Comment by clcaev

3 days ago

We really could use better treatments for chronic pain.

I've found low dose naltrexone to be somewhat effective for severe chronic pain. Not as good as opiods.

THC can also help somewhat, but its action seems so dissociative. At an effective level for chronic pain, I'm sleepwalking though the day.

Opioids or their analogues cause or complicate bowel issues. Four years of 200mg/day Tramadol really helped me, but it shredded my gut. Getting off Tramadol wasn't hard for me. I'd stay on it were it not for the gut issues.

As an aside, lacing hydrocodone with acetaminophen is truly a horrific practice. Doctors prescribe this to patients on hepotoxic drugs and are shocked when they get liver damage.

8 comments

clcaev

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dgan  3 days ago

I have 2 family members for whom Tramadol opened the door for severe addiction. One is now on regular morphine, the other had psychosis. I know it obvisouly depends on the individual, just to dilute your very rosy comment

  • clcaev  3 days ago

    I didn't mean to make a rosy comment, thanks for the ribbing.

    Tramadol isn't all that strong, but it does take the edge off. With a 6 week taper, my challenge was more about the resurgent pain.

    I would not recommend Tramadol, the gut complications are debilitating and it's unclear ignoring the chronic pain served me well.

trollbridge  3 days ago

Right. Opioids are an absolute terror to one's digestive system. When I had chronic pain I would rather have just accepted the pain than deal with the gut consequences.

LDN is an interesting one since it just stimulates your body to generate its own endorphins.

  • clcaev  3 days ago

    I found the first week on LDN to be challenging due to "horror flick" vivid dreams.

    LDN reduces "central amplification" of neuropathic pain, so it is a good fit for my disease profile.

    • trollbridge  1 day ago

      LDN is interesting since what it does is actually trains your nerves and brain to feel more pain… so they get used to it.

WarOnPrivacy  3 days ago

> I've found low dose naltrexone to be somewhat effective for severe chronic pain. Not as good as opiods.

When I could get 7oh, it worked well for moderate break-thru (ibuprofen) pain (muscle, joint). I also tried a month of using it regularly wasn't happy overall. I didn't get any withdrawal on stopping tho.

oompydoompy74  2 days ago

Have you tried pairing THC with a coffee? This is my go to for pain relief without being overly sedated.