I have been suffering from back pain since 1993, when my ex husband and i, along with 2 of our friends and their baby were in a head-on collision with a drunk driver. I was young and dumb and continued to do things as if there were no injury to my back, after going periodically to see a doctor or chiropractor, which made me re-injure it several times. About 7 years ago, they diagnosed me with having arthritis in three different areas of my spine, and it has steadily gotten worse and worse since then.
I have been through physical therapy a number of times, and it never seems to help anything, just makes the pain worse. I am on 1000mg of Alieve a day, along with Flexeril, which is a muscle relaxer, up to 3x a day. While it helps reduce the swelling, inflammation, and muscle spasms in my back, it does nothing for the pain levels i am experiencing on a day to day basis.
I know that narcotics are hard on your liver, and it’s not good to take them for a long period of time, but i need to find something that has the strength of a narcotic that i can take regularly that will help the pain in my spine, without being to rough on my liver.
Ultram does nothing for me, hydros make me sick from all the tylenol, i can’t take a lot of tylenol because it makes me sick as well, and i just don’t know of any others that would be beneficial that are non-narcotic.
Right now i’m on percocet for an infected tooth, and let me say my back pain is way less than it has been over the last year, but i know i can’t take it a real long time because it’s another one that’s hard on your liver. Does anyone know of any kind of pain medication that doesn’t destroy your liver?
#1 by Revoluti on February 12, 2010 - 3:03 am
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As you may or may not know, any medication taken for years will gradually loose its effectiveness. So while you’re thinking about all the strong meds you want to take, also keep in mind that you will have to up your dose over time too so whatever damage the drug do will increase over time.
Rather than search for more pills, have you tried looking for Pain Management Clinics? We have some of those out here in California. They teach you ways to cope with pain in which you learn to use your brain to calm yourself down, thus reducing your body’s tension. The less tension in your muscles, the less likely it is your muscles will tighten up as a response to pain.
Have you tried topical treatments for the pain in your back? I have pain in my feet sometimes, partly from plantar’s faciitis and partly from arthritis. I use a topical pad called “Salon Pas” that I bought at Costco. They work wonders, even better than taking an ibuprofen pill.
Another thing—-ibuprofen and other pain killers can give you an ulcer. Tylenol is hard on the liver, aspirin and ibuprofen drugs are hard on the stomach.
Another thing—did you know that people can get muscle cramps when they don’t get enough calcium? It’s true. If your back muscles are cramping up due to your back stress that’s going to add to your pain. Take 1500 mg of calcium each day, religiously, and see if that helps after a month.
I hope this gives you some ideas. Find a Pain Management Clinic.
#2 by Tom T on February 12, 2010 - 3:16 am
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I have seen Seven plus work for folks like yourself. It is non narcotic and uses Fucoidan and Seabuckthorn as Inflammatory properties. Seems to work with good consistency, and has a ton of nutrients that benefit you also. Find it here.
#3 by debbie B on February 12, 2010 - 4:28 am
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my husband has a bad back result of an accident.. he takes panadine forte 4 times a day.. and celebrex which is an anti inflamatory pill.. he also swims a few times a week for half hour he also sits in his massage chair for half hour a day.. hope this helps .. and he doesnt over do it around the place..he knows his limits when it comes to working
#4 by Flipsy J on February 12, 2010 - 6:15 am
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I just found this site on Google It has plenty of information about arthritis and pain relief,hope you find the best answer to your problem…
#5 by sukito on February 12, 2010 - 8:13 am
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Have you tried a Tens machine And have you been offered an Epidural injection That would help with chronic pain.
#6 by mistify on February 12, 2010 - 8:32 am
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Pretty much all analgesics can have long term effects. The NSAIDS (Alleve, Ibuprofen, etc) can be detrimental to the stomach and kidneys.
The narcotics are hard on the liver as you mentioned.
Ultram is the only thing I ever see prescribed long term.
As another poster mentioned, it may be time for a pain clinic that includes behavioral counseling/psychotherapy. Don’t take that to mean it is “all in your head.” Rather, what happens in chronic pain is that the nervous system has become overstimulated and has actual physical changes to it…ranging from increased number of axonal impulse generating sites on the axons of nerves, to overproduction of certain neurotransmitters and hormones that regulate your basal rate of your nervous system.
Multidisciplinary pain clinics seek to combine medical management (pain medication, procedures such as epidurals, trigger point injecitons, sympathetic nerve blocks with cognitive behavioral and psychological (and sometimes physical) therapies.
ADDENDUM: the notion that the anxiety has nothing to do with your back pain may not be entirely accurate. When you have anxiety, your pain response cycle is biologically more sensitive. Even if the anxiety came before you ever had the back problem, there is a very strong association between anxiety, depression and chronic pain This is why anti-anxiety and depression medications are often used in the treatment of chronic pain…even in the absense of anxiety and depression. If your conselor is not familiar with treating people with chronic pain, this would be a benefit of going to a multidisciplinary pain clinic.
#7 by cowboydo on February 12, 2010 - 8:34 am
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Let me say this, your taking a chance with Aleve, this much can cause kidney failure and you could end up on dialysis. You must be checked every six weeks with any of these for liver or kidney damages. Percocet is a strong reliever and should help, the doctor can adjust the amount your taking or, go to an good pain clinic for treatment, They can inject certain nerves or help with the drugs and then monitor you. Get rid of all this other crap. Your killing yourself slowly.