u/jaguy2002

I got diagnosed w bell’s palsy a little under 4 weeks ago. My jaw face and behind the ear hurt and down my neck. I do have hsv. Put on steroids right away I caught it within 2-9 hrs, I also have been taking my valtrex daily (I didn’t have an outbreak at all and haven’t for over 2+ yrs). I wasn’t able to blink, move my eyebrow, close my eye completely, smile with teeth fully, and my taste was metallic or not there. It started to get worse then stayed the same for a while then last week I started to improve.

Randomly one day I woke up and my hearing became insanely sensitive to the point I have to wear like an ear plug in my ear constantly. This was well after the point of my symptoms getting worse it my symptoms stayed the same for a while and was improving? I didn’t have this issue at all before and this was way after my steroids. Every other symptom started out slightly and got bad then got better but the hearing was just intense right away.

I have chronic pain and Im on some high doses of opioids and Im getting ear pain and pain like above my eyebrow that is fr breaking through the meds… I gotta high pain tolerance too which is what worries me (for reference I’ve passed over 50+ kidney stones) if something else could be going on? They told me to get a scan if I don’t improve after a month bc there could be a tumor or something causing this, but my face is 99% normal again and I have no like other issues with my face movement everything is how it was before. My ear itself doesn’t hurt and it is not infected and looks normal inside from what we see w the otoscope. Is this normal and I should wait it out or should I reach out to my pcp and go get that scan?

I’m 24yr old I have chronic pancreatitis, nerve pain, I pass kidney stones often. This all started over a year ago. I tried every treatment and medication possible (non narcs) Ive been on fent patches 12mcg with norco 10mg prn and I was able to do anything I used to do my pain was practically gone. I had to get to PM bc my pcp couldn’t keep scribing. I finally got a PM dr. 2 months ago. He won’t scribe fent patches only to cancer patients.

Oral meds don’t absorb right sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t. I also metabolize meds insanely fast. In the hospital I needed 2mg dilaudid every 2hrs. If my norco works it only lasts 4hrs. Oxy doesn’t work for me. I’m currently on 15mcg butrans patches and 3-4 7.5mcg norco daily i can get to work now twice a week short shifts but im not even close to where I wanna be at. dilaudid oral doesn’t work at all. morphine isn’t recommended for pancreatitis pts but i usually don’t take it bc the amount i need is insane. my pm offered methadone and hydrocodone er but they are oral meds and i’m worried they won’t work i also don’t know if he will give my prn norco which is big for me bc if im passing kidney stones or having a pain flare i need the extra relief.

He’s offered a pain pump from the start. he doesn’t do them but he knows someone he refers to. i just feel like it’s crazy for me to do? I’m so young, I haven’t tried all medication options yet, it’s a major surgery, and the biggest reason i’m hesitant is i fully believe my pain is still stemmed from something else than just pancreatitis. I had to stop going to specialists and looking into it bc I needed to get pain relief and be able to get back to work first. It’s just hard for me to go to a pump when fent patches work perfectly at the lowest dose but i doubt i’d find a provider to scribe. What if I get the pump and then a year later they find out what’s wrong and it can be treated? I feel like it would be a major surgery for no reason?

I value my quality of life based off of things I can do especially currently bc I am in my 20’s. I don’t know if any of this is possible with a pump? I can’t do a lot of this currently, but I want to be able to once I get enough pain relief.

I love to be active, play basketball, baseball, lots of sports, go to the gym, swim, hot tubs, saunas. I work in healthcare currently and I plan to go to medical school. I had to put a pause in my undergrad bc of all the health issues, but can I practice medicine with a pump? It could be a risk to pt care and cause issues? That’s way down the line by the time I would be in clinicals. My current job there shouldn’t be any problems? I’ve been taking meds this entire year (scribed) and they don’t drug test after the initial hire anyways. The surgery is major and long recovery? It takes a while to get the meds right? I’ll end up going backwards. I don’t want to go back to being out of work for months and broke. I have to work at least 48hrs within 6 weeks. The battery needs replaced every 4-5 years? Is that another major surgery?

Pros of the pump for me is- no stress about getting scripts on time, remembering to take meds, lasts longer heard some people refill every 6 months or 3. I want to study abroad again in Spain for a semester which is about 4 months. I wasn’t able to last semester I had to come home bc I couldn’t figure out how to get meds out there. Keeps tolerance low. having Multiple meds in pump I feel as having multiple meds and therapies help with pain better.

