I am hopeful someone has an answer for the burning pain that seems to be present 75% of the time in my rear end area. Are there any suggestions or meds that you can recommend? It is hard to function with the continuous burning.
Thanks for your help
Semper fi
Moving this to the Pain forum, but this type of pain is very common in people with spinal cord injury. It sounds like classic neuropathic pain. Have you discussed management with your physiatrist? Your SCI Center team? Your home VA SCI clinic team?
While medications can be used, it is also important to try non-medication type interventions as well. TENS is especially important to try as it helps many. Acupuncture has also helped some. Self-hypnosis and relaxation training is also something that should be explored.
For medications, they are primarily the tricyclic antidepressants (imipramine, for example), anti-seizure drugs (gabapentin, Lyrica, Tegretol), and sometimes other medications such as mexilitine. It is common to have to use a combination and to make a lof of trial and error evaluations with different meds. You have to use medications with an understanding of the high rate of side effects with these drugs.
(KLD)
Has the burning sensation been there all along, or is that a recent change?
If you have pain in your rear end it could be my ex wife!!!! LOL
[Sorry.... I don't mean to make light of a very real problem which I suffer from too. Just trying to interject a little humor in a crappy place. (Sorry about that one too!)]
L1 Complete - Injury 3/12/06 - Grateful to be alive!!!!
Semper Fi - Do you have a physiatrist? Or an internist? Or I guess I wonder what physicians do you see for your SCI and general health. You probably want to share with them your symptoms and say how it is impacting your life now. They might be able to recommend meds to give you some relief. If they are unfamiliar with neuropathic burning from SCI, you may want to ask if you could see a pain specialist who will know about management. You might tell them that you've learned that meds like Neurontin and Lyrica are helpful. If they are unfamiliar with using these meds for it, I probably would find a Physiatrist or Pain specialist who was familiar with your problem.
Thank you for the replies. I am on Lyrica 50mg 3times a day. The pain has always been there 2003 injury T4 complete c8 incomplete.
Rehab Doctor is located Washington University and Barnes Jewish hospital; VA Jefferson Barracks SCI unit. I do an semi annual rehab and semi annual neuro check ups at Wash U.
It seems to be a common problem as the nurse pointed out however, I was hoping someone might have an answer that worked, The Doctors have tried everything mentioned so far.
Thanks all
Semper fi
Semper Fi
It sounds like you have knowledgeable docs. I have a question. Lyrica at 50mg 3 times a day is a low dose. I would increase the dose of the Lyrica. You can take up to 400 to 600mg a day. Sure you are going to possibly have more side effects, but my experience is that once you are at a high dose for a week or 2, I didn't notice the groggyness as much. It is always a balance between the lesser of 2 evils - the burning that is making it hard to function in life versus the potential side effects of meds. The other thing that I would suggest that helped me is to take a small dose of Elavil 25mg before going to bed. It seems to be synergistic with Lyrica to quiet the burning. In my case, the result was immediate with Elavil.
So I would push up the dose of Lyrica first and then add Elavil. Just some ideas that worked (partially) for me.
Good luck.
Hi Semper Fi,
I've had the same burning butt pain 24/7/365/8 (8 years). I'm 9 years post injury and a t10 complete. I've been fortunate to have a good pain specialist and we've tried pretty much every drug and drug combo imaginable. I also had 2 DREZ surgeries in 2003 to try to eliminate the pain. Both were 100% unsuccessful. For the last several years I've remained settled on 300mg Lyrica, 150 mg EffexorXR, and 30mg MSContin per day. It works slightly better than the the other meds I've tried; but to be honest, all it does is take the slightest edge off the pain. Over the years, the pain has slowly chipped away and chipped away at my life until there isn't much life left. It's a bad situation that's slowly getting worse.
I can't offer you much in the way of advice. Keep trying new things. Become very proactive. Don't wait for your doctor to suggest something new. Get on the internet and become tireless in your research. You have to become your own health care advocate. Your goal must be to find something that offers true and lasting relief. Nobody deserves what you are enduring. No one that isn't experiencing it can really understand it. I wish you the very best and I hope you find you own personal pain killer.
Best Regards,
George Hunt
Georgeh, thanks for the info. You think you have it bad but, just look around and you find someone worse off. Hang in there and best wishes.
Regards,
Karl
Hey George,
Thanks for your post. I have 2 friends who went through the Drez procedure with Dr. Falci in Denver and had resolution of their pain, I am sorry that it did not work for you. I really agree with your last paragraph about being your own health care advocate and not waiting or relying on anyone to do that for you. I am about your age (52 y/o) too and 7 years out from SCI .
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