Dr. D,
Like I mentioned, Zyrtec makes me a zombie, really. Brain fog is worse, fatigue is worse and I get this brain “numbness” kind of feeling. I cannot function on it at all. Gave it 2+ weeks and it only got worse the longer I was on it, with no noticeable trade off of reduction of any of my other symptoms. To say that it gives me a sedative effect is putting it mildly. lol.
One thing I will share is that I too have had a battle for pain relief options because most narcotics (all the ones in the direct family of morphine, vicodin, percocet and also tramadol) make me severely itchy. Not a tiny itch, a “I’m going to scratch my skin down to the bone” itchiness”. This is compounded by the fact that when this happens in a hospital setting they always want to give me benedryl, which when given to me via IV, makes me faint (I think I have figured out that is lowers my BP immediately for some reason. I can take it oral with no such reaction). For a while I was using Duladid, but after a year on it, I also started getting itchy and nauseous from it. **sigh**
Then, my neurologist tried me on all sorts of meds (Trileptal, Savella, Zonisamide, etc.) and I reacted badly to all of those. She then went to “old school” pain meds, and had me try Talwin Nx (Pentazocine and Naloxone) and it was a God send! It works really well for me, no itching and I can function/non drowsy when I take it. This is all great for at home use, but in a hospital setting, they don’t use this drug…ever. With as many surgeries as I have had it is crazy trying to get pain relief that does anything for me. Last one they tried Demerol, but it is so short lasting and they wouldn’t budge the hospital’s standard dosing for me, even though they could see I was in extreme pain. ARGH. So, I now try the Duladid with a non Benedryl antihistamine and some for the nausea (though a lot of times it takes oral nausea meds and a seasickness patch) and that is better than the Demerol.
All that to say has anyone else ever tried Talwin for pain?