My PM really advocates for me to go that route i just don’t know if it’s right for me? If it wasn’t a 6 week recovery I 100% would do it. I can’t take this time off work I’m prn so I don’t get FMLA and i don’t have PTO and I can’t quit my job. My job is just sitting with pts and charting. I don’t do any physical work really and at most I walk a little bit. I would be able to work 48hrs in like 8days then have surgery and basically 5-8 weeks off then the 48 for the next 6 weeks way later, but if there’s complications at all or my pain isn’t controlled enough??? I’m not sure the recovery timeline. I’ve had a few major surgeries before and I tend to recover slower.

Sorry for this being all over the place. I would appreciate any guidance or info. Thank you!

I need some help on what medication to try. I’m 24yr old male currently have; chronic pancreatitis, nerve pain, I pass kidney stones quite often, and crps they think?? I have insanely high bp and hr from pain. I’ve tried every treatment and non opioid medication. Currently take 400mg gabapentin, 20mg amitriptyline it helps a lot with the nerve pain and probs helps a little in the background with my severe pain. I take other meds, but not relevant.

my day to day with no opioids, I could get out of bed to shower and that was about it. I would be in the er multiple times a week. I would be malnourished bc i couldn’t eat and dehydrated.

with norco 10mg 3x daily I was able to go out maybe once a week for a few hours to a couple stores. i wasn’t miserable and i could eat what i wanted.

no nsaids bc i get gastritis
morphine is not suggested with pancreatitis can worsen pain but im open to trying still
oral meds I have issues absorbing, sometimes they seem to work or sometimes they don’t but at this point it’s my only options
oxy doesn’t work with me and i have bad reactions my dad has the same issue
oral dilaudid doesn’t work at all for me idk why
i’ve tried 12mcg fent patches, 25mcg patch, and 2 12 mcg patches staggered. my pcp had me on these when I really wasn’t able to absorb any oral meds at one point.

i’ve also been on 12mcg fent with 10mg norco prn. i was studying abroad in Spain with this combo i had barely any pain. I was walking 10+ miles a day, playing sports for hours a day, going to class for hours, went out almost every night to clubs partying and getting like no sleep and my pain was still controlled. some days worse than others, but never severe and it never felt like i was on meds ever.

my PM won’t prescribe fent patches he says unless i have cancer and that nobody scribes them and it would be almost impossible to find someone who does and I could try and find someone, but he doesn’t know of anyone.
he keeps offering for me to get a pain pump, but I’m so young it’s a major surgery. I feel like I can’t get it when there’s the patches that clearly worked multiples times and it’s not invasive like that. i haven’t tried everything yet either. i fully believe my pain is coming from something else and not just the pancreatitis and stuff i have rn. what if i find out i have some other issue that is the source of my pain and it can be fixed and i went and got this pain pump??? I would be covered under insurance and I have the diagnosis’s and failed treatments to be able to get it. It’s been a year of constantly trying to figure out what’s going on. I had to stop and get myself PM finally so I could go back to work and school then I was going to keep going back to specialists.

I’m currently on 15mcg butrans patches and 7.5mg norco 3-4x daily prn. these meds have gotten me back to work. i can work 2 short shifts a week, do some chores, and go out to stores or see friends 1-2 times a week. this has gotten me my life back a little but this is not anywhere near close to where i want to be at. I went from 7.5mcg butrans to 15 but it only goes to 20 and i don’t think it’s going to help enough it’s just not strong enough. especially since Im relying heavily on my norco. i have noticed a huge difference and if the patches went a higher dose to like 40mcg it would work.

my goal is to be able to work 40hrs a week (not while in school), go back to school and not have pain so bad that it distracts me, get back in the gym for just a short easy workout. obviously i’ll have pain day to day, but I need to be able to do these things.

