Another Difficult Night

Day three on these new meds and I'm really not sure what to think.

The first night I enjoyed a really good night's sleep. No noticeable improvement in the pain level but I did feel rested, albeit a tad groggy the following day. The second night wasn't so good -- I woke several times trying to get comfortable; my hips were really giving me a hard time. The following day I didn't feel particularly rested either. Last night, the third on this new medication, and I again had a horrible night, waking several times trying to get comfortable. My hips were screaming in pain. By now I have been without any other pain med since Wednesday evening (can't count Tylenol #3 because they don't work for anything more than a toothache anymore). I eventually gave in and took a Codeine Contin at about 3:00am -- I needed to get some sleep. I then slept until 6:00am.

So, is this new med working or isn't it? The question gets back to what am I supposed to expect? How do I measure its success?

• Is it working if I have no fibro pain but continue to have hip pain? That's the same as I was prior to receiving the new prescription (Lyrica seems to be controlling the fibro pain).
• Is it working if I have no fibro pain and slightly less hip pain? That would be very minor improvement.
• Or how about no fibro pain and significantly less hip pain? Now we're talking.
• No fibro pain and no hip pain. That, in my book, would be success, although my doctor has assured me that I will never be "totally free of pain."

It seems to me that if I also have to take Codeine Contin (or any other strong prescription pain reliever) to achieve hip pain relief, there seems little point in taking additional other pain meds. I was already taking Codeine Contin to achieve what relief I could get in conjunction with all my other pain management techniques. The whole impetus for this exercise was to get me OFF the codeine because of what it does to the system. I wonder if we will in fact achieve that goal?

My doctor's instructions when prescribing the new pain meds were, "If one doesn't work, take two; if two don't work, take three; if three don't work, take four; until you achieve pain relief." So tonight, I will take two of the new pain meds and will stay at that dose at least for a few days before deciding if I need to further increase it again. Then it will be back to the doctor's office to discuss this strategy yet again.