How is insurance with covering gralise?
How is insurance with covering gralise? Thanks.
Pretty terrible but I got lots of samples so it evened out. I think I had a coupon too now that I think about it.
Depending on your medical coverage, you can get co-pay help… (see the “card” on this page on the right side).
No more than $25. I use a similar program to pay for my Lyrica (much cheaper than mail order pharmacy.)
^^^^^^^^^ Superb! Just btw, I was searching for when the patent on gralise will expire (aka become generic). There is not much info it there on it but it appears to be 2024.
“By the terms of this agreement, Actavis’s pending appeal is dismissed and Actavis may begin selling the generic versions of Gralise ® on January 1, 2024, or earlier under certain circumstances.”
Not to thread jack but I’ve been doing light straightening up aound here and it’s set things off. Nerve pain is the work of the devil.
Kinda interesting how neurontin can give me terrible nightmares if I take it when I’m not that bad but doesn’t if I take it when the pain is worse. (?)
Well wishes, OP (and fellow nerve pain sufferers).
I would suggest for any one who reads this, go to the drug home page (usually www.drugname.com and see if they have a discount card. There are qualifications on it but if you are not on IIRC a government health care plan, you can pay “cash” (i.e., not through insurance) with the discount card and much cheaper than through insurance…
Really? Interesting. It says it can make you sleepy and dizzy, but it’s never once affected me except to reduce nerve pain a bit. I wonder if it would when the nerve pain finally starts to fade.
Everyone’s physiology is different and how each of us reacts to pharmaceuticals is different.
Many people can’t take morphine without nausea. I do just fine with morphine (and it does what it’s supposed to) but the anti-nausea meds that is often given (have no idea what it was) totally gorked me out.
I’ve not had any of the documented side affects from either gabapentin or pregabalin (knock on wood).
Completely agree. When we were kids my brother would be knocked out cold by the same medicine that apparently made me bounce off the walls for hours. And, of course, that’s why it’s worth trying different drugs to see what works for you.
Just another thought to the mix. Are you on bloodthinners? When I had my blood clot post surgery, one of my first symptoms that went unrecognized was nerve pain in my foot. It’s a very slim possibility but I would ask a dr to rule out the possibility of DVT with a Doppler ultrasound if the pain is really becoming that bad. Unfortunately bad breaks with long term immobility are prime candidates for a clot.
I’m on a daily aspirin now. Pre-surgery I was on lovenox. Injecting myself daily in the stomach was not my idea of a good time, but infinitely preferable to a clot obviously. Seeuatx I’m so sorry you had to go through that.
It’s not that the pain is getting worse per say, it’s similar to the pain I had before the second surgery. But the drugs just aren’t doing it for me anymore.
Nerve pain is definitely the devil. I have neuropathy in my feet, am on gabapentin, and wish the whole thing would just go away. I haven’t had any horrible side effects with gabapentin, at least nothing that I recognize as such. But it also doesn’t prevent all the nerve pain.
Oh, the joy of not being able to go to sleep due to electric shocks starting in my feet and running up my lower legs.
Rebecca
[QUOTE=Jexa;8726056]
I’ll talk to him about that as well. I’ve always heard, though I have no idea if it’s true or not, that if you’re taking opiates for for pain in the correct dosages that it’s nearly impossible to become addicted. The supposed logic being that since all they’re doing in that case is reducing pain, you’re not getting the “high” that causes you to want more and more. Again, could be baloney, but I would happily trade in my oxycodone for something that actually worked on my nerve pain.[/QUOTE]
It is baloney. (Read Dreamland by Sam Quinones for more info on that). However, having taken Vicodin for a couple offers in low dosages, I can say that it’s also possible to not become addicted in the sense of needing more and more of the drug to achieve the desired result. I do feel I was dependent on it, and I’m happy to be totally off it, although I have some on hand if I ever need it.
The OP has said she is the type to adapt to whatever dose she takes and to need higher and higher dosages. OP! Is that what happened with the morphine? If not, maybe you are a good candidate for opiates. Just stay ahead of the pain by taking smaller doses more frequently.
Becoming dependent on them isn’t the end of the world. Just realize you will have withdrawal symptoms and that it may take a few months off of them to feel normal again.
I had withdrawal symptoms from taking only half of a 5 mg Vicodin once a day.
The concern of “addiction” would surely be secondary to me to suppressing terrible pain. You can deal with that later, when your pain is less, imo.
OP is more recent and acute so this probably won’t work for her at this stage but just btw, I take ultram (tramadol) and neurontin daily and am getting by on it. I realize everyone is different. Jexa, look into ultram, maybe, for when things ease up a bit. It is a synthetic analog of codeine and some say non-addictive. I love it and have no withdrawl problems if I have to stop for a day or two.
(An aside, anyone ever wonder why dentists don’t seem to prescribe neurontin much for tooth pain? They seem to prescribe other meds and tooth pain, is pretty much nerve pain, no?)
beaujolais, I am no pharmacologist so I don’t really “get” how some of these drugs work but if you look at the gabapentin family of meds, they are listed as anti-epileptic/anticonvulstant medications.
It affects chemicals and nerves in the body that are involved in the cause of seizures and some types of pain.
I suspect that dental work doesn’t fall under the “some types of pain” category.
