Anyone here with chronic pain and depression?
Q.It seems that since my car accident in March, my depression has increased. I'm not dying, but it feels that way. I'm going through PT, and now my doc has given me Ultracet for pain (no more Vicodin for me, he said. Too addicting, but it really killed the pain) and it has strict limitations of which AD's can be taken with it. He gave me a script for Prozac and I can pretty much guarantee that it won't work for me. I took it for about a month with no effect. My current script for Elavil (until my mental med appt. June 20) can cause seizures if combined with Ultracet.
A.I have 'post herpetic neuralgia' following a bout of shingles in and around my right ('good') eye about twelve years ago. Capsaicin ointment ("Axsain") regularly applied helps (on the skin /around/ the eye!), gentle heat (from a 'wheat pillow') and paracetamol (acetaminophen; "Tylenol") as well sometimes, but occasionally I find it totally incapacitating. I have considered 'TENS' - a sort of electrical stimulation of the nerves - but I don't like the idea of messing about that way with the optical nerves. I've also had migraine since childhood (on the same side as the neuralgia; lucky or what?) but one of the side-effects of SSRIs seems to be a great reduction in the frequency of migraine 'attacks'. Add 'plantar fasciitis' and 'sciatica' for a little extra entertainment - and of course the various aches and pains which my doctor assures me are 'to be expected' in association with Depression (the wheat pillow helps here too). Would Asthma and Eczema count as 'pain'? They can hurt quite a lot sometimes. An injection of cortico-steroids of some sort into an arthritic elbow a few years ago seems to have helped that problem quite a lot. I might go back for another some time. The shoulder hurt in a road-accident in 1981 has been more or less painful ever since. Yeah, I can't argue with that. The idea of the TENS around the eye sounds too risky for me too. Hell, I don't even really like wearing it on my neck. Kinda hurts, actually, even when I turn it down. I only run it for 15 minutes at a time though. However, this new pain med "Ultracet" hasn't done a damn thing for me so far, and I spent $68 on a 30 day supply. I'm going broke with these meds! I wish my doctor would get over his stupid anti-narcotic stance. I find my own troubles trivial in comparison to others'; it's also strange to find that other people get more concerned than I do when I have a 'bad day' - I just 'get through it' and live in the spaces between. The pain etc are just part of 'me' and I find it difficult to imagine what life would be like any other way. I certainly don't want to trivialise anyone elses problems; pain hurts and gets in the way - and it's about as personal as you can get. 'Disabilities' are difficult to compare. A lost tooth might be the end of a trumpeter's career and a sprained ankle might come between an athlete and Olympic Gold, yet (some) double-amputees can climb mountains.
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