I had to share this - I had read about Lidoderm patches for pain relief, so I asked for some to help me with the awful nerve pain from herxing --
THEY REALLY WORK! I can't believe how much it is helping!
They are pricy, though, if insurance doesn't cover them....
Posted by sunnygirl (Member # 8339) on :
Hi mini, Cindy here from the FMS site.
I'm also in alot of pain! Today I was at the thrift shop with my son and had to leave. My skin in on fire!
How long does the pain patch last? Did your LLMD prescribe it? I'm on 7 abx per day so going full guns!
Posted by Christine202 (Member # 6158) on :
My husband uses them b/c of nerve damage in his lower back from his job, they help him.... although he doesnt have Lyme he has very little relief from things except for those...
Posted by burnbitter (Member # 7088) on :
quote:Originally posted by sunnygirl: Hi mini, Cindy here from the FMS site.
I'm also in alot of pain! Today I was at the thrift shop with my son and had to leave. My skin in on fire!
How long does the pain patch last? Did your LLMD prescribe it? I'm on 7 abx per day so going full guns!
patches are great last they say 12 hours but I find that they last longer than that. Downside of them is that they don't stay well on some areas like arms or legs. I find them great for shoulders, hips and my back in particular.
You can get your doctor to order you lidocaine cream (esp with ketaprophen) which is great for areas like your neck or arms, knees etc. But its pricy. Works great.
Posted by drrandy (Member # 8780) on :
I can understand anyone with Lyme/chronic pain seeking out treatments to reduce that pain, and it would seem that Lidoderm patches are a relatively safe method of doing so, without the hazards that anti-inflammatory drugs pose to the gastrointestinal tract (about 16,000 people die in the US each yea from GI bleeding due to these drugs) and cardiovascular system, the toxicity of acetominophen to the liver and kidneys, and the side-effects and addictive potential of narcotics. However, lidocaine, the active ingedient in lidoderm, is in a family of chemicals known as aniline derivatives and some of it (exactly how much is still not clear) is metabolized into 2,6-dimethylaniline, a known carcinogen. Dr. Klinghardt is among those who feel that lidociane is thus very toxic and best avoided. An online artlicle discussing this can be found at heall.com (scroll down a bit to get to the section on lidocaine). Fortunately, there are safe alternatives to reduce pain, including natural anti-inflammatories such as proteolytic enzymes (bromelain, Wobenzym, VitalZym etc.), curcumin, ashwaganda etc., bee-venom therapy (which has provided excellent pain relief for my Lyme patients as well as being a natural anti-borrelia agent) and acupuncture...
Posted by minimonkey (Member # 8693) on :