My husband was diagnosed with lyme and he was told that he has herniated disc in his back one dr. gave him steriods and i saw where it said somewhere that one thing to do was not to take steriods. If he took them would it make the pain and lyme worse. he now is doubling vicodin and it is making it tolerable sometimes!! I've never seen anyone in this much pain. he was so bad last weekend that he was hyperventilating. i was so scared and can't seem to get anyone to help him. got a appt with a back dr on the 27th of this mo. and time just won't go fast enough. has anyone had this problem and what did you do???? Posted by sammy (Member # 13952) on :
Has your husband tried Toradol? It is a strong (non-steroidal) anti-inflammatory. Usually used for severe injuries and for post-op pain.
There are also combo narcotic anti-inflammatories like "vicoprofen" that might help more than the vicodin.
If he has tried that and is still in severe pain then I would go ahead and take the short course (not long term) dose of steroids. You need to reduce the inflammation and relieve some of the pain so that your husband doesn't further injure himself by guarding, tensing his muscles, holding himself in abnormal body positions, and general inactivity.
Again, this is my only my opinion. I'm not a doctor. It would be best if you could discuss this situation with your husband's LLMD or primary care physician.
Posted by nefferdun (Member # 20157) on :
One of my first visits to the doctor was for severe back and leg pain. He found nothing wrong of course but charged me extra which I was told was because it was related to the back! He did give me pain killers.
The pain was so bad I spent a month on the couch with a heating pad and took the pain killers. Typical of lyme, the pain went away only to surface somewhere else - my arm!
A year after being diagnosed with lyme I was diagnosed with bartonella. It seems to be the culprit for much of my muscle pain. Treating bart has helped tremendously.
Whatever you do, don't let your husband take steriods. He needs to see an LLMD.
Posted by tickalert (Member # 7033) on :
Steroids are an absolute no for lymies.
Steroids wipe out the immune system allowing things to grow out of control.
I've always had lots of pain not knowing what I was dealing with.
In 2004 I had two sterioid injections which made it almost impossible to walk. I also started having severe vibrating.
Best of luck!
Posted by janet thomas (Member # 7122) on :
My dead center low back pain was from Babesia.
Yeah, they told me it was herniated discs. BS.
I alternate ice packs and a heating pad when it's bad. Sometimes skelatin, a pain/muscle relaxer.
this is good info, page 58, pain unresponsive to narcotics
[ 10-11-2010, 04:30 PM: Message edited by: janet thomas ]
Posted by ChristieL (Member # 27786) on :
One of my worst symptoms from lyme (and still testing for co-infections) was horrible, horrible pain. My pain radiating from my back, spine, but then went through my body, joints, muscles, skin.
Honestly it was so bad, that there were times I felt I did not want to live, not like this.
My NP did give me percosets, the strongest dose of those. I could actually take 2 at once and it barely dulled the pain, just made it bearable.
I am doing better, and they won't give me any more.
I dont think the doc's really understand how bad this pain can be, it is beyond what a human can or should endure, unbearable.
I tried laying in bed, and just concentrating on making my body relax.
When the ID dr put me back on ABX, that did help soo much. I don't have a disc problem, so my only issue from pain was infection.
I am so sorry for your husband, I send prayers to him and hopefully if he can begin to get well the pain will subside enough to be tolerable.
I wish I had a magic cure, but just wanted to say that I totally understand.
![[Frown]](frown.gif)