I’m not looking for medical advice, but more understanding. I have chronic back pain. I can alleviate it completely with only 2 things - alcohol and a heating pad. Ibuprofen lessens it but it’s still present. Muscle relaxers do nothing (which makes sense because it’s not muscle related, it’s spinal disk degeneration).
A tall glass of whiskey makes my back relax and I can move normally. Once it wears off tho, it’s right back to tense and painful.
Alcohol is a solution
If alcohol works it might be neuropathic pain and then this could work on it as well, using some of the same mechanisms of action as alcohol
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabapentin
But I dislike giving medical advice as am not a doctor. Something to research at least.
Gabapenten has serious side effects, dont just go get some and go “o we gonna be good.”
Uhm, I don’t think I did.
You shouldn’t take strong prescription drugs willy-nilly.
Wasn’t talking to you directly, but appending additional info to what you were saying. You kinda did suggest that taking gabapentin would help with their pain, so while Yes, its a terrible idea to take prescription stuff without knowing what you are doing, if they are gonna read what you told them and decide to ignore the part where you suggest you are uncomfortable providing medical advice and then go ahead and do it anyway, they should at least be warned that your advice is particularly dangerous due to gabapentins mental side effects.
I didn’t provide medical advice. I provided access to medical information.
I’m saying that pain that is neuropathic is often treated with Gabapentin, which in the long run, is healthier and safer than self-medicating.
Thus if OP looks up what neuropathic pain is and gets concerned, they should call a doctor and tell all this. Which is when the actual medical advice will come.
You can give people information about medicine without giving them medical advice.
Gabapenten
hascan have serious side effects for some people, dont just go get some and go “o we gonna be good.”FTFY. Everyone’s brain chemistry is different. For some, it can be a lifesaver in low doses for anxiety, for some (like me) it can be used as an adjunct to acetaminophen/paracetamol in a combination that is more effective for pain than opioids (had a minor hemorrhage in an adrenal gland - not fun), and for others it can cause extreme depression and other behavior changes.
Noone should take it without the supervision of a medical professional.
Neither my partner or I have any side effects with gabapentin! I take it occasionally, and they take like 900-1200mg daily for spicy nerve pain that makes life horrible.
Because you’re not taking the good pain meds.
I’ve lived with chronic back pain for 20 years, and I have 3 stages of medication I go through (though mine is alignment-related, so muscle relaxers help): aleve (the only OTC painkiller that touches my back pain), tramadol (moderate-strength opioid, can’t take it for long or it causes plumbing problems), and tizanadine (the serious industrial-strength muscle relaxers; knocks me out for 8 hours and usually fixes my back the first time.)
If you’re looking for alternatives, THC helps somewhat with my back pain, but I dunno what’s legal where you are.
Tramadol is quite nasty to come off as well because it functions like a combination of SSRI with opiod effects on your brain. I think it’s the mu-opiod receptors as opposed to the normal opiod ones so more similar to kratom in that respect too.
Yeah, tramadol is weird because it makes you not care about stuff. Which is kinda good because it makes you not care about pain, but also, ya know, the other stuff too. But it was quite easy for me to come off of honestly; I didn’t shit for a week and that was more than enough to make me stop taking it regularly. Now I take it maybe once or twice a month at the outside.
I believe it is like long term use of months or years which can be bad when coming off because it can feel like stopping anti-depressants at the same time as stopping opiates.
I am familiar with the constipation from those types of meds too. Not pleasant!
Oh, yeah, probably. I only used it regularly for like a month or two, 3 pills a day, so it wasn’t so bad for me.
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Meds don’t fix back pain
Depends on the back, and the pain, and the meds. No, they don’t fix the underlying issue, but for circumstances where the underlying issue can’t be fixed they make it a lot more tolerable.
