Looking for any options besides suicide

[Jim]

Dr. Young has a clinical trial network in China/Hong Kong, and has run 7 clinical trials there. It was reported in several papers that oral lithium improved recovery scores in spinal injured rats. To test this in humans, a phase 1 clinical trial to evaluate the safety and pharmacokinetics of a six week course of oral lithium in spinal cord injury patients was conducted. There was concern that lithium may increase neuropathic pain, so the Visual Analog Scale was used to measure pain. The surprise finding was those with severe neuropathic pain experienced a major reduction. Although lithium was only taken for six weeks, their pain did not come back, even when examined six months later.

A phase II double blind, placebo-controlled trial in 30 patients had seimilar findings and will soon be published. Neuropathic pain is so complex, and there are many different types. Beause of this, the data was very difficuly to analyze. It worked in some, not in others. All of those it did work for, had severe neuropathic pain.

I don't want to get your hope up, but its worth a shot. It can be prescribed off label by his dr and he can continue on his other meds. Blood levels must be monitored.

If you email me I can give you more info jimbenn@rutgers.edu.

[Jim]

Jim, can you tell me more about lithium? I googled it but didn't find a lot. Do you take it? I saw a few studies indicating that it helps some w neuro pain, but there isn't tons of info out there on it, at least not in the way of pain relief

This phase II was completed less than a year ago. We are planning to repeat in the US, but he doesn't need to wait for that, dr can prescribe off-label.

[SCI-Nurse]

Most of the published research on the use of lithium for neuropathic pain are animal studies.

Here is one promising article from Dr. Young's group about lithium and SCI that you can share with your provider. They may be reluctant to order off-label without some published evidence base supporting this:

https://www.nature.com/articles/sc2011126

(KLD)

[TheDuder]

I have burning in my feet that ranges daily from very annoying to brutal.

Oxycodone helped somewhat, but tolerance built up over time and i didn't want to become a slave to opiates.

I tried Lyrica but didn't like how i felt on it and it was another downer mixed with the Oxycodone.

Well, i didn't want to keep taking more and more Oxycodone, so i gave Lyrica another try. Thankfully i did.

Now i take Lyrica three times a day and only take the Oxycodone on days when my feet are in the brutal stage, this has helped it's effectiveness, and i no longer feel like i have to take Oxycodone each day because my body craves it outside of pain issues. I even had my doctor lower the amount of Oxycodone i get each month.

There are still days where the pain is so bad, neither med can contain it, but for the most part, this is the best place i've been pain wise in awhile and mentally.

[alan]

The CBD oil hasn't helped. I haven't tried lithium.

[MikeRobison]

I feel your pain, pun intended! I have a band of tightness right at my SCI level (T-5). It is there continuously, gets worse with movement (exercising, even riding in my van). I have tried EVERYTHING, except medical marijuana. It has just been approved here in Ohio, so that will be my last hope. I know what you mean about suicide; on most days I ask the Lord to take me. I had this pain since the beginning, about 6 years ago. It pretty much ruins everything in my life. Being paralyzed is bad enough.

[MikeRobison]

I was able to make an appointment with a doctor that has been certified to prescribe marijuana here in Ohio. Unfortunately, its not until early October. Its really my last hope as I have tried everything. Is medical marijuana legal in your state? SCI is one of the listed medical issues so I'm pretty much guaranteed to be able to obtain it.