who goes for treatment for her SIJs and trapped nerves, which puzzles me as there aren't any nerves in the SIJs to trap.

She also tells me that she has trapped nerves, cos that's what the chiropractor has told her she has but how can they know? Some of them manipulate without x-rays, regardless of recent trauma. -Isn't that why many people go to them for recent injuries? As for the quality of the x-rays taken, I have seen some abysmal images done by non MRTs.

A doctor would say that the symptoms were typical of a trapped nerve and then prove it with imaging. I have sciatica and there is no way I am going to have that tiny space the nerve goes through manipulated. Mechanically it doesn't make sense. Physios for me everytime.

just my personal opinion of course.

Re: Nerve pain management- help!!
 

On the subject of Chiropractors, I "Googled" Chiropractor nonsense and came up with this excellent article written, I might add, by an experienced Chiropractor!
http://www.quackwatch.org/01Quackery...chiroeval.html

I particularly liked his "bottom line", which rather bears out my own opinion of Chiropractor, and is usually my response if somebody asks me about them.

The Bottom Line
A good chiropractor can do a lot to help you when you have mechanical-type back pain and other musculoskeletal problems. But until the chiropractic profession cleans up its act, and its colleges uniformly graduate properly limited chiropractors who specialize in neuromusculoskeletal problems, you'll have to exercise caution and informed judgment when seeking chiropractic care.

Re: Nerve pain management- help!!
 

Just a quick update.. I think for validation, consideration, deliberation etc.

Agony last night for 5 hours after physiotherapy then again this afternoon for a good few hours.

Saw my family doctor and he's given me fentanyl patches. I stuck one on my shoulder earlier and it's possibly working although I'm still taking the naproxen, diazepam, lyrica. Tomorrow I have prednisone, one a day for five days if the fentanyl, er, not quite sure of the doc's message but I think he was intimating that I should just try it anyway.

Looks like I'm getting a TENS device next week too. Could've done with it a couple of weeks ago but I'm elated none-the-less.

Thanks again to everyone for being so supportive. I'd like to thank x-ray techies too but the one who had to do ten xrays of my neck, the other day, got me a little curious; concerned, uncomfortable and frightened. She was lovely though and I hope to never see her again.

Re: Nerve pain management- help!!
 

best way to avoid nerve damage is to stop having massively huge objects land on you.. trust me the absence of massive objects landing on you should clear that right up :)

Re: Nerve pain management- help!!
 

what a valuable contribution to the thread:rolleyes:

Re: Nerve pain management- help!!
 

I'm still curious as to why I neither heard or saw the 28 tonne truck coming as it rolled over behind me on the highway exit. The highway was right behind me so, I suppose, if I did hear it, I probably thought it was just a truck passing by up there.

As for not seeing it, I remember being distracted by a van doing a very sudden "pull-out" maneuver in front of me. When you're already around the sharp turn on that slip road there's not really much rear visibility.

Anyway, having the trucking company's name branded permanently in my mind, arguably, is not as bad as having it branded across my face... probably a good thing I neither heard or saw it coming...

http://www.ngnews.ca/media/photos/un...ge_dossier.jpg

http://www.ngnews.ca/media/photos/un...ge_dossier.jpg

Re: Nerve pain management- help!!
 

yes.. yes that would be a prime example of having a massive object land on you causing great physical and mental pain. Stop having that happen to you and you'll be right as rain. :D
However.. having already had this massive object land on you I'm afraid my advice is ... well ...rubbish... unless of course you consider not having a massive object ever land on you again... which I most sincerely hope one never does.
This brings me to my aside in this conversation... you just can't find a really proper card that says "Sorry mate that you had an excessively massive object land on you and when I was just 500 yards away not knowing it was you... so I stood there like a useless tit, but oh my God I'm glad your all alright. " :rofl:

Re: Nerve pain management- help!!
 

Another sore point (ho, ho, no pun intended): one of Canada's 50 best managed companies also failed to find a card, any card, or phone call with message of sympathy for my little six year old girl :wub:.

That's a moment of truth for that company, right there.

I suppose, it's also a signifier that the brand probably isn't something that is official federal government approved, so probably some trivial money-related whatchamacallit. Does anyone know anything about "Canada's 50 best"? I tried to read the FAQ but it was gobbledegook, to me. Maybe there's an expert out there who can tell me what it's all about :confused:

There are no excuses, it was all over the news in the province that she was airlifted to the IWK that weekend and anyone could have contacted the RCMP, hospital, local newspaper etc to pass on a message.

