Neuropathic Pain

I find it very interesting to see the pain managed so successfully with non-narcotic drugs. I’ve been in pain for years supposedly from my arthritis although my case is quite complicated. But isn’t everyone’s case different and complicated in other ways?

NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatories) helped the pain but this was far from complete. And these types of drugs are not meant to be taken forever. The ideal case is that you get an acute inflammation from something eg spraining your ankle and you go on the NSAIDs for 10 days to aid with the healing.  Arthritis, however, is not an acute situation but rather is chronic. People go on the NSAIDs because of the pain and the drugs help to different degrees.Unless the patient is persistent about their level of pain, it often stops here. And the patients’ don’t know what is “normal” pain from arthritis. The one thing that they do know is they can’t manage many “normal” daily tasks and this can impact their quality of life (QOL) to varying degrees.

Feeling a Lot Better Then Not

Yesterday, I felt terrific. It gave me new hope. The cymbalta is definitely working. Each day it has been a little better and then yesterday, I almost felt normal. Well you know how that works.

I did a nice walk – managed to go a little faster without trying. I was out there for about 30 minutes. Nice. Sunshine. Walking straighter. I really did feel better. By the time I got home, Bill was waiting to go to the beach where the Harmony Art Festival is taking place. I had thought we were going on Sunday or I wouldn’t have done my walk. Whoops. I didn’t say anything and without taking a little rest, we went to the beach. We were there about two hours. It was fun to walk around and see the different craft booths and the gallery. Outside they were doing art demos and Alan Wylie was there. Bill loves his stuff so he sat on a log and watched. I tried to sit next to him but after five minutes I knew it wasn’t a good idea. OK. I went to lawn and sat in one of the chairs.

Bill could tell I was reaching my limit but he wanted to see the gallery. He found a book there by an artist he would like to take a course in. Then we walked around the lawn area, found the schedule for the art demos and just wandered. I think I did something then. I was a bit of a tough go on the lawn, not even ground and there was a dip that I didn´t see. Darn. I could feel something in my back but it wasn’t sore immediately after.