Cytokine (Immune chemical) diseases will become more clear in the ensuing years. Recently Tension headache was associated with higher Interleukin-6 levels. Continue reading
Aromatase Inhibitors are used in post menopausal women to prevent breast cancer recurrence. Aching muscles and joints can be a hazard. High Vitamin D levels help prevent this problem but this is harder to achieve then one would think. Continue reading
A recent study showed diffuse muscle trigger knots about the shoulder in impingement syndrome, highlighting the fact there is considerable peripheral and central sensitization. Measures dealing with this disease must deal with these issues. Continue reading
Chronic neck pain without a disc protrusion or facet indications (negative blocks) gets no respect. One can have pain from internal disc disruptions in a neck disc and have nothing to show for it. Now it looks like the patient’s pain can be cut in half for months with just injections of local, epidurally. Continue reading
Idiopathic rhinitis is a condition where the nose drips for no reason – it can be resistant to treatment though Botox has been found helpful Continue reading
TENS became a significant add-on when used with pregabalin for Post-herpetic neuralgia Continue reading
This was a large Canadian study and results demonstrated “this association remained significant after controlling for sociodemographics and any lifetime anxiety or mood disorder.” If smokers back pain dropped to normal after quitting, this would result in a 33% improvement. This is significantly better than the 20% some treatment can manage and might constitute a major objective for pain relief. Continue reading
Post Herpetic Neuralgia (PHN) is a horrendous disease with limited options. A group with low back version of this were treated with 60 mg methylprednisolone and 2 mg midazolam in saline epidurally. Note – no local anesthtic block was necessary. Though pains started at near 10/10 on the pain scale, the highest it got after 3 months was 5.5/10. On average, painkiller pill consumption went from 25 tablets/day to 5/day even after 3 months. These results are miraculous and I hope to spread the news. Continue reading
NOTE – many drugs could be effected by treatment below (and potentially dangerously) and so this should be supervised by your doctor or your pharmacist -especially if on Warfarin. There are rare cases of Dextromethorpan “Benylin cough syrup” dependence mentioned here but cases were usually people with widespread dependency drug issues.
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In the USA, a combination of Dextromethorphan and a drug to prevent its metabolism (quinidine) may have significant non-narcotic pain relieving potential though inhibition of NMDA receptors. It can be easily reproduced with DM cough capsules and grafefruit juice. Continue reading
Lidocaine patches are ridiculously expensive and yet ridiculously easy to make – here’s how. Continue reading
Purdue has released their 7 day patch painkiller – where it fits in remains to be seen.
Glial Cells are immune cells in the nervous system – they have been getting considerable press over their part in activating chronic pain. It has now been suggested that Minocycline (and hence Doxycycline), tetracyclines that suppress glial cells function, could help prevent post herpetic neurralgia (PHN).
Post herpetic neuralgia is a terrible disease that can be mitigated by certain measures. There are some old and some new treatments that might be missed: Continue reading
Injection of wild type glial brain support cells into mutant OCD grooming mice helps abate the mice’ OCD some. Continue reading
Recent findings demonstrate lying patient with bad side down for 15 minutes can almost double its effectiveness. Continue reading
Recent guidelines for treating Neuropathic pain have drawn extensively from results with Diabetic and Post Herpetic Neuropathy. I have written about how those results cannot be generalized to treatment of Radiculopathy (sciatica either of back or neck). see here: Etanercept (Enbrel) for Radiculitis (Sciatica).
Now that Pregabalin has failed to help Lumbosacral radiculopathy, this is more clearly true.
A series of 6 self-administered questions proved helpful in delineating fibromyalgia risk. A cut-off of 5/6 positive answers “gave the highest rate of correct identification of patients (87.9%), with a sensitivity of 90.5% and a specificity of 85.7%”. Continue reading
Gluthathione levels decrease by 10-15% per decade – what can one do to help this anti-oxidant? Continue reading
Though ignored by chronic pain groups, Alpha Lipoic Acid, and L acetyl Carnitine have shown promise if taken early in course of diabetic peripheral neuropathy Continue reading
Despite repeated studies demonstrating beneficial effects by Dellon and his contemporaries, resistance to idea of entrapment as being part of DM neuropathy continues. Recent studies demonstrate dramatic results from decompression.
Breakthrough cancer pain occurs at least once in 2/3 of cancer patients. Either morphine sc injections, which require a needle, or fentanyl intranasal, which requires multiple sprays, has been used. Sufentanyl intranasal spray requires much less.
Noctalgia paresthetica is considered nerve damage in between shoulder blades leading to itching in areas. Treatments have not been that satisfactory to date
Sometimes chronic perineal pain comes out of the blue and one could certainly use a secret weapon. Botox to ganglion impar reduced one case of perianal and genital pain from 8/10 to 2-4/10 for months. Continue reading
Study compared the two agents and found their effects comparable except topiramate offered better some quality of life Continue reading