my pm dr has offered:

methadone
any form of buprenorphine
hydrocodone the long acting but he said it’s expensive and wouldn’t do prn norco with it?
just norco oral higher dose
tbh probs any oral opioid

he’s so weird about giving the prn norco with meds. i truly think he doesn’t remember a lot of convos bc my first appt he gave the option between fent patches alone and he would only go up to 24mcg or butrans with norco. he offered fent patches bc i had great relief with them and have been on them multiple times. i picked butrans so i could have the prn norco. then the 2nd appt i asked to switch and he said he would never scribe for fent patches??? he def forgot our convo and maybe me lmao. idk if it’s bc im a new patient this will be my 3rd appt next week. my pain has always been better controlled with 2 meds. one as the longer acting then another prn for days i have more pain or get flares etc… it was impossible finding a place that even scribes opioids and the facility is amazing and so is he, but idk what route to go. i’m also afraid of if i keep trying different meds that they will get annoyed and not want me as a patient? is that something that can happen? I’ve been so upset and angry about him switching up and not scribing the patches. I just don’t get how they don’t scribe to a patient who’s, been on them multiple times before, with insurance covering, best relief they’ve ever had, at the lowest dose, with plenty of diagnosis’s to justify, multiple failed meds, higher tolerance, and it being a much safer option than oral medication and being on patches have less tolerance issues. my norco i’ve already built a tolerance fast and need way more than i’m scribed.

im afraid of methadone bc it’s really rough to get off of and it makes it hard to get relief from other opioids for surgery or accidents. I pass kidney stones a lot and if they are big i need to go to the er for the strong iv meds how much would i end up needing then? could i even use my norco still prn?

idk what to do at this point. i don’t want to go backwards bc I’ve finally gotten back to work, but i need way more relief than what I have currently. I started on some new meds from my gastro to help with absorption issues. I’d be willing to try oral meds bc my norco seems to be helping a lot lately. what are some options to ask? my biggest thing is i hate feeling like im on meds id rather have a little more pain to get that clear mind which is why i like the prn meds. at work i have more physical activity more pain need more meds. school i need to focus more so less meds more clear mind. it’s hard with one med to get that balance i would either be too foggy or im too much pain

any help is appreciated thank you. you can be straight forward/ brutally honest i prefer that. i’ve been overthinking all of this and stressing myself out.

I’m still in the 72hr window I caught it so early and got lucky. What would you do asap (i’ve already went to the dr and got meds). I’m 24yr old, I’ve had mono and I have hsv 1 but it’s genital and no current outbreaks for a long time so either or could’ve caused it.

Less than 72 hrs ago i noticed my tounge was numb and my taste was like almost gone along with jaw pain and ear pain. I thought it was a cavity. This morning when I got home from work I felt more pain, but it felt like nerve pain and my eye was cloudy even when i cleaned my contacts multiple times. I went to sleep around 3pm and when I woke up at 10pm I went to smile in the mirror with teeth and saw the right side was down. I immediately did a stroke test and when it was negative realized what it was.

I had no facial issues at 3pm and when I woke up at 10pm I noticed. I got my first dose of prednisone at 12am. I think I managed to treat it anywhere from 2-9hrs of onset. Studies show they base it of first facial symptom not other symptoms for recovery outcomes.

I went to the er asap and had the fastest visit of my life it was less than 30 mins. They started me on steroids and I am taking my valtrex for the week probs gonna go back to taking it everyday now. imma tape my eye shut when i sleep and ive been closing it softly with my finger often.

Currently i can still close my eye but it’s difficult, I can’t raise my eyebrow well, eating and using a straw is difficult, my smile with teeth is one sided, without teeth is easier and almost normal. You cant tell unless you see me eating or smiling. Some words are a little difficult to say.

I didn’t realize how bad the pain actually was bc I already take gabapentin and amitriptyline i have chronic pancreatitis, chronic kidney stones and nerve pain on my left neck arm and back. I’m also on multiple opioids for my pain. I forgot to take my gabapentin when i went to sleep and my pain patch needed changed today so when I woke up i felt everything under the sun 💀.
I guess this is the one time it’s actually helpful to have my issues bc i’m on all these meds to make this shit not painful lmao.

I started using a heat compress for swelling bc unfortunately I cannot take NSAIDS, but the steroids should do enough. i’m closing my eye often, using eye drops, i looked up pt exercises and started them. I do have a tens machine I was going to look into low settings to stimulate muscle movement. I know it’s a long recovery, but I already have gotten lots of feeling and movement back. I’m hopeful but I wanna be doing anything I can to help more. My one major issue is not being able to be relaxed. Even with meds I am usually in pain and my bp and hr are high bc of it. When i’m sick or not feeling well from something my entire body goes into fight or flight mode. I’m not sure how much is linked between stress and recovery, but that’s something I can’t really control unfortunately they have it the best controlled they can currently.

