Hello everyone!

[Russell30]

Hi to everyone here.  I basically sum up my whole story in my profile but the short-short is this.....  I am a 30yo male paraplegic and was injured in a fall almost 2 years ago.  I fractured T9-T10 verts and pretty much severed my spinal cord.  Since the injury I have seen tons of doctors and been on tons of different meds to deal my constant pain.  I have constant rectum pain which feels like I have a huge "bottle" shoved up my behind.  With this pain I frequently have the sensation that my "man parts" are being crushed in a vice.  This pain is with me almost daily and changes in intensity throughout the day.  I also occasionally have the sensation that my legs are frozen in a block of ice and/or the sensation of being punched in the abdomen.  I have been on neurontin, lyrica, vicodin, percocet, fentanyl patches, ibuprofen, and oxycontin as well as morphine/lidocaine suppositories.  I am currently taking 300mg of neurontin 4x a day, oxycontin 40mg 3x a day, percocet 7.5/325mg as needed, and ibuprofen for my pain.  I also take baclofen, androgel, ditropan, effexor, and methenamine for other conditions related to my spinal cord injury.  I have been on this dose of oxycontin for 5 months now and my pain is gradually beginning to get worse again.  In addition I am now extremely fatigued every day to the point where I can hardly function.  I wasnt like this the first 4 months on the oxycontin so I dont feel thats causing the fatigue now, but I dont know.  It all *****.  I DO NOT want to go up on my oxycontin dose as I really wish I didnt need to take it at all.  I experienced fentanyl withdrawl for a month and it was AWFUL!!  I will NEVER take that medication again.  I will also add that I have never misused my medications or felt the need to.  I just want to feel better and get on with my paraplegic life without this awful pain.  Its bad enough being paralyzed from the waist down and I've come to accept that, but this pain is just terrible!!  I am glad I found this forum and I apologize for such a long post.  Hello everyone!

[Russell30]

Thank you Tuck and Sherry for your thoughtful and warm replies!  I am excited to see what information I can learn from this site and also what support and information I can provide to others!  We all have our own unique experiences and that is what I feel makes this forum so helpful.

I wish you all the best and I am sure we will get to know eachother better in the months ahead.  Take care all!

[namnam46]

HI Russell,

I want to join Tuck in welcoming you to this Forum also.  You made a GREAT decision in joining this Forum as it is the BEST anywhere if you want to find WONDERFUL support with everything that you are having to endure.  ALL of us are CP (Chronic Pain) Patients and we do our best to be here for each other.

It saddens me greatly to hear of EVERYTHING that you have been going through. How terrible to endure the pain that you are experiencing!! You have been through so much with the different meds that you have been on and it seems so unfair that you haven't been able to find the RIGHT combination of pain medications to handle EVERYTHING that you are experiencing.

Tuck gave you some EXTREMELY GOOD suggestions about working with your prescribing physician on your search for this combination of medications that WILL work and give you the GREATEST possible relief from this horrendous pain that you suffer from daily.

I'm sorry that you had to go through that month of detox from the Fentanyl.  I can only TRY to imagine what that would be like. As Tuck said I, too, am glad that is behind you now.

I look forward to your participation on our Forum as I feel that you will be a big asset to our Forum with ALL that you will be able to share with us through your experiences.

I look forward to hearing from you again and I want you to know that we are here FOR you whenever you need us.  :)............Sherry

[Tuckamore]

Hello Russell and Welcome to the Pain Management Forum. There is no need to apologize for a lengthy post. I am so sorry to hear about your fall and resulting paralysis and chronic pain. It saddens me that you have had so many challenges and pain at such a young age. Your strength is admirable.

I did read the information you posted on your Profile Page. Thanks for sharing it with us. It helps us to get the bigger picture.

I wish I had a great suggestion for you but I just don't. Pain Management is a trial and error process that unfortunately can be an on-going challenge. But from your history I am sure you are not new to difficult challenges.  

I would work with your prescribing physician and keep trying different combinations of opiates to find the best possible pain management regime. We know how very difficult this journey through chronic pain is and you have the added problems of paraplegia. I can not relate to your paraplegic issue but we all can relate to your chronic pain issues.

I have heard the detox from Fentanyl is one of the worse. I am glad that it is behind you.
We all respond to each medication differently. There are other opiates that might be beneficial for you and I encourage you to discuss the possibilities with your physician.  

I hope that you will be active in our forum. we'll look forward to hearing from you often. Our members are kind, informational and supportive. If you need to vent or share you have found the right forum. I wish you the very best.

Peace,
~Tuck