Tonight I am in severe pain all over my body. It's pain like you get with flu. Severe, sharp pain shooting throughout my body. I also suffer from sharp pins and needles like pain in my fingers and soles of my feet which I know is peripheral neuropathy.
It all started when I had chemo 7 years ago. I spoke to a doctor about it who said that it sounded like nerve damage caused by chemo and if it continued when chemo was finished they would try to treat it. I then spoke to the Macmillan nurse about it who told me that the type of chemo I got didn't cause nerve damage. Then the surgeon told me everybody reacts differently to chemo, so it could well be caused by the drugs.
Standard painkillers don't touch the pain. I can't take codeine or anything morphine based as the itching drives me crazy. Sometimes I feel that is worse than the pain.
I was given low dose Amytryptaline (an anti-depressant) with no success. Anti-convulsant meds left me unable to keep my eyes open for any length of time. So, where does this leave me?
I consulted a homeopath who gave me a small white pill. I think it contained minute amounts of poison ivy and it worked wonders. Pain disappeared, so I discontinued this.
Tonight I'm suffering for the first time in ages. Usually I find if I develop a cold or other type of infection the pain does return, but I've been relatively well lately.
The only thing I can think of is that I have recently stopped taking my anti-depressants as I no longer need them. I did notice a difference when I was taking them.
I suffer from severe stiffness and pain and my bones click badly when I move. I suffer from M.E. and asked my GP last year if my symptoms could be due to Fibromyalgia, but she said it sounded more like Polymyalgia. I found the anti-depressants helped with this pain, but now that I have stopped them the pain is back. Sometimes I even have difficulty cleaning myself after I've been to the toilet I am so stiff and sore. I really don't want to take the anti-depressants for ever either as they leave me tired too. I was sleeping up to 16 hours a day recently and realised that these were the cause.
So, looks like I'm back to square one. Unfortunately I know that the pain will affect me to the point where I get depressed and am forced to take co-codamol or some such then I'm scratching till I bleed. Ah, the joys!
I do still have some of the homeopathic remedy, so will give that a go.
The other thing I have developed recently is severe shoulder pain and pain at the joint of one of my thumbs. Oh, I really am falling to bits slowly, but surely.
Sorry to be a moaning minnie tonight, just pee'd off being in pain all day. Still, there's always tomorrow.
Christine xx
