pharmaceutical cocktails - Tramadol in conjunction with Cymbalta?

[rscko]

over the past few months, I have been treated by an anesthesiologist who is a pain management specialist. 5 yrs ago, I had C5/C6 replace with the PCM disk. Complete success. No side effects, return of ROM, elimination of pain. I came back to life. 6 months ago, I began having similar type symptoms on my left side (original was right side). MRI revealed C4/C5 and C6/C7 herniation. My surgeon who did the disk replacement suggested cervical injections to see if we could get the situation under control. He sends me off to the pain management group. Course of action is a Facet Injection. Zero relief. I guess the only good part of that was now we know it was not the Facet joint causing the pain. 4 weeks later, Nerve block injections at the two sites. Allow me to sing with the angles, relief! but short lived. 2 weeks later the pain is back and more intense. 2 more weeks next round of injections. Relief again. Pain returns. Repeat. I have now had my maximum amount of injections. Lets try drugs they say. Cymbalta and Tramadol. My pharmacist blew a gasket. The drug interaction side effects are very severe and life threatening. I had to sign that I was informed by the pharmacy of this interaction.

I am doing my research on each of these drugs to find out which one works the best or at all with this type of pain. As any of you out there can attest to, elimination of pain is vital to quality of life. Has anyone taken this cocktail before? any positives/negatives to report?

My overall question is: What cocktail of pharmaceuticals have been prescribed to you that eliminate pain without;
creating life threatening situation due to the interaction of the drugs themselves,
making you all foggy with no attention span.
Gives you the ability to function?
you can actually sleep

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[Justin]

Lets try drugs they say. Cymbalta and Tramadol. My pharmacist blew a gasket. The drug interaction side effects are very severe and life threatening. I had to sign that I was informed by the pharmacy of this interaction.

I'm sorry you haven't had any relief lately. I have to say your pharmacist's reaction is a little extreme. Cymbalta and Tramadol are prescribed together frequently. It's a very benign "cocktail" in the grand scheme of the pain management ladder.

My overall question is: What cocktail of pharmaceuticals have been prescribed to you that eliminate pain without;
creating life threatening situation due to the interaction of the drugs themselves,
making you all foggy with no attention span.
Gives you the ability to function?
you can actually sleep

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Your pain management doctor has a good plan starting with cymbalta and tramadol. It will take the cymbalta ~4-6 weeks to start working, as it's an antidepressant that also helps with pain.

Good luck.