Veterans With Upper And/or Lower Radiculopathy

[63SIERRA]

im surprized they arent dumping the Tramadol down your throat,, thats cheap, synthetic, trash, prison grade medicine.. It gave me very primal nightmares of seeing dead rotting bodies and bones and life like horrific dreams.. when I told my doctor abt it,, his answer was... " that doesnt surprise me"'' well if they know it does this, why the hell do they give it to veterans..

Heres something to check into.. real doctors in real hospitals now use lasers to deaden the nerves that are getting pinched. very small hole, then they identify the nerve being aggravated, and burn it,, BUT nerves do grow back., so the treatment is chronic.. like every 6 months or one a year,. VA knows abt these things but its expensive.. not the treatment, the EXPERTISE .. Its hard to find good doctors who will work for the VAMC... ( veterans ambulatory medical Circus)..

[georgiapapa]

Buck,

Sertraline is the generic for Zoloft which is an antidepressant. I was prescribed Sertraline along with Gabapentin but it did not help me. I think your doctor just didn't want to prescribe Lyrica for you because of the price. He should at least have been honest about it.

GP

[TALON II FE]

Buck,

Sertraline is the generic for Zoloft which is an antidepressant. I was prescribed Sertraline along with Gabapentin but it did not help me. I think your doctor just didn't want to prescribe Lyrica for you because of the price. He should at least have been honest about it.

GP

This is wrong on soooo many levels..."well, he will be 'happier' while dealing with his pain, right?"

Ultram/Tramadol, where to start? Essentially, the EXACT same scenario: It interacts with the same receptors as opiates, but doesn't have any of the "real" effects to truly help with pain. They always still seem surprised when it doesn't work. What it will do, over time, is wear down those receptors so you have less joy in your life and the "real" drugs will be less effective in the future. Except for this negative effect, it is basically a placebo.

[john999]

When I first went to the VA pain clinic in 2005 I asked for one of those new drugs like Vioxx. Instead the VA gave me morphine and Percocet. I have that radiculopathy down from my neck into my shoulder. I have disc trouble in my lower back but no radiculopathy. My lower back just hurts when I sit in one position for a hour in my SUV or on a chair. I have had Lyrica and no help. The only help I get is from opioids and that is just for a few hours.

John

[Buck52]

GP

I meant to say Zoloft and not Lyrica Lyrica was in my brain I guess...

...here's a another kicker the Doc change it again. I can't remember what she said the name of it was,,,I should be getting it in the mail soon

I'll let you know the name of it.

....................Buck

[ArNG11]

Hey I don't know if this will help anyone. At least for me, the combo of Oxycotton and now Butrans is ok sort of. It is still too early to tell. For me I switch every few days on the muscle relaxer. I take methocarbomol for a week or two, then I will switch it to Skelaxin, then to Demerol, then Norco. I will say talk to your doc though. A person has to be careful with the way some medications interact with each other.

There is one catch on this besides the long term effect on your liver and kidneys, some of these bad boys, especially the heavier meds for break through pain, kind of stop you up. This sounds crazy but I'd rather deal with the chronic diarrhea than the alternative, being plugged up. Fiber and laxatives is supposed to help, yogurt, bananas, and liquid breakfast helps me.

Anyways back to the original topic of this post, For me chiropractic care, acupuncture and the tens unit in one day has helped many times with the radicular pain. Stretching and staying active by walking helps. An alternate treatment I utilize is ice packs and later on in the evening heating pads. It does not make it go away completely all of the time but it does help. When I was in physical therapy the leg massages actually helped quite a bit. The treatment hurt however did give some relief for longer periods. It is weird though, having pain go down the legs but have areas that are numb and tingling. Then alternate to the sharp pain and burning. Crazy ride to say the least. JME