CRPS & Medication Update - "Poly Pharmacy 2.0"

Hi everyone! This post is going to be geared toward CRPS. I have been wanting to post this for weeks and I have finally have a bit of energy so here it goes....

I posted about Neridronate a few posts back and if you would like to hear more about that, click HERE. There are some great comments including information on how to go about having those infusions. Thank you to Marty who has posted her experience in the comments and gave amazing information!

For those that found me through a Google search, welcome! My name is Mellissa and I was diagnosed with CRPS type 1 after having 3 knee surgeries for a torn meniscus. Since then it has spread several times. My husband and I moved from PA (cold!) to FL (warm!) just over a year ago. I have some wonderful doctors down here which has allowed me to try some new things.

I read two books recently on CRPS. Please note these are just my opinions and you may feel differently. The first was "Putting Out the Fire" and is now $23 on Amazon ($10 for an e-reader). The first half of this book has some great information if you are new to CRPS. It does touch on what supplements to take and what dietary information is available. The second half of the book discusses this particular doctor's method of treatment. She is a chiropractor and her method incorporates different machines and non-invasive methods. I believe (again, just my opinion) a few of her methods are similar to Calmare.  

The second book is called "CRPS Survival Guide" by Chris Allen. This book is $50 on Amazon ($30 on his website as an e-reader download). This book has a lot of information. It is written by someone who had/has CRPS and goes into more detail. It also gives great information about vitamins/supplements, different treatments (including Neridronate, Ketamine and more) and what you should/shouldn't be eating. There is also a chapter titled "Poly Pharmacy 2.0". This group of medications was given to the author by a doctor in Germany and helped him greatly.

Because I have tried almost everything out there in the last 3 years, I researched the group of medications and took the top 4 (they are labeled "critical" in the book) to my doctor for review.

I have been eating radically different (my diet consists of raw spinach, berries, bananas, chicken breast, raw pecans and honey), taking the recommended supplements (a few include vitamin C, vitamin B12, omega 3, vitamin D and a multi vitamin) and doing physical therapy on my own. I have been seeing both pain specialists, two CRPS doctors and my family doctor and was given the chance to take these medications without traveling to Germany.

I am not a doctor and am far from it so please (please) check with your doctor before starting any of these. They may not be for everyone.

Here are the four medications: 

1. Naltrexone 4.5mg - this will most likely have to be compounded for you. This is a very low dose of Naltrexone and was also prescribed to me by Dr. Hanna from the Florida Spine Institute. It is a fairly common prescription for those with CRPS. However, you will have to be off of narcotics & most other pain meds before taking it.

2. Pentoxifylline ER 1200mg - this is a blood pressure medication. Now I don't have blood pressure issues (thankfully!) and so I am taking only 400mg. I would love to work my way up to the recommended dose but anytime I go over 400mg, I start to have side effects.


3. Amitriptyline HCL 75mg - this is an anti-depressant that works on your central nervous system to increase the level of certain chemicals in the brain. I am currently on 1/2 of a pill, so about 37.5mg, and am trying to work my way up to a full pill.

4. Memantine HCL 10mg - this is a medication for those with dementia. I have yet to start this medication.

I am taking two other medications along with these but these are the four specifically mentioned in the book. The book does touch on other medications but these were the "critical" (their word) ones for CRPS.

My pain specialist gave me the green light to get myself off of narcotics and start these. He knows how hard I've been trying and is monitoring me along the way.


Here is my experience:

I had to be off narcotics for two full weeks before starting these. That was rough. I stopped at the end of October which meant I couldn't start these medications until Nov. 14, 2016. My doctor did prescribe Ambien to help at night and agreed that it was fine to take a partial pill during the day if the pain got to the point where I couldn't take it. A month later, I'm still on it. I have decreased my dose and hope to be off of this soon. But, if I need to be somewhere (i.e. the doctors) and am having pain, I do still take a bit of Ambien which does help with the nerve pain.

I had absolutely no side effects to Naltrexone. This is usual because the dose is so low. And I have been on this in the past.

