I DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!! WOO HOO!

[sparkie825]

I DID IT!!!

I REALLY DID IT!

Today, I called the pharmacy and told them I am CANCELING my prescription for Hydros!!!!!!!!  They were ready for pickup today.  Now, all 120 of those little white chalky pills will be going back on the shelf at the pharmacy.

WOOOOOOOO

HOOOOOOOO

Additionally,  I called my doctor and told her I have become addicted to the hydros and will not be taking them in the future.  She recommended the following alternative meds to to manage my pain:

Zoloft
Cymbalta
Lexapro
Neurontin (Gabapentin)

My question to you guys is, has anyone on this board tried any of these meds?  Are any of them addicting?  Do any of them help pain or sleep long term?  Your advise and personal experience with these drugs is greatly appreciated.  Now that I am off the Hydros (w00t!) I still need to manage pain for DDD (Degenerative Disk Disease) and RLS.  

Please offer some advice if you can.

And....

WOOOOOOO

HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

FOR

MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

[sparkie825]

Wow!!  You guys are a wealth of information!!  Thanks!!!

[qrgamerrr]

Congrats!
Ive tried zoloft for depression and anxiety
same with lexapro made me homicidal.
and im on cymbalta.
so if you are depressed and have anxiety, they may be great, but they are not addictive in the sense that you up your dosage but since they are serotonin repuptake inhibitors, when you come off of them you will have to taper down, if you dont you may get what are called brain zaps and these are terrible along with other withdrawel like symptoms, headaches diarrhea, depression etc.  so you may want to think about it.

[Claire300]

I also agree that seeing a Chiropractor will help. Try to find one that also does physical therapy. I see my guy once a week and he can work miracles in one visit:-)

[SilverSoul]

Grats on making that big step! That's a tough one, telling the Doc NO MORE!

[kimmieb]

YEAH for you!!!  what you did is nothing short of awesome and THE best step you can take for your health from here on in.....congrats and tons of blessings to you :-)

was on zoloft for depression after my second baby....only took it for one year,got off, no issues, but i did NOT take it for pain, strictly for "depression" or so they thought "depression" after the baby, so not sure about how it would help with pain issues.....

cymbalta is of course now THE biggie out there that seems to now be ALL emcompassing for pain.....every little pain, the doctors are prescribing it for everything.....if you decide to go that route, my advice would be to just BE CAREFUL....my dear, dear friend and neighbor has been on it for pain and cannot get off it now....she's developed a pretty high tolerance over the period of just about a year or so.....so just be careful....it DOES work for pain, that's a fact....but it has it's major somewhat addictive consequences as well.....i've also heard the same story from many others i know who are on it as well.....just be safe with it and think twice before starting it

neurontin does work for specific issues.....i was on it briefly years and years ago (like 20!).....didn't like it much (can't remember why though, to be honest, so long ago!!!!)....my mom was on it recently for some kind of nerve problem.....very short treatment regimen.....just a few weeks.....she loved it best because she doesn't sleep but for a few hours each night anyway, and while on the neurontin, she said she slept like a baby :-)  so of course she loved it!

haven't had ANY experience with lexapro myself but have had several friends who tried it and didn't have great experiences with not only that, but with ANY anti-depressants.....

do research, be choosy, and GOOD LUCK with whatever route you decide to take.....you're on the right road.....you did great.....so proud of you....wow....you should be SUPER proud of yourself! (as i'm sure you are :-))

much love and many blessings to ya.....
kim

[marcatj]

sorry... just reread your last post.

IF you take anything, the ibu's are just a strong advil.  which, btw - didn't help me (advil.)  but the ibu 800's have.. maybe it was once i got the initial inflamation down, not sure... but it sure has now kept it down. and a difference of night and day, pain wise.

and the RIGHT chiro can work wonders too, btw. tricky stuff - i would suggest one who specialized in disk stuff... i've heard horror stories of ones that don't.  luckily - mine did, and he helped ALOT.