True, but relying on the drugs is generally a bad approach
I take it you have some better approach than relying on medication when my back pain becomes incapacitating? Cause it’s not fixable, I’ve seen numerous doctors about it over the years, not to mention chiropractors, physical therapists, etc. My choice is to take pain meds when things get bad or to just be incapacitated for the rest of the day whenever it flares up. So if you have a better approach I’m all ears, but just saying ‘drugs are bad mkay?’ isn’t terribly convincing because so far my experience has been that not relying on drugs is all downside.
you know one thing about social media that’s really hard to deal with is that everybody seems to speak an absolutes about every single fucking topic on the planet. there’s room for the gray in almost every conversation that has ever existed and people like to just point out well what about my special circumstance, of course there’s room for special circumstances and other things why does everybody think everything is absolute?
Except I was doing what’s called ‘speaking from experience’, which means I was speaking about my experience. Which you then decided to weigh in on as if you know a damned thing about it, or me, or even pain in general compared to the four specialist doctors I’ve seen on the subject. So yeah, when you start slinging vague opinions and generalizations about something I have lived for 20 years I’m gonna have some shit to say and you’re just going to have to accept that I speak in absolutes because I am the authority on my situation. If you have any actual experience or expertise to share on the subject then I’m all ears, but if all you want to do is whine because somebody knows more than you do about the nonsense you’re talking than you do then I’m gonna go do something more productive with my day.
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What you’re really asking is “why do some drugs work for me, while others don’t?”
I’d bet there are some prescriptions that would work for you and probably a number of other “recreational” drugs too
I’ve got a degerative disease called Anklyosing Spondylitis, bit of a tongue twister but also my pelvis is splintering due to arthritus associated with the condition so very painful. I find dicofenac works pretty well for flare ups but sometimes I’ll switch over to booze if I’m going out since that works better. NB: I don’t mix booze with the NSAID if I can avoid it, might just intersect at the tail end.
Opiates work better for the pain too but that’s a whole other can of worms I try to avoid opening.
Been pretty much 10 years with back pain and I also have arthritis and neuropathy.
I tried NSAIDS, I tried the other ones, I forget name, tried the brain ones. They were worse than the pain. Destroyed my gut or made me want to blow my brains out and 0 relief.
I don’t really like opiates. Not too worried about the addiction as I am Larry Flint type and don’t really care if I am on or off it. They help better (to reduce pain not alleviate) than all the other crap I mentioned. I also take Baclofen once or twice a week to rest me muscles.
I take cannabis for my Aphantasia(a longer story not for here) which as an added bonus it also helps alleviate pain. I eat fruit bottom Balkan yogurt once every 2 days and have no plumbing issues since I started the yogurt.
I’m not convinced OTC pain meds do anything, especially Tylenol.
I think it very much depends on the type of and source of pain.
For me, Tylenol works for headaches and some cold/flu stuff but I’ve never really found it effective for strained muscles etc
I have a type of rheumatoid arthritis (spondylitis) and nsaids have a pretty profound effect.
Tylenol is interesting - it’s a psychoactive drug. It reduces your brain’s ability to experience pain, or even understand the possibility of pain, rather than reducing the amount of pain you’re feeling. That means different people’s brain chemistry will result in very different results with Tylenol.
Studies were done that show people are slightly more likely to take risks when they’re on Tylenol. Wild stuff.
Ditto what the others said. You might have just rolled bad RNG (DNA) at character creation (birth) and just gotten stuck with immunity to certain painkillers. It happens. Bad luck, friend.
Oh, Excedrin and Tylenol absolutely help headaches. I’ve had some splitting headaches that weren’t migraines, and I can feel the pain get a lot better over 15-20. Of course water also helps, but it’s faster than natural, I think.
Basically the only thing that help my headaches is caffeine. But that’s probably a me problem.
They only work for me if I take a much larger dose than what the label suggests, but I fear for my liver.
I think it depends on the person too. Tylenol doesn’t work well for me, even prescription Tylenol; it kind of just makes me nauseous. Advil works great though.
My parents both seem to prefer Ibuprofen, but I swear by Excedrin as a miracle drug. But Excedrin is like, everything.
But Ibuprofen is better for muscle pain.
Might be neuropathic.
If so, they give gabapentin out like candy, it is addictive tho so you may want to consider it “as needed” even tho they’ll want you to take it on a schedule.
If gabapentin is addictive it must be psychological because I’ve been on and off of it for years now and there isn’t any withdrawal I can discern.
