For your diabetic patients with renal insufficiency(or worse), which AED are you getting better results with for neuropathic pain since you cant go too high on the Neurontin or Lyrica? Gabitril, Topamax, Lamictal?.....others?
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true....but not what im asking. You are right i get the renal guys sometimes changing my neurontin 100mg qhs dose to qod(every other day) so they feel like they have done something maybe?...i dont know if it makes that much of a difference. But i respect their order.
What i want to know is which med you get the best results with? Cymbalta might be hepatic...not sure off the top of my head....need to look in my pharmacopeia. Just want to know your own personal experiences. Formulary might have something to do with it too....you guys tell me. The busier i get, the more failed neurontin/lyrica patients i get, and that is the reason for the question.
To be more specific, i have a patient c/o bilateral leg burning pain with hx of CVA(occipital, cerebellar, and other small vessel), poorly controlled DM, surgically hypothyroid secondary to CA, obese patient on roxi 30mg q4hrs like candy. She isnt responding to 800 Neurontin qid and lyrica 100 tid. I started her on topamax and a low dose of dilaudid. She has 3 reasons right there for the neuropathic pain(central pain, DM, hypothyroid).
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medicaid patient......i inherited this patient at the rehab hospital. To d/c the other meds would take time and im trying to do as much as possible in a short time. As of right now she isnt participating in PT cuz of the "pain". Of course she also has the usual anx/dep. Im using as much Jedi Mind Trick as possible too. ;-)
if portenoy had a say he would be recommending fentora -
i would wean the narcotics
i would be weary of an implanted pump in a diabetic with multiple co-morbidities - very high risk of failure/infection
i would recommend a full neuro eval including a trial of my 2 miracle drugs
- Vitamin B12 at high doses or Evening Primrose Oil.... i have had some impressive results with these