[marcatj]

sparkie - first off - YAY FOR YOU!! AMAZING what you did today... fantastic!!!!

i have tried most of what you mentioned btw.  the Cymbalta made me feel weird (altho i know it's helped others) and the nuerontin didn't do much (again - it has helped others, just not me.)

you want to know what has helped the best lately?? Ibuprofin 800.  i take one a day.  it keeps the inflamation down, which really is a big problem with DDD.

also, my doc did some cortisone shots in the areas around my disks about 6 mo's or so ago - not in the disks, but where the pain was radiating TO, and it helped ALOT.

but i swear by the ibu's.  big time.  better than the narcotics helped any day...

and i do think phys therapy helped alot too.  i still do some basic exercises my chiro taught me a year++ ago, i do them 5x a week (roll on this long, cylindrical foam thing) that i swear helps too.  sometimes if i have pain i roll on it and bam, i feel better...

good luck.  i know it seems like there's no relief sometimes.. but there is!!!!  it took me over a year to find it... wish i had been here all along...

try the ibi 800's.  your doc can prescribe them. keeping inflamation down is key... (from what i'm told anyway. and from what i have now experienced...)

:)
mj

[sparkie825]

Hi Claire, thanks for the heads-up.  I don't have real problems with anxiety or depression.  I haven't been diagnoses with either.  Do your meds also work for physical pain?  Good to know you don't have any w/d from your medication.  That's very reassuring.  

I've been doing some thinking over the past 24 hours.... I think I'm going hold off on taking any more meds.  I'm going to see how I can manage my pain with other more natural methods.   As much as I like my doctor and I appreciate how helpful she is, she was really quick to offer me all these alternative drugs.  To be honest....it's really kinda scary and overwhelming.   All day I kept thinking to myself...do I really want to take any of these?  I don't want to be dependent on anything anymore.  How will they change me?  Will they help?  *sigh*  Gosh, I just don't know.  I just got off Soma in June, and now Hydro last week.   I guess I need to do some thinking about all this.  If I can find an alternative healthy way to manage my pain, then that's the way I wanna go.

[Claire300]

Congratulations to you on your success! To cancel that order tooks a lot of will power. Good for you. I have been taking Wellbutrin 300mg & Lexapro 10mg for years now for depression and anxiety. For me, the two work well together. I have a history of manic depression and extreme anxiety. There have been a couple of times that I have gone off the meds, such as when I was pregnant. I actually tapered myself off both, under the advise of my doctor, about a year before I got pregnant. I never felt any withdrawl symptoms or like "I had to have them". I did experience headaches that went away.

If you have any other questions about my experience on either medication, please let me know.

[sadinmichigan]

Congrats to you..that was the best thing you could do for yourself..you should be very proud of yourself...way to go...

[sparkie825]

Have you had physical therapy yet?  I have found that ultrasound (not the kind used for peeking at babies...lol) worked wonders on getting the inflammation down and working the knocks out of my back.  The pain comes and goes now and is so much more manageable after the ultrasound massages.  If I could afford a device for at home use, I would buy one.  I was that good for me.

Good luck to you!!!!    Hope you feel better too!

[Mandapanda17]

it would be so nice if something natural helped. I'm going to try the chiropractor and hopefully that'll make a difference. hope you feel better too!! :)

[sparkie825]

Wow, everyone!!!!  THANK YOU for all this support!!!  This means so much to me!!!  Thank you for all the information on these meds.  

Mandapanda,  I know how you feel!!!  I too have a pinched nerve in my back!  It's starts with acute or sharp pain in the lower part of the neck or upper back, then spreads everywhere and inflames everything.  Advil tears my stomach up and does nothing at all for pain.  It does get the inflammation down however, but I don't feel it working.  I wish just taking vitamins, or something super healthy, would just make it all just go away.  