Is withdrawal a requirement for a substance to be defined as addictive?
well, addiction is dependence with harm. Every time I’ve been prescribed a narcotic I’ve felt withdrawal pains and gabapentin does not do that to me.
Addiction and dependence are two different things. You can be dependent without addiction or addicted without dependence. For one cannabis can make people addicted, but the myth from that is because it doesn’t really cause any sort of physical dependence.
On the other hand lyrica etc benzos for example and especially opiates will cause physical dependence, and even if you don’t like want to take the pills, as in you don’t crave them, you’re not addicted to them, you may be dependent and then get withdrawal from quitting.
Addiction can also cause withdrawal, but psychological withdrawal is a bit different than physical.
Whatever. Disagree with the dictionary:
I laugh at your puny knowledge of the subject
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Addiction
Addiction is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to use a drug or engage in a behavior that produces natural reward, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences.
neuropsychological disorder
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Substance_dependence
Substance dependence, also known as drug dependence, is a biopsychological situation whereby an individual’s functionality is dependent on the necessitated re-consumption of a psychoactive substance because of an adaptive state that has developed within the individual from psychoactive substance consumption that results in the experience of withdrawal and that necessitates the re-consumption of the drug.[1][2] A drug addiction, a distinct concept from substance dependence, is defined as compulsive, out-of-control drug use, despite negative consequences.[1][2] An addictive drug is a drug which is both rewarding and reinforcing.[
biopsychological situation
#A drug addiction, a distinct concept from substance dependence
despite substantial harm
laugh at what now?
Addiction and dependence are two different things. You can be dependent without addiction or addicted without dependence. For one cannabis can make people addicted, but the myth from that is because it doesn’t really cause any sort of physical dependence.
On the other hand lyrica etc benzos for example and especially opiates will cause physical dependence, and even if you don’t like want to take the pills, as in you don’t crave them, you’re not addicted to them, you may be dependent and then get withdrawal from quitting.
Addiction can also cause withdrawal, but psychological withdrawal is a bit different than physical.
Everybody is different.
I can’t metabolize most painkillers, they do literally nothing to me because I’m missing a liver enzyme. I could eat a handful of percacet every day for months and quit cold turkey easy, because I was never really getting anything out of to begin with.
There are countless reasons why people react differently to medication, that’s why doctors just try random shit till something seems to work.
It might be educated guesswork, but it’s still guesswork. And there’s very little effort put into why/how one thing worked over others, if it works that’s the end of it.
I have neuropathic pain and acupuncture has helped manage it so I can stay away from these kinds of medicine. Might be worth giving a shot (if nothing else you get a nap, which I always welcome).
Gabapentin isn’t addictive as far as I’m aware, but pregabalin aka lyrica is. Both do similar things
http://www.jpain.org/article/S1526-5900(16)30334-0/fulltext
However experts are also speaking out to clarify that the results of the new study don’t mean alcohol is good for us.
I get it. Alcohol and marijuana actually tends to make my whole body feel numb, whereas medically prescribed painkillers like oxycotin or codeine just give me a head fog and make me sleepy while doing nothing for physical pains. Over the counter shit like ibuprofen and aspirin are utterly useless for me unless taken to reduce a fever. Even the inflammatory properties don’t help alleviate swelling or anything for me.
whereas medically prescribed painkillers (…) just give me a head fog and make me sleepy
which is in start contrast to marijuana 😂
Well, I mean at least the head fog and sleepiness from weed also comes with actual pain relief. 🤷🏻♂️
But also, it really depends on the weed. Some strains make it impossible to function from the fog. Others help with sleep. And still others give me crack-like energy.
Well, I mean at least the head fog and sleepiness from weed also comes with actual pain relief. 🤷🏻♂️
ok, i am glad it works for you.
But also, it really depends on the weed.
well, for me all the “positive effects” disappeared over time and i was just left with those meh ones, which is why i ultimately stopped. but it may not be the experience of every person in the world, so…
all the “positive effects” disappeared over time and i was just left with those meh ones
This is the case for every single drug I’ve tried over a long period of time, and one of my hobbies is treating Erowid like a Pokédex.
