Pain levels out of 10

Thanks Michael mine eases when I get in from work and lie down but you end up fit for nothing just tired all the time what meds are you on, just want the pain to go away as do we all 

Hi Karen.

Occasionally I take codeine or tramadol mixed with paracetamol. I'd say they're as effective as throwing a bucket of water on a building on fire :P

Hi SherryM

At the bottom of page there's a 'start your own discussion' link.  Just click on it and retype your post.  THat way,  you will just get responses which deal with the issues you have raised.  In the meantime,  you could have a trawl through previous posts here to see if there's anything which addresses the questions you asked.

On the 'Pain levels' issue,  I'm a bit surprised that the posts have dropped off,  because it's an interesting issue to raise.  I think that anyone new to C/S tends to get overwhyelmed by the exotic mixture of referred/radiated symptoms,  and because it reuns around the block somewhat,  they find it difficult to identify symptoms with cause,  as would happen with a normal injury.  First the confusion,  then the uncertainty about future progress,  then the anxiety about toleration of painsw that haven't even happened yet.  That all leads to possible exaggeration of futuire expectations....only to be expected when trying to look at the future with an already negative overview.  That's normal,  but it doesn't translate very well to anyone not familiar with C/S,  or even to someone who is more knowledgeable about research results on long term C/S prospects. 

There are many recorded cases of the C/S settling down,  without any treatments,  and becoming more self-manageable...even if that involves some medications and adjustments to lifestyle.  I think what's important to any outcome like that is that there is an acceptability of the limitations imposed by the condition,  and not to be in continual conflict with any expectations of any perceived return to 'normality'.  Accepting the limitations is probably a good first step for exploring manageability options...that door really only opens with some clear thinking about 'cause and effect' and some reliable understanding of what each symptom means.  Any confusion only adds to the negative overview,  and pain toleration is subsequently affected negatively.  With most injuries we get through the worst phases by knowing that healing is progressing,  but with chronic conditions like C/S,. that reassurance is undermined,  and we seemingly don't have any past experience to guide our confused perceptions into adopting a C/S compatible mindset which would re-establish a sense of assurance about future prospects.  All that can lead to an 'assumption' of no control,  which absolutely doesn't help with pain level perceptions.  Any 'attempted',  or 'self-enforced' perception of C/S progress as a healing process, although somewhat flawed,  just like any other healing process,  should add some control to the usual confused perceptions we are vulnerable to.  I don't think that the professionals have the skills to reassure those confused perceptions,  perhaps because they seldom have to personally face that mindset re-adjustment which allows for healing which doesn't quite work,  and so it is up to us to make those re-adjustments based on our intuitive understanding of what is good for us.  They simply don't really understand what matters within the chronic mindset,  and usually tend towards advise more suitable to those who can expect healing to behave as normal.

Because of their mindset,  most referred/radiated symptoms are perceived as neurologicval malfunctions...and that's because they are unable to unravel 'cause and effect' for each symptom.  Those symptoms are not malfunctions....they occur consistently for everyone with C/S....and they are meant to happen as an attempted healing response to threatened nerves.  Just because they fail to make the connections shouldn't mean that we should buy into their 'malfunctioning' theories.  If that's all they got,  I think I'll be doing my own theorising about cause and effect.

Then what about drugs which target nerves, like pregabalin (Lyrica) or gapabetin? Could they actually do more harm than good because by diminishing nerve perception, they interfere with the 'continuous healing' mechanism?

I think that's highly possible.  Also, there's the gradual adaptation issue...where the body gets to expect the drug intake,  and therefore doesn't bother to respond to a nerve issue like it normally would.  We really shouldn't be doing anything to compromise nerve responses when the nervous system will be required to deal with any issues that arise in the future.  Same with painkillers....we voluntarily reduce our toleration ability for future pain.  The more used to them we get,  the quicker we think of taking them.  It's a problem in the culture which hasn't been properly addressed yet.....although there is a movement afoot to restrict GPs from handing out anti-biotics,  due to their increasing ineffectiveness......maybe that's a start.  At the same time,  the meds allow us some 'normality',  and no-one is going to sniff at the option of pain relief,  or nerve calming,  despite the possible prospects.