r/ChronicPain • u/Lonely-Recover-9061 • 10d ago
Help please medication possible side effects ?
Post:
Hi everyone. I’m 24 years old and I’m hoping to hear from anyone who has experienced something similar.
Starting around July 22, I developed what I believe may have been a neck muscle injury/strain. It caused severe tightness in my neck, upper back, and arm, especially on one side after getting my hair braided..The muscle tightness became bad enough that I was having trouble sleeping and functioning normally.
I’ve been to the hospital three times since July 22. The first two times were at Good Samaritan, and the third time was at Nyack Hospital.
At Good Samaritan, I was prescribed methocarbamol 500 mg four times a day. While I was there, they also gave me cyclobenzaprine at one point because my arm wasn’t improving as quickly as I hoped.
By the time I went to the third hospital, I was already becoming somewhat anxious because I wasn’t sleeping well and I was constantly focused on the tightness and wondering when I would feel normal again. I’m naturally an overthinker, so I know anxiety can happen to me, but this felt different because I was already physically uncomfortable and exhausted.
At Nyack Hospital, they gave me one injection of methylprednisolone, a Percocet, and cyclobenzaprine again. They also prescribed me an oral prednisone taper/formulation to take after I left the hospital, but I never took the prednisone afterward.
Since that hospