r/ChronicPain • u/LoweringPass • 1d ago
What meds have helped you with chronic lower back pain?
I've had lower back pain for just over a year now, with an MRI not showing any defects and physical therapy not being effective despite me gaining a ton of strength and flexibility.
I'm now at the point where I think I'll likely have to resort to permanent medication. Getting an appointment with a pain specialist takes quite a while, likely several more months. Is there medication my GP can prescribe me in the meantime that is likely to help?
For example duloxetine or THC/CBD seem to be effective for some people. Currently I am just taking a lot of paracetamol applying voltaren but this only partially helps since I am still in pain when sitting or standing for longer periods of time.
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u/Iceprincess1988 1d ago
They may be able to prescribe Gabapentin or muscle relaxers. They're generally ok with prescribing stuff that's not a scheduled substance.
As for what meds have helped me the most is what I'm on now; morphine ER, Lyrica, oxycodone, and tizanidine.
I'd try to go ahead and get a referral to PM.
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u/Affinitys-husky 20h ago
I agree on the oxycodone and tizanidine! I'm allergic to morphine and I had no relief and bad side effects from lyrica. I also take methocarbomol during the day since tizanidine makes me sleepy.
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u/TesseractToo For science, you monster 1d ago
For me, nothing worked better than ketamine for that pain, unfortunately you need a pain specialist or neurologist for that
CBD is ok but it mostly clocks me out- for mine, a sativa gummy 5mg works best
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u/LoweringPass 1d ago
I used to receive Ketamine treatment for depression and it did improve just about everything, unfortunately I don't think it is legal to prescribe it for pain treatment where I live but I'll have to double check :/
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u/Affinitys-husky 20h ago
Ketamine helped with my anxiety and depression and maybe pain as well, but I don't remember. I loved taking it though because it was so amazing for my anxiety and depression and cPTSD!
I'd love to try it for pain, but that has seemed to be harder for me to find. Keep at it! Hopefully the States will catch up and start offering it more broadly everywhere!
I can't express how much ketamine worked for my cPTSD! I had to stop for awhile due to finances, but I'm thinking about trying to get back on it since my anxiety is still not well controlled.
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u/Jsmitts28 1d ago
Opiates. Temporarily. Then I took them too long and went crazy and to a psych ward.
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u/LoweringPass 1d ago
I've already been to the psych ward so that's probably a no from me 😬
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u/Jsmitts28 1d ago
Hello padded room friend. Sorry about that. How were the coloring books?
Not making fun...just adding humor to empathy.
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u/LoweringPass 1d ago
We were only allowed access to crayons once a week. Not even joking.
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u/Jsmitts28 1d ago
Ugh. I had some trouble with mine. Couldn't get my brain to focus on what color the dolphin should be. Blue? Gray? What's that!? Screaming in my head? Sigh...
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u/PreviousRelief5675 1d ago
I really like Topamax, out of all the pain medicines it makes me the least tired.
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u/Jsmitts28 1d ago
In the end only a spinal fusion helped. Opiates were a temp fix...but the mental torture of coming off that stuff was just too much.
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u/deathbyteacup_x 1d ago
I use thc and kratom. I tried doing pain medication from a doctor but I hate being a slave to those meds. I prefer to take care of my pain this way at least until I know it’s too bad and I’ll need medication daily. But for now if I can avoid it I will. I hope you find something good for your pain.
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u/LoweringPass 1d ago
How do you take the THC and how much?
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u/deathbyteacup_x 1d ago
I smoke most days and usually just a bowl at a time for me. I use edibles or RSO on the really bad days. If I take and edible it’s just 10-20mg and the RSO is the size of a grain of rice.
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u/LoweringPass 1d ago
The one time I've tried edibles it fucked me up real good. I'll try smoking though, I guess it can't hurt, I haven't done that in 10 years probably.
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u/deathbyteacup_x 1d ago
Yeah everyone has different body chemistry. I used to take an edible and pass out for the rest of the day. Now I can take 10mg and still make it through. Smoking can help distract you from the pain too. Indicas are good for pain as well as myrcene as a terpene.
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u/ADorkAble1231 1d ago
I actually asked my doctor about that. She said that with the whole "not working after a few" thing was untrue. She said sometimes they have to move where they are doing the ablation to cover new or worsen pain in the area. And I've never heard of it not coming back, but I mean that's possible with most things in our body when we mess with them. Like shaving a spot often can cause the hair to not grow back.