[worried878]

Congrats..such a big step!...nuerontin is not/as a rule abused nor habit forming and can help pain....cymbalta is often prescribed for pain...i could not tolerate it and elavil works better for me...never heard of zoloft for pain...perhaps for the depression that comes with pain...cymbalta is a big gun in the AD department but does have some pain relieving qualities/not for me tho...good luck..ice/heat/yoga/massage and chiropractic have helped me the most...i just know astronomical doses of narcs is not my answer

[formernarcfiend]

Don't have a whole lot to add to this but want to tell you, great job! You'll really thank yourself one day if you aren't already! Keep it up

[lady67]

That is wonderful.  It feels great, doesn't it.  It will only get better from this point on.  I took Lexapro for a few months, but didn't like the way it made me feel.  I have been on prozac for a couple of years and thought it wasn't doing any good, that is until I stopped taking it.  I could really tell the difference and I went back on it.

My dad took neurontin for 10 years and he said it worked well.  Right before he died, his pain management doctor added lyrica along with the neurontin.

Good Luck to you and rememeber we are so proud of you.
Susan

[Mandapanda17]

congrats!!! :) I know I've been on both lexapro, and zoloft at seperate times and neither of those helped me w/ pain. the only thing that seems to help now has been naprosyn every 12 hours (anti-inflammatory) but I'm sure thats because my pain is caused from inflammation, I think I have a pinched nerve in my back/neck area. ugh.. good luck to you and congrats again for cancelling the scrip!! :):)

[merrymaria]

i am taking neurontin for sleep with a sleep aid for restful sleep.  i don t think neurontin is addicting.  jus makes you drowsy.

[merrymaria]

you have really made a big step in doing this.  if you weren t serious about this you would have picked up that rx....way to go...you can do it!  we are all here to help.

[Coolio Hernendez]

Awesome....It does feel great to make that call...I did the same thing to my PM doctor...It really is the 1st big step in ending all of this,,,

[sparkie825]

Everyone,  thank you for your kind words and your advice.  

I've done some research on the web and all these drugs look the same, minus Neurontin which appears to treat nerve pain (which part of my problem because of the DDD).  I will have to talk to my doctor in more detail about these medications. I just don't know which way to go.  I will have to do something as advil and tylenol hardly help.  Wish me luck.

[godezzofchaos]

Hey there...I'm glad today has been such a triumphant one for you!  Just thought I'd throw in my tid-bit about Lexapro.  I was prescribed Lexapro and while I thought at first it was helping me with depression..3 years later I realized that my life had just passed me by. I was a zombie, had gained a TON of weight and stopped having friends or any kind of social interaction AT ALL.  By sheer luck, my insurance had turned down my script one month (said I needed a pre-authorization) and I did not get them filled. While I didn't feel good for a couple of days, within two weeks I had dropped 17lbs and was busy doing volunteer work!  Now, this was my experience, I know many people who it has done wonders for, just be careful. PAY ATTENTION to your body! It is my feeling that if you are not depressed than these medicines can make you worse, but only YOU KNOW YOU...so you be the judge and make sure to make your voice heard!  I let my doctor TELL ME what I needed and he turned out to be wrong. That was several years ago and I am doing great, I was lucky!  Good luck Kiddo!

[avisg]

I have taken the neurontin I thought it worked well .I dont know if it would help with my pain now but then it did .With any antidepressant you have to find whitch one is a good fit for you and that seems to be different for everyone .With most of the ADs you do have to do a slow taper off of them or you could have symptoms and depression .

[cattalina]

Congratulations!  That's a big step that takes ALOT of courage!  I was on zoloft basically all of my teenage years - it did help a bit but I was taking a cocktail back then. The neurontin/gabapentin I'm not really sure... It was presribed to me as well and I've been too chicken to take it.  You can go to drugs .com and look it up.  The info I found on there made me pretty apprehensive to try it, but I've heard other people say it works really well.  It's definitely a personal choice. Big congrats again & good luck in the future!