Meds For Neuropathic Pain?

[abbygirl]

Rosye, Thanks for the informative post and for sharing what pain relievers are working for you!! My symptoms are similar to yours in that my my eyes look healthy in relation to the pain I am having. My dry eye pain is always there in both eyes but this other deep pain is only in my left eye and it comes and goes. No one can figure it out and it does not seem to correlate with the dry eye pain...at least I cannot tell. I had the deep pain this am and took 100 mg Neurotin along with Excedrin and it seems to be doing the trick. It might be back tomorrow or I can go for days w/o the pain. I also started an antidepressant Monday so I am hoping things will improve!!

[rosye]

Abby, I wish this meds work well for you! I think every patient is a patient, and we have to try everything before turning any treatment down. If neuralgia is not your issue, the meds won't work and you can try another thing. But maybe it's the answer, as it was for me, at least partially!

I took Gabapentin (Neurontin) for about one month and it helped a little to lower the pain, but it wasn't too effective and I stopped taking. I also was prescribed an antidepressant 2 years ago (Paroxetine) and hated it! I became litterally numb, slept for hours a day (thak God I wasn't working, because I could not function at all), wasn't feeling too depressive anymore, but also wasn't feeling too great, in fact, I wasn't feeling anything, as my life went by my eyes. Obviously didn't have any effect on my eye pain. And when I stopped, I became dizzy for almost 2 weeks until the drug cleared my system. I never want to get close to those pills again! :P

Because of this experience, and also because of my mom, that was depressed, treated with tryciclics (the same drug class as Amitriptyline) and ended up tooking her life anyway, some 15 years ago, I wasn't too excited about having to take any similar drugs. But I was at my wits' end. I was working for 6 months and my eyes were destroyed. It was either try that, ask for resignation, or spiral down on depression and I don't know what could have happened.

I don't feel any antidepressant effect from Amitriptyline (I read that it takes higher doses for this effect to be achieved). That is, it doesn't interfere with my emotions, I don't feel numb and I don't feel sleepy as long as I take it before going to bed. Many doctors won't want to prescribe it for DES pain, as it dry eyes, but I never felt my eyes drier while taking the drug than they were already before. Most importantly, it lowered my pain literally overnight, so I knew it was the right drug for me!

[lizibet]

I also found Amitriptyline was the only thing that worked for me, literally a life saver. Very small dose taken at bed time, didn't cause any unpleasant side effects, and was the only thing that gave me a full nights sleep after months and months of waking every few hours. I haven't taken any for a long time now, but keep them close by just in case.

Liz

[buntbean]

My doctor gave me gabapentin instead of Amitriptyline because the corneal specialist told her that the Amitriptyline is very drying to the eyes. Has anyone on Amitriptyline found that it causes further dryness?

[buntbean]

I'm on cymbalta and gabapentin. I was told they wouldn't cause dryness in my eyes. I'm also on clonazepam and tramadol so I am wondering what is contributing to the dryness.

[Aaron77]

I'm thinking that a lot of my pain may be neuropathic... can those of you that have had success with meds for neuropathic pain please let me know what has worked for you or what has'nt? Thanks

Maybe they can access the Post-Lasik nerve condition through the use of a confocal microscope excessively deformed nerve regeneration may mean nerve pain

Originally started his thread back in Nov. 2009 and figure I should revisit it after my trip to BFS.

So I just got back from BFS and they are of the belief that my eye pain and dry eye symptoms are completely due to neuropathy. Was fitted 3 times with new lenses that were all supposed to fit well but seemed to have more eye agitation with them in then without, due to this and the fact that my eyes were only mildly dry in appearance they decided to try looking at my corneal nerves with the confocal microscope. The results showed that my nerves were inflamed and showed signs of branching so from this its believed that they are overly sensitive or excited.

While there I tried:
One week of light therapy which may have helped but i'm not sure.
Naltrexone drops 2xday - again not sure if itmade a difference but will continue.
Fisher Wallace device - seemed to give temporary relief of my symptoms - eye pain and headaches.

Just put an order in for the Fisher Wallace device and will be continuing with the naltrexone drops. Dr. says they it may take a month before i really notice a difference - Fisher Wallace should help to dull the pain temporarily and the naltrexone drops should helped to reduce the inflamation of the nerves.

My eyes felt fairly decent during my stay in Massachusetts, maybe it was the air not sure - now that I'm back home they feel much worse and i'm not sure why but figure its environmental - its dry here at home.

If i don't end up getting much relief with the drops or device in the next couple of months i figure i may have to try something like amitriptyline which seems to have helped out a number of people who have posted in this thread. Thanks

[eyemech]

Wow....what a traumatic experience. Did you wind up leaving with the Boston lens? I have not ever heard of the Fisher wallace device but I looked it up and it looks like a Tens unit. Naltrexone..I looked that up as well...holy moley! Serious stuff.
Can I ask just one really simple question. Lord knows you look like you have been to the end of the world and back. I know this is going to seem really stupid given you have probably tried everything. But here goes...have you ever tried a simple bandage soft lens. There I said it...a really simple thing that most folks assume won't help. If you haven't tried it, you should. It appears you have tried everything else.
You might also try some of the Bromday I have alluded to. Its a non steroidal anti inflammatory great pain stuff.
Well, I am unfortunately not a sufferer..is that a word...but I am a doctor who really is interested in seeing what all of you are trying to get relief.
Good luck.