intercostal neuralgia

[irisfee]

Hi, I am 47 years old, female.
I was just diagnosed with left side intercostal neuralgia between the 10th intercostal nerve.
This happened brutaly 11 months ago immediately after the removal of my gallbladder by laparoscopie.
For 10 months afterwards, nothing has been attempted to attack this problem, as it was totally ignored by the medical corps, until 1 month ago and last week, when I stayed 1 week in the pain Clinic in a University Hospital here in Brussels.
Now, in one month they want to start me on a neuroleptic medicine, such as Lyrica or Redomex ( I refused anti-depressants). An infiltration has been proposed by the neurosurgean, but the doctor in charge of me prefers to firstly try the medicine approach.
When I asked the doctors if this horrible pain, coming in waves, mainly triggered by the sitting position and goes up to 8 on a scale from 0 - 10, could disappear by itself, they answered me that YES..it 'could', but without guarrantee that it will!
Unfortunately they can not tell the extent of damage done to the nerve.
I am not ready to resign yet, as in my case nothing at all has been attempted to heal this nerve.
Has anyone experienced this, how did you treat it and ... has the pain diminished or even disappeared?
Thanks for reading this.
Regards from Belgium,
Rosalie

[Peglorene]

I live in US and was diagnosed with intercostal neuralgia and had to go to ER ro find out what it was.  So that was what dr said it is.  Gave me Lyrica but I don't like it cause it makes me feel strange but does help some.  It appears after I have eaten and even if I haven't eaten very much. Also I cant wear anything that constricts in that area like pant tops with elastic.    I would like to know what other meds can be given for this?  

[Djiana]

Hey Rosalie, and Vince too.

I also live in Belgium. I'm 22 and have suffered from intercostal neuralgia as long as I can remember.

Six years ago, when the pain got to be too much to deal with, my doctor started me up on Redomex. And although the pain is never completely gone, and still flares up at times, it has improved my quality of life greatly.

I started on 10mg per day at first but had to move up to 20 mg. I've been taking 20mgs for about 5 years and I'm very glad I decided to try this treatment.

The only big downside is that as a side effect this medication has made me allergic to the sun. But it's manageable, I just have to use sunblock SPF +50 and I'm fine. If I forget, I just get a rash. So that's a small price to pay for the benefits the medication gives me.

It's always worth a try!

I wish you both the best in dealing with this condition
Best wishes for the new year

Dani

[vince100]

Hello Rosalie

I have jsut joined Medhelp and have noticed your post dated 2009.
I also live in Belgium and have very painful intercostal neuralgia but for a different reason.
Have you found a satisfactory solution ? If so, could you let me know
which pain clinic you went to ?

Thanks

Vince