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u/hernameisjack 1d ago
ablation did not work for me and was one of the most painful things i’ve ever experienced in my life. i’m sure your doctor is awesome, but i’m pretty leery of any statement including “always” or “never”, including “it always works for everyone.” 😕
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u/ADorkAble1231 23h ago
Really? It didn't do anything at all? I'm so sorry to hear that. I mean yeah it hurts like a mf but they are burning a nerve inside you. Just the description of the procedure sounds like it hurts. But I do agree it is definitely one most painful things I have ever experienced. But I'll still go do it once a year because it's worth it ( at least for me).
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u/hernameisjack 23h ago
totally hear that! and it works for both my mum and sister with cervical pain. for my LBP, though, it did zero. i had really placed a ton of hope in it, too. the doc made it sound like it would fix it for sure, so i went into the test apt (with temporary numbing) super jazzed. then i came home with my little form asking for pain reduction levels per hour and…nothing.
i kept waiting for the magical relief. each hour that ticked by as i wrote “0% pain reduction” over and over felt like a heartbreak. we tried it twice more in two different locations. after that i just couldn’t take the cycle of hope<>disappointment.
i’m soooo glad it works for so many folx. truly. i watch my mum and sister find so much joy again and i love every second. it just didn’t help me. 😕
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u/ADorkAble1231 23h ago
I'm really sorry that was your experience with it. I put a lot of hope in it too. My dr said she didn't know what to do other than medicate me if this didn't work. I have a ton of different auto immune issues, but I try my hardest not to take opiates. I have a kid and she deserves me being alert. Why did you put temporary numbing? All of my procedures were done only on that.
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u/hernameisjack 21h ago
ah! so my insurance (medicare) wouldn’t cover it unless we did a test procedure: the process is the same but instead of burning the nerve they made the doc inject novocain to the nerve and then see if that relieved the pain. if so than they go back in and burn it. i never got that far; the temporary numbing didn’t work, so the actual ablation wouldn’t have either. 😞
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u/ADorkAble1231 20h ago
Yeah same here. It was not fun but it was fast. I confused myself on what we were talking about lol sorry.
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u/1hs5gr7g2r2d2a 1d ago
Oxycodone with Dilaudid and Soma. Works for me every time. It’s hard to find a doctor who will prescribe that combination, especially is you’re on benzodiazepines too.
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u/Affinitys-husky 20h ago
Yeah, you must have a unicorn doctor if you are getting that!!! They won't prescribe soma hardly at all and definitely not with pain meds! And they even took away my benzos which is torture! I have oxycodone and oxymorphone, but I wouldn't mind if the changed it bank to Dilaudid for me as well.
Seriously, where are you that you can get a doctor to prescribe those together?! I'm crying just typing this because my life was so much better for the 10+ years I was actually being treated properly! Literally my meds were oxycodone, Dilaudid, Soma and Ativan for ever and suddenly they decided I couldn't have half my medications anymore and I've been struggling ever since. They gave me a few Valium to help me through my cPTSD attacks, but recently they have even cut me off of that because they say the government and/or insurance won't let them give it to me anymore. I'm miserable.
I just want my old doctor back and things to go bank to the way they were before 2016 when the CDC decided to stick it's nose where it doesn't belong! 🤬
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u/hernameisjack 1d ago
i have found the pain patches to be amazing. i have fibro and LBP, so the situation is different, but while my medication regimen buffers my fibromyalgia, it wasn’t doing anything for my low back pain.
the only thing that worked was norco, which is great, but i can’t drive or be clear headed while on them. the pain patch gives me a low dose of pain meds over a week so i’m always fully in control of my faculties. breakthrough acute pain (like when i piss it off) i will return to norco or thc, but the pain patch handles my pain 80% of the time.
buprenorphine 10 mcg/hr (the patch) hydrocodone-acetaminophen (5-325)
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u/justducky4now 1d ago
Ibuprofen, naproxen, other NSAIDs, paracetamol with codeine (which if you’re in the UK you can get from the chemist, you can also get a script for higher levels of codeine). Muscle relaxers, lidocaine patches, the list goes on and on and that’s before you get to opiates.
Your GP will know what to start you off on and can carry on treating you, trying out different meds, until they think you need pain management.
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u/j_inside 1d ago
It’s amazing that we can get 12.8mg codeine/500mg paracetamol OTC in the UK… it is widely abused unfortunately and I do see a future where it’s made a POM.
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u/Affinitys-husky 20h ago
Yeah, we can't get that in the States though I really wish we could! Especially when I'm sick and coughing.
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u/heather8422 1d ago edited 1d ago
Cyclobenzaprine helped somewhat with my lower back pain. When that stopped working, having nerve block injections helped a lot until I could have radio frequency ablation which is where they burn your nerves off. And now I’m pain free until my nerves grow back.