I <3 my pain clinic!

SO, as a few of you know, the pain levels have been kicking my butt lately. I noticed that the nasty brain spikes started returning the day after I took my last prednisone and antibiotic, and wondered if it was related.

The pain doc said: "Absolutely." With a dental abcess, and my occipital neuralgia, the pain from the abcess, and the stress of infection and the prednisone, it aggravated the occipital nerve to the point that my last block wore off about a month or two too soon.

I'm scheduled to have needles shoved into my brain yet again on the 7th of September. That was the earliest they could get me in, and they APOLOGIZED for that. COOL!

I asked my pain doc about getting something to take at night, something that would last longer than 2-3 hours, because I'm sick of waking up and having to take more drugs. He did offer a stronger version of my current pain med, but darnit, I'm sick of pills. I have to take way too many on a daily basis as it is. So I asked about patches.

He said the Duralgesis patches aren't any good for acute pain, and they actually have to build up in your system. Then he stopped, and asked if I'd tried the Lidoderm patches. Why, no, no I hadn't.

..... Oh. My. God.

First off, they're huge, so I have to cut them down (which also means I get more usage out of each scrip), since I don't exactly have a big neck. I worried a bit, because I have some adhesive allergies, but the adhesive on these is really, really mild (in fact, it barely wants to stick on the back of my neck, darn hair).

.... And. They. WORK.

Not only do they work, they work directly on the area that HURTS, and doesn't affect the rest of the body. I can still take other pain meds without a problem at the same time. More importantly, they don't screw around with my brain or perception, so I don't feel all drugged up.

AND -- I can use them when my RSD sets off a joint or severe muscular pain elsewhere on my body, with direct to the pain relief.

My husband called earlier to check in after my appointment, and he said I sounded a hundred times better than I did yesterday.

Well, yeah, of course -- I can move my head without whimpering now, and my neck muscles are even loosening up a bit because they aren't clenching over the pain.

Wheeee!