🎶Gotta catch 'em all, 2C-B!🎶
Night and day though. I can smoke weed and still get stuff done, it’s almost like spinach for Popeye to grind out a menial task.
Dope though? Fuuuuuuuck it, lets just sit here and watch TV. I don’t normally watch much TV but on any narcotic it’s perfect.
Marijuana doesn’t make me sleepy. It makes me horny.
Well hello
…you got some marijuana for me?
You want some Skunk?
because alcohol relaxes muscles and all the medications doctors give as muscle relaxants in the past 20 years are placebos
Maybe it has to do with its effects on GABA receptors? Have you ever tried something like gabapentin or pregabalin?
These make you stupid but they do help
The doc put me on gabapentin for my nerve pain (ulnar and carpel tunnel) and I thought it was hitting the right receptors to help me stay off of alcohol, or dulled my desire for it. Turns out I was just self medicating the nerve pain and with the GABA I didn’t need the booze so much.
Don’t drink and take Gabapentin. They work on different receptors on the same channel. That means they have unpredictable effects together. The effects aren’t additive, they’re more like multiplicative. And more random than either alone.
Sounds like the pain is coming from one of the systems inhibited by the GABAergic system.
To piggyback on another comment. Massage. I’m a massage therapist who sees clients with disk issues all the time.
99% of the time it’s because of shortened hip flexors (your psoas attached to your bottom vertebrae and as it shortens, is too tight to let your spine stretch which then just crushes your disks) due to both extended time in a seated position as well as a weak core. Stretch, get a massage, find a PT to help with chronic back pain. Start doing crunches before bed.
Also drink more water. Only kinda related but basically everyone should be drinking more water.
Strengthening my core literally straightened my spine significantly and improved my lordosis. It’s like putting on a corset.
But also, if you can’t really do crunches, leg raises and planks are good too.
Hip hooks are also great for getting at those muscles, which are otherwise very difficult to stretch.
Why crunches before bed? Physical exercise before going to bed seems like insomnia recipe.
Is it not better to do it in the morning or the afternoon?
Statistically, you should be doing more exercises in general.
But working out absolutely does improve sleep, as well as mood, digestion, memory recall, anxiety, and basically every other common ailment.
Please go work out more. Even if its just a walk or some crunches. Just get 15-30 minutes per day of continuous exercise. I promise you you’ll see a difference
No one says the opposite. I’m a very active person.
Just not at night right before going to bed. I feel like that could lead to bad quality of sleep.
Well it’s your feelings compared to the huge amount of scientific backing. And the article I linked to has a bunch of sources too, although I consider John Hopkins Hospital a valid primary source for medicine
The article you linked states that many people have trouble sleeping if they do exercise before going to bed, because the physiological response of doing exercise activates the body in a way that makes it harder to sleep for a while and recommend doing it a couple of hours before.
Like the other response said, some light exercise before bed is generally good for sleep. If you feel it’s waking you up, your brain might already be in go-mode. Do you limit blue light or anything before bed?
If you still feel before bed is no good, or don’t have the time or whatever, literally anything is better than nothing.
Idk what happened but over the weekend my back went to hell in a hand basket. I’m usually in pretty good shape but this went from 0-100 immediately. I’ve heard some good things about the GIBoard for core strength and stability so I’m looking to see if that helps. It’ll help me with stretching too so hopefully that’ll do something…
GIBoard
You got me looking at these. Then I started looking around. Is there a reason to get one of the ~200 USD balance boards over a 20 USD wobble board? Other than durability, I guess.
Different applications mostly, this is a slackboard and those are balance boards. There are knockoff slackboards but so far this thing kinda kicks ass. There’s a lot of different exercises that can be done on them but idk, it’s your call. I’m satisfied with my purchase though.
Ok, that giboard actually looks kind of awesome…does it easily someone like 140-250lbs?
The only minor detail for me might be that my balance is totally shit.
Piggyback?! Bro, people are in enough pain in this thread!
Oh, take my damn upvote you punny bastard. 😂
