Pain??

[PurplySparkleyJoey]

I dont know if many of you here suffer with pain that often but i was wondering if any one has any good adive how to cope with it?
When i first got ill i used to cry all night in pain and mum would come and sit with me. I only cryed becasue i hurt and i didnt know what was wrong with me. Now i have stopped crying (apart from privetly!) but the pain seems to be getting worse all the time. I take Metid thats a morphine based pain killer but it doesnt really do much.
The pain is in my joints and muscle's mostly, although i have genrle back ground pain and head aches of a megrain type.
All suggestions welcomed!!
Jo xx

[OnlyMe]

hey!

im get tons of pain too. the best method is just relaxing your body and breathing deep, it gets easier when you practice! sometimes if pain is realy bad i like to slip into a daydream or something to take my mind of it! sounds crazy but it realy works!
love n hugz gem xxxxxx

[PurplySparkleyJoey]

You read my mind! Fran has just brought me a meditation tape so im going to start using that to cut the pain out ... i'l let you know how it goes!!
thanks for you help Gem ... muchly greatfull!!

[freewheeler]

Hey Jo, how did the meditation tape go?

For Christmas, I got myself a TENS machine. It's a small box (the size of a deck of cards) of electronic "tricks" with 2 or 4 wires which have 2 or 4 electrode pads on the end.
You stick these pads onto your body (usually where the pain is, but not aleays) and turn the machine on. Then it sends a small (variable) current to the electrodes. These arew picked up by your body and help reduce pain. I won't explain how it works coz I don't understand it much yet myself. But work it does. For some people/types of pain it works better than others.
I heard that it has worked for some M.E patients and it's drug free with few, if any side effects. Also, it's controlled by you. the patient, not the doc, so I thought I'd givei a go.

My TENS machine arrived just before Christmas, at the same time as my cat, Pepsi was injured in a road accident, so I've not used it much yet. I've got it on at the moment though.

My machine came with a book about TENS and how to get the best out of it.
Today I read about which points (to place the elctrodes) to use for nausea, so seeing a that's aproblem for me at the mo, I gave it a try.

It feels a bit weird being zapped, esp. in the wrist (where it is now), but after 1/2 an hour of zapping it worked, so I was well pleased. Hopefully it will continue to work, and will work for my other symptoms as well.

Anyone else out there with experience of TENS?? Any good TENS sites??

[Fraggle]

I've found that neurological (?) pain killers work best. They are normally used to treat epilepsy but some of the side affects work as a painkiller for certain types of disorders including M.E.

At the moment I'm taking Gabapentine (sp) which helps quite a bit. The worst side affevt for me is that it can cause low blood sugar and since I'm diabetic, it can be quite hard to manage.

I used to take Carbamazipine (sp again ) but I really wouldn't recomend it. About 50-70% of my hair fell out and I was getting wierd rashes and when my Dad looked up the side effects at work there were some REALLY horrific ones. Think complete organ failure, coma, infertility in men, death.....

So if you ask your doctor about that type of medication. The only thing is they don't seem to do much to my back/head pain, but it works on the rest.

((((((Jo)))))))

[PurplySparkleyJoey]

Hiya .. thank you for my luuuuvly replys!!

I have tryed TENS at physio before .. it worked for a while actually .. but i never sit still long enough to use one. Having said that, i may invest in one some time. I know it would help fran with her pain too.

The pain killers i have tryed are to many to mention!!
Co - codromol, co - dydromol, Co - proxomol, tramodol (that was great but stop me breathing) meptid (what im taking at the moment) solpodol ... you name it!!

I am in the middle on changing doctors at the moment, so i might look in to diffrent pain killers when i get there. Sadly my main complaint is back pain and head aches!! .. lol