I feel stuck with my options of medications and would really appreciate any advice. I am young only 24 I have chronic pancreatitis, nerve pain, and I pass kidney stones a lot. I live in Ohio opioid laws are absolutely insane. I have to pay out of pocket my PM dr is great and i don’t think i will be able to find a better one than him out of hundreds of places I looked into he’s the only one that even scribes opioids.

Before that, I was on a few different meds my pcp prescribed in this past year (it’s when all my pain started) 10mg norco 3x daily I was on this multiple times usually for weeks or longer, but my pcp would only scribe for a week at a time. Before, my diagnosis of pancreatitis they didn’t know what was causing the pain and oral meds didn’t work they don’t absorb all the time and my pcp had me go on fentanyl patches. I was on them before once in the hospital 12mcg then they gave me a 25mcg when I went home from the hospital. I went on them for 2+ months my dosage was 2 12mcg patches staggered bc on the 3rd day I would get pain. I had a nerve block and went off the patches then months later when my pain was back I went back on them for 1 more month but only 1 12mcg patch and norco for breakthrough.

The PM dr at the first appt basically gave me the option between fent patches no breakthrough or butrans with norco as breakthrough. I wanted to be able to still have my breakthrough so I tried butrans. He put me on 7.5mcg and then did norco 7.5mg 3x daily. The butrans didnt help my pain at all and the norco is def not as effective. I also get a ton of side effects it was bad at first but manageable. I went to my next appt in hopes he would allow me to have breakthrough meds with fent and switch over. Well apparently he said he won’t prescribe fent at all and only for cancer pts??? I’m so confused bc he gave me the option that first appt he even said make sure you schedule ur appts with me bc saying fentanyl around other drs they will like “freak out” bc the stigma. He said I can try and look for a dr that will (he was nice ab it he knows i am not drug seeking) but he said nobody in his practice scribes and ik damn well i will not be able to even find another practice that prescribes any opioids.

I asked him ab other options and he brought up a pain pump again he was very pro pump for me he’s brought it up a lot. That is not something I want to do and I am so young. They also don’t know for certain that the pancreatitis is causing my pain. I still need to go to more specialists, but it’s been over a year of severe pain and drs constantly saying I need PM dr to stay outta the hospital and I gotta get back to work. I can’t afford the time off and knowing there’s fentanyl patches that work and with norco my pain is like almost 0 I feel like it’s insane to get a major surgery if something else works.

He basically said I am kinda screwed bc oral meds sometimes work sometimes don’t and there’s not many options. He feels bad for me and he is willing to try out anything with me.

I metabolize medications fast and they never last in my body long whatsoever.

He said hydrocodone ER is expensive and once again is the issue with pills and i don’t think he will write for breakthrough with an ER med.

He offered oral film buprenorphine(not suboxone)

He also offered methadone but i doubt that would help

I have tried suboxone before when the hospital didn’t taper me down properly and i went into withdrawal 🙃 and it actually helped with my pain a little.

I do not tolerate oxy well it doesn’t work and makes me so drowsy (my dad has the same issue)

Morphine isn’t supposed to be used with pancreatitis pts i think but tbh at this point idgaf. i don’t believe I ever had oral morphine only iv, but I usually need a shit ton.

Dilaudid oral does not work at all for me. Iv works and I usually get 1-2mg every 2hrs in the hospital

I ended up having him bring the butrans to 15mcg so double and he made my norco 3-4x daily still 7.5mg but he only gave 10 extra pills i had 90 last month.

Idk what other drugs there are or options? Im just frustrated that I could be on 12mcg fent and just 30 pills of 5mg norco for the month and it would be so much better on my body and relieve so much more pain than anything else we will try. It’s not like I haven’t been on them multiple times and I’ve never had any incidents and my pcp is the only dr that scribed me my scripts. I don’t drink, never smoked, don’t do anything else. I have an insane amount of imaging tests etc that’s why the first appt he said he would scribe for me. Idk if there’s a way i could bring it up again, idk if that would go well. They are unfortunately the best PM anywhere within like 2hrs of me.

Has anyone tried them? What dosage? Did your prn meds not work as well since butrans binds so strong and partially, ik it can happen for some people. Has anyone tried fent patches and butrans and can compare them?