My blood pressure is normally on the low side of normal and so I am currently only taking 400mg of Pentoxifylline when the book suggests 1200mg. My doctor is amazing and told me to start low since I may have side effects. The side effects from this medication have been being extremely light headed whenever I move my head. I haven't blacked out completely but my vision does go black and I hear that rush of blood to my head (it sounds like when you put your ear up to a seashell). I have been on this medication for a month and it still continues. But now I know to be careful whenever I change elevations.

I have also had side effects with Amitriptyline. I started at 1/4 of a pill (about 19mg) and did okay. I have since upped that to a 1/2 pill. I have tried 3/4 pill and struggled. My side effects range from exhaustion (sleeping 16 hours a day) to feeling a tightness in my chest and feeling very winded. It isn't scary thankfully but I would struggle to speak several sentences in a row. Now, I do have anxiety which was diagnosed after Ketamine 11 months ago. So I am sure that is not helping. But again, it doesn't freak me out. It is just there. I have also had nausea, headaches, dry mouth, dry lips and pain in my eye sockets. It is more of an aching pain behind my eyes but it is there. I'm also sensitive to any light so occasionally I have to wear sunglasses or stay in a dark room. These go away if I drop the dose back to 1/2 pill which is what I have been doing. I've experimented a few times and they come back at 3/4 pill. I know my body is very sensitive to medications (and foods) so I'm sure this wouldn't happen to everyone.

The book suggests getting up to the full dose (75mg) before starting Memantine. Memantine comes with its own side effects and supposedly taking the full dose of Amitripyline helps with these side effects. I haven't yet been able to take this last pill.

Are the side effects worth it? Yes. I start to think they aren't when I'm having less pain and kind of "forget" for a few minutes that electric feeling that seers your inner body. But I would choose exhaustion, aching eye sockets, dry mouth and being winded over pain any day.

Can I jump back into my "old life" at this point? Nope. Two days I ago I was only awake for 6 hours the entire day. I am struggling to speak without having to catch my breath. But compared to a month ago, the nerve pain is getting better.

Before these medications, I was taking narcotics and taking them regularly. Even with them, I would feel like wires were being jammed in my nerves. The electric feeling like you are on fire within would be pretty bad at times and sometimes just cause me to wince. I would not have been able to walk a small grocery store even with the narcotics. Because I have CRPS in the front of my hips, sitting was also hard to impossible. Sitting compresses the nerves which makes the pain shoot down the front of your legs, ankles, feet.

I have seen a change since taking the medication so far. It has only been a month but I feel like my body sometimes has more oxygen. I have had 3 amazing periods of time (lasting 1-3 hours) where instead of pain, there was a cool feeling in my nerves. If you have CRPS,  you can probably trace exactly where the pain is. It isn't a vague "oh, it is in my lower leg" feeling. You know exactly where it is and how sharp it can be. The burning may be more vague but that electric shock can be traced exactly.

I cannot even describe how those 3 periods of time were. I felt such a difference in my body. The absence of pain was incredible. I haven't felt like that in a very long time. Of course my mind, during those times, jumps right to "what can I do" and "how soon can I go back to work", thinking that they would last. They didn't but it was enough to give me hope.

I went for blood work today to see how my levels are doing. They checked everything from vitamin D to liver function to cholesterol. I have been working very hard on not overdoing it but I did walk around an actual store last week during one of the good times and it was amazing. Was I hurting afterward? Yup. But it was wonderful. I was probably on my feet for 10 minutes. That was the first time I walked for 10 straight minutes probably in well over a year. Sitting is still very rough, even after a month on these meds.

One thing I hope to be able to do is go to a movie with my husband. We haven't been in 18+ months and it would be such a fun thing to do. The CRPS spread to my hips early November (2014) and it would be really rough for me to sit through a movie now. We watch TV shows at home if I'm up to it but I lay down on our couch and can move if the pain gets bad.

It has been a tough road. I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason and I absolutely know that God has been using CRPS to teach me lessons and hopefully use me, whether now or in the future. You can easily search "Ketamine" or "Calmare" on this blog and see that I have had real hope before. And so it is a bit scary to try to believe that this will work long term since nothing has.  But try I will and I will hopefully keep you posted.

(Again, these are my opinions and thoughts. I get absolutely nothing from you purchasing either of the books. Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments. I appreciate hearing from those with CRPS and how they are coping.)