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"Researchers from Columbia University Medical Center have discovered
a protein in nerve cells that acts as a switch for chronic pain, and have
applied for a patent to develop a new class of drugs that will block
chronic pain by turning this switch off." (Thanks to
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tdj for
pointing out the story/link.)
Dayum. If that works, and is safe, and works on me, and is available to me, it'll be radically life-changing. I wonder how many years I'll have to wait to find out whether they're able to make this discovery useful, and (if so) how much longer after that before the treatment actually starts being applied in the field instead of in the lab. Could it possibly get here in time for me to start earning a living again before I get "too old for anyone to want to hire"?
Hurry up, science! Gimme!
"We're very optimistic that this discovery and our continued research will ultimately lead to a novel approach to pain relief for the millions suffering from chronic pain."
Also, in the section on the problems with existing drugs, they mention that Tylenol is "ineffective for chronic pain". And here I thought it was just my funky body chemistry. (So why is Vicoprofen -- hydrocodone plus ibuprofen -- so much harder to find than Vicodin -- hydrocodone plus Tylenol -- if Tylenol is known to be ineffective for a whole category of patients bad enough off to need opiates? For me, Vicodin, Percoset, and codeine work a whole lot better if I take 0.8g or 1g of ibuprofen with 'em.)
In the much shorter term, I'm still hoping for time-release tramadol (Ultram) to make it more likely that I'll stay asleep more than four hours at a time. (That's about how long tramadol works for me.)
But for the long view ... a way to just switch off chronic pain would be such a win.
It's not clear from the press release whether a single treatment using this approach turns the switch off so that it stays off, or they're just talking about a much more effective drug for temporary relief.
Probably Temporary
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As far as being able to work goes, I'm applying for stuff, and finding it difficult getting through the idiot checks with the Credit Bureau, Medical Information Bureau, and Google.
I'm finding it easier to get jtemporary jobs and jobs without benefits (one employer told me that the health insurance for the entire office would go up 30% with me on the insurance--so I officially declined the insurance, thereby making me more employable)
Unbenefited self-employment also works for making money.
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Yeah, what you said. I'm tired of being nagged all the time by body parts I can't do anything about.
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It certainly would be nice to have something for pain that didn't get Nancy Reagan and the DEA trying to knock down my door. I have my doubts that it will work, be approved in my lifetime, and not have side effects a la Vioxx, etc. but I have been told that I am a pessimist :-)
{{Hugs}}
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Can you point out useful geeky-educated-layman web pages that discuss using this effect for pain management, or is it just that I need to dig deeper into the Google results or figure out what keywords to add?
Uh, in other words: no, I didn't already know about it, and I'm interested. If the pain-reduction effect is magnified more than the side effects, this could be useful. (Not that the opiates I've taken have tended to get me high at all, but given my druthers I don't want them to start doing so. And they do affect how hard I have to concentrate to stay on the beat on stage, an effect it would be bad to increase.)
If I can boost codeine from "turns excruciating pain into merely '#@%$ing painful'" to something more like "go from excruciating to mild discomfort", without leaving me feeling all impaired, that would be a Very Very Good Thing. If feeling thesid effects other people often describe is the price of getting the degree of pain reduction other people often describe (more than I get currently) ... well that'd still be useful, but much less so.
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Basically all you do is add some amount of potentiator to whatever you're taking. Dextromethorphan / DXM / Robitussin is the most likely candidate since it's OTC. Depending on where you live you might find it in pills too. You'll have to experiment to find the right dose for you. At a rough guess I've seen a range from 70mg-120mg/day; I'd start at or below 50mg and work my way up. I'd also split it into 3-4 doses per day rather than taking it all at once.
This thread had some good information but is a bit confusing at times:
http://www.drugbuyers.com/freeboard/showflat.php?Number=499475
Especially read the parts where they talk about magnesium supplements as a potentiator; basically it's a very good idea to make sure you're getting enough Mg, even if you're using DXM too. One good form they didn't mention is magnesium malate. Whichever kind you use, split the doses and take with meals. Work up to ~400mg/day if you can. (Too much too fast will cause diarrhea.)
I'll try to find more but here's a typical paper:
http://opioids.com/morphidex/
They compared morphine with 1:1 morphine+DXM. Basically 80mg/day of DXM let the patients cut their morphine in half.
Not everyone responds to potentiators the same way. You pretty much have to try it and see. When I looked into this last year I saw some indications that the potentiators work better for people who are normally more sensitive to pain. Take that FWIW, not a guarantee.
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of anybody. And it's much more dangerous than they'd have you believe. But it
has VERY GOOD marketing, so is the default. If I want Codeine, it's a lot easier to
get it with the useless Tylenol mixed in than by itself. Beh.
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