I was on tramadol for a while, but it didn’t seem to be doing anything for me. OxyContin did help with the bone pain after the first (or maybe second? I can’t keep track of it all) surgery but they wouldn’t write another script after I ran out. This was back when the bone pain was still fairly excruciating, and I was not happy to have only 30 mg of oxycodone every 4 hours. Now, though, I’m just over a month out from surgery and usually a 5 mg tab of oxycodone seems to take care of the bone pain if I need it. I’m certainly not watching the clock anymore, counting down to when I’m allowed to take my next dose.
The morphine plus whatever the hell else they gave me that had them checking on me every 5 minutes wasn’t effective not because I’d built a tolerance to it but because it was nerve pain that was keeping me up, not bone pain. I’d only been on the morphine pump about 18 hours at that point, even I don’t build that kind of tolerance that fast!
The neurotin so far has been the only thing that affects the nerve pain, it’s just not doing enough for me anymore. Good news, though, they finally got my pain management appointment scheduled. I’ll see him in two days. I’m trying not to get my hopes up too much, but hopefully we’ll be able to find something that works. If we do, I’ll be doing about as good as someone who is non-weight bearing for four months can be.
If you don’t mind me asking, how has the neuropathy affected you? It’s possibe if they don’t find a cause for mine I’ll just have to wait and hope time will fix it. Obviously I know you have to be careful to protect your feet, my dad’s cousin had horrible burns on her feet because she didn’t realize she was standing on a coal due to neuropathy. But I’m concerned without those fine motor impulses it might impact my balance or gait.
Jexa, the nerve pain has caused a lot of trouble for me. I am super careful to check my feet every morning to be sure that I have no cuts or other damage, but it has definitely affected my balance and gait.
I had a spectacular fall at work last year and never really recovered. Then I got hit by a car (long story–it’s detailed in the Driving forum here), and that prevented me from pursuing the worker’s comp claim for my fall at work any further, as I had a lot of damage to the same area (lower leg).
The nerve pain manifestation for me is that my feet hurt all the time, and it gets very bad when I take my shoes off at night (I wear shoes every waking moment both to protect my feet and because it hurts so much to walk barefoot). Once I get in bed, that’s when the electric shocks, muscle cramps and tics start. Often it feels like my toes are curled under when they aren’t.
Gabapentin helps, especially if I’m careful to take it exactly when I’m supposed to (it sucks if I’m out late and forget to take it with me). But it’s not enough, without increasing the dosage. I don’t increase it because it was very scary how fast I built up a tolerance to my current dose, which is substantial (600 mg three times a day).
I hope this helps–let me know if you have more questions or if something I said wasn’t clear. The only way to survive this stuff is by sharing our experience.
Rebecca
Ok I’ll try to help . Look at Cochrane reports for the truth about these drugs (neurotin)and their effectiveness.
Opioids can help with nerve pain but you won’t find that information on the web. Do not worry about addiction be much more concerned that you need to have a life and you really need good sleep. pain docs are usually not very helpful, often its a good internist who cares about you and wants to help… Forget TENS and other things like that , they won’t work for your situation.
As far as recovery small fibers can re-grow, takes a long time but there is hope, large fibers ,not. You also need a excellent neurologist and perhaps should consider going to Mayo as they specialize in neuropathic disorders.
If it were me I would be getting Percocet brand. not Vicodin which is only generic no brand available. Never tramadol, nasty med with dangerous side effects and drug interactions. Old fashioned valium again not generic is a good muscle relaxer that can help with pain,anxiety and sleep.
Bio-feedback and/or learning self hypnosis will help as the more stressed you are the more pain you will experience.
If you live in a legal grass state than give that a try making sure you get dose adjusted MJ and not THC only which does not control pain.
Quit worrying about addiction ,its rare and easily treated. People who abuse drugs do it because they like it. If you want to stop then titrate down and you can get off them. I am so angry about all this bad press for Opioids, the truth is it comes from drug companies who have some extremely expensive alternatives that they are pushing. The research you see in the news about Opioid addiction rates was done including heroin addicts.
If you see a therapist make sure they understand pain,treat chronic pain and disabilities. Stay away from the airy-fairy type, they’ll hurt you and make you feel worse.
A good hypnotist can provide short term relief.
If it gets rough go to Mayo.
Jexa- I had pretty much the same injury and same pain as what you are describing. The good news is that it does go away eventually, but it takes a while. My accident was December 27, 2014 (did mine getting off a horse, go figure), and I was in the hospital on all sorts of pain meds until January 15, 2015. After my 2nd surgery is when the nerve pain started- to the point that I had to have my cast cut off to stop me from crying. (Side note- nerve pain was the only part that made me cry, not even when the docs manipulated the bones TWICE with no anesthesia) I was put on gabbapentin before I left the hospital, but it took a few days until it got into my system well enough to start working. I don’t remember the dosage, but I took 2 capsules 3 times per day. I stayed on that for at least 3 months. At the time, I didn’t think I would ever get my life back to normal…
But here I am 18 months later, and everything is almost back to normal. I walk without a limp most days, but I still get sore from time to time. My doctor told me I wouldn’t be able to run again, but I’m starting back with a few steps here and there with no problems.
I know this injury well, and I know the recovery is awful, but you will get through it! If I made it, you can too!! One really awesome resource that helped me through it all is a Broken Leg, a Quest for Normal group on Facebook. I was shocked to see how many broken legs were horse related!! Feel free to PM me if you have questions or just need support!
Oh, and I forgot to add- the accident completely messed up my sleep cycle until about a month ago. I NEVER had trouble sleeping until the accident, and even after the major pain was gone, I didn’t sleep well for a long time. But that’s better now, so hang in there!!
