Wow, pain has skyrocketed....

[WonderDerek]

Hey, guys, yet another thread for y'all to read :( . I got back from college orientation yesterday evening and oh my God....... The heat, the constant wheeling around, the SHINGLES THAT I HAVE, the dehydration, oh and THE HEAT has caused my pain to shoot through the roof. I thought it was muscle pain because we must have walked(me rolling of course) at LEAST 4 miles :( . I had to go to sleep before the orientation was done on the first day because the pain was so horrendous. Well, today I went to the doctor for my shingles, blood work, and the pain. He gave me medicine for the shingles, took blood, and gave me Ultram for the pain. He told me Ultram is not a narcotic and that is works by doing something on the brain. Anyone know how it works and will it help with my back pain? Also, has anyone else had shingles? I never thought I would've gotten it, especially at 19 but good Lord is it painful. What can be done to relieve the pain? Thanks, fellas'

[WonderDerek]

No help? :(

[Jadis]

shingles is just a reactivation of the virus that causes chicken pox. Boog has had it and was given pain meds and another script for it but neither helped. we ended up using oreganol to treat it. it worked better than the rx he was given.

as for being that physically active and seeing a spike in pain, I see the same. Matter of fact starting last week I started working full time for the first time in about 4 years. My pain has shot up to levels I normally don't see until the coldest winter days. I am just making sure I am taking my pain/spasm meds right on time whether I feel I need it or not ATM. It's helped somewhat. I think I am going to talk to my doc about upping my doses though.

I am also taking ultram for pain. If u take tylenol with it, it helps somewhat. The combination of the two are sold as ultracet. just watch tho, you don't want to take the tylenol a lot due to liver damage. I take 2 ultram every 4 hours, then take 2 extra strength tylenol 3 times a day.

[David Berg]

Sorry I missed your thread, was offline a bit. I'd expect the Ultram to help, it's decent stuff. If you're still in trouble after that, call the doc. I'm also fond of stacking Tylenol with other drugs, like Motrin, but don't overdue it, never OD on Tylenol and don't make it a constant crutch. I wonder if caffeine would help activate this, like it does with OTC anti-inflammatories? Asprin is sold with caffeine sometimes.

[WonderDerek]

Sorry I missed your thread, was offline a bit. I'd expect the Ultram to help, it's decent stuff. If you're still in trouble after that, call the doc. I'm also fond of stacking Tylenol with other drugs, like Motrin, but don't overdue it, never OD on Tylenol and don't make it a constant crutch. I wonder if caffeine would help activate this, like it does with OTC anti-inflammatories? Asprin is sold with caffeine sometimes.I don't know but the Ultram is NOT working. I have a pain at the moment that is beyond horrible... I'm actually in tears :(

[David Berg]

Derek, it sounds like your pain is coming from multiple sources. I'd suggest breaking them down and tackling them individually if possible. I don't really know anything about shingles other than what I just saw on the NIH site at http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/shingles/shingles.htm Do whatever you can to treat the condition itself. I may be way off here, but it looks like the serious pain from shingles is from a form of peripheral neuropathy. Any neuropathic pain is very challenging to treat, but usually doctors have a bit more luck with peripheral neuropathic pain than central pain. Don't give up, keep looking for a treatment. As far as the tempurature and your clothing, do what you can. I know a lot of people who wear as little as they can get away with, but that's a given for folks with this sort of pain. The material used also makes a difference for many people. I've heard people say the smoothest possible material, not necessarily the softest, is best, so silk may be better than soft cotton. Heat? Well, I'm sure you're already doing what you can there. It's a miserable week pretty much everywhere in the country, although I just checked the weather where I used to live in Leadville, CO and the highs this week are in the 70s.

BTW, Ultram is a narcotic, see http://www.drugs.com/ultram.html It's typical for narcotics and any other "normal" pain med to touch neuro pain. That said, not all narcotics are created equal, for example sometimes morphine can have an effect where others won't because it works on different receptors. It's more common to have to resort to drugs such as anti-convulsives and anti-depressants.