After a year of hell, I finally got a pain management dr that prescribes meds. I have mild chronic pancreatitis (idiopathic), I also pass kidney stones a lot (genetic) and some kinda weird thing in my kidney that can cause pain, and developed nerve pain in my neck, chest, arm, and hand after my first celiac plexus block (its more annoying than painful).

My appt went amazing he saw my chart and was shocked I basically tried everything possible already and that I didn’t get pain management sooner. He was comfortable with prescribing just about anything bc of it.

This dr is a dream pain dr. he was specifically recommended to me by another dr who told me I had to go private practice bc big hospitals have so many guidelines vs private just have to follow state laws. they are super professional, not a pill mill, i made sure they drug test, do multi step approach to pain but also prescribe opioids. my dr is straight to the point wasted no time and said “you’re here for meds right? yeah I will prescribe for you no issue if thats what you need.” I didn’t have to describe my pain or even talk about it. I didn’t have to defend myself or be so careful ab my words bc saying one tiny thing someone thinks ur drug seeking. he saw my very long chart, saw my clear diagnosis’s and that i tried everything else and it failed. they seem very strict there he made it a point to keep my nose clean more out of a worry bc I’m so young if i mess up there goes pain control for like my damn life. i don’t drink smoke or do drugs and trust me ill be taking my damn meds so i have no issues he just doesn’t know me as a patient yet.

the only thing that sucks is I have to pay out of pocket bc my insurance isn’t in network…

He started off the appt talking ab a pump, but I told him I didn’t think I was anywhere near that point. idk at what stage you get them but I feel like I barely scratched the surface of opioid management for outpatient. He did tell me that there’s drs he works with that do them. I think he was just letting me know of the option for the future? Idk much ab the pumps tho.

I’m currently on 10mg norco 3x daily. Oral meds suck sometimes they work sometimes they don’t it’s like flipping a coin every time I take them and taking more doesn’t make a difference it’s something ab how my gi tract absorbs them they think. There’s also quite a few meds that don’t work at all for me. I got some crazy genetics stg.

I asked him about patches as IV or transdermal has worked best for me. He gave me the option of butrans patches + norco prn or fent patches but no norco and max dose he would have me at would be 25mcg.

I have been on fent patches before (all prescribed by my pcp). I never needed an er visit from a pain flare when I was on them which is huge for me. I was on 12mcg for a month and the dose wasn’t strong enough alone. It was enough so I could be slightly active, but not enough pain relief to focus at school (bc of pain not brian fog). I have also tried 24mcg, I had two 12mcg patches but staggered bc I was having an issue of the 25mcg patch wearing off after day 2 and feeling like insanely drugged up. Basically each patch stayed on 72hrs but I put a new patch after 48hrs so I was consistently getting meds. This worked so well, but insurance wouldn’t approve and it was so annoying and stressful I was on them for like 2 months. I was as active as I wanted to be and I had like no pain, but I felt slightly foggy bc it was stronger and couldn’t focus at school.

I would just go to the 25mcg bc Im more tolerant now than I was months ago when I was on them last, but I would have no room for prn meds and I need them bc of my kidney stones. My stones will break apart and I can sometimes pass them for a week and they are so small they don’t show on scans so its hard to get treatment in the ers even with my urologist putting in my chart ab it. Im also worried if I do get a pain flare the last thing I want to do is go to an er. Im unsure if Im allowed to receive iv pain meds in the er. I forgot to ask at my appt if thats allowed, but I don’t want to end up in the er unless I am passing a big kidney stone ain’t nothing but heavy heavy heavy iv doses help that pain lmao.

I went with the butrans patch he started me on 7.5mcg and then 7.5mcg norco 3x daily as needed. I have lots of room to increase the patch dose if needed and still have prn meds.

I didn’t expect it to be overwhelming. I never thought I would get to the point where I can choose what meds I can receive and never have to worry about getting my scripts filled or if I would get pain control each week. I really want to go back to school and work. The hardest thing is finding the right balance. I need a significant amount of pain control so I can focus in school and be moderately active, but also have no brain fog from the meds.

If anyone has any information on other meds or experiences anything would be helpful.

Sorry for the long post, it’s just been the first good thing to happen in the past year of all of this. I have this weight lifted off my chest now from all the stress and pain I was in. I can’t wait to have my life back.