Anyone on here can easily guess what I'll be asking for, demanding, whenever this issue ends up in front of a judge... (and suggestions are welcome!)

Is this post libellous? If so, please edit or delete it, Mods...

Re: Nerve pain management- help!!
 

Ah 50 best managed... sounds rather subjective to me anyhow. :thumbdown:

I could manage a sewage treatment facility smashingly I imagine...doesn't mean I think much of the product from it.

I'm pretty sure there's no Hallmark card for something like that, and I was making light of a terrible situation, which is one way to deal with such things...Yet it is wrong to ignore the seriousness of what happened and what could have happened. In fact there is no excuse for that company not putting pen to paper in that situation.

Re: Nerve pain management- help!!
 

That company is your employer right? Usually sending a card/flowers/offfering to help out comes from colleagues and line manager without much thought to corporate policy. Are there human beings working there? It would appear not.

Re: Nerve pain management- help!!
 

I assumed he meant the Company who owned the truck involved in the accident?

Re: Nerve pain management- help!!
 

Ah. I misread the link quickly and thought it was a link to Deloitte who don't own trucks. If it's the trucking company he is referring too I can see why he would be angry. Perhaps sending a card is an admission of liability though?

Re: Nerve pain management- help!!
 

Yes, I thought the same thing. I am sure the lawyers jumped straight on them and told them how to proceed. Very poor though, bearing in mind a young child was involved.

Re: Nerve pain management- help!!
 

I would think they view a card as an admission of liability.

I work for a company on 50 best mamanged, my OH works for another.

its more to do with business planning etc I think. We got it last year. Also there are actually more than 50 companies that are the 50 best. That sounds bizarre but I think its true.

Re: Nerve pain management- help!!
 

I think they finally admitted liability this week, at least my insurance co. was given the go-ahead to send me the cheque for the deductible (but the wording in the email didn't include the phrase "they've admitted liability").

So maybe they'll send her a card now??

It's actually been a bit of a mixed up day for me today. We went to Halifax, OH had an appointment there and we tied this in with a couple of birthday celebrations as well as a visit to the IWK. It's fairly obvious I'm angry about what happened; PTSD symptoms etc fuelling the flames. So, I had to find out and the guys there gave me a good idea about the costs incurred / charged through MSI..."100k+".

I'm just not a believer that this should come from our auto insurance premiums or MSI..

Not sure if I can say this, other than to quote someone else saying it, that "one of the [other] seven injured in the accident is a lady who is [at the date of the accident] six months pregnant". Obviously, she is limited in terms of the pain management she is allowed, and she told me she is in a great deal of pain.

..Anyway, getting back to the OP's update:
I'm on lyrica 125mg x2 per day, diazepam 2mg x3 per day. TENS when in need. Off the prednisone, so no more insomnia or pissing the bed when I actually do get to sleep.

And... I think.. I'm ready to re-enter the world of "real-life" next week :fingerscrossed:

Re: Nerve pain management- help!!
 

Just thought I'd do a brief update to this thread, for a few reasons (mostly in appreciation for the advice and support given here by you guys).

Anyway, last week, I switched over from Lyrica to Amitriptyline. For the pain relief, it definitely seems to be the first drug that actually works (ignoring prednisone, that stuff was just plain nasty) and, for the first time in 3 months, I slept pretty much through the entire night last night :thumbup:

Although the arm (and neck and right shoulder) still isn't quite right, at physio today, they put me into the gym for the first time/and assessment, which went well. Today has been a very good day. Even reading through this thread didn't feel too bad, flashbacks are still there but anger/sadness is dwindling :fingerscrossed:

Re: Nerve pain management- help!!
 

I'd recommend the acupuncture too - my Mum regularly suffers from a trapped nerve in her shoulder and that's the only thing that alleviates it (pretty much gets full use back instantly).

Hope you find a solution :)

Re: Nerve pain management- help!!
 

I went to a homeopath after months of nerve pain in my right arm and shoulder, pain so horrible it made me feel sick and I would lose things all the time because I just wasn't thinking straight. I couldn't think about anything else, it totally consumed me and I tried all the painkillers. Homeopathy the lessoned pain by about 80% in 3 days and an osteopath gave me some exercises to do the rest. Fine now.
The homeopathic remedy used was one for grief, somehow it was linked into my physical pain. I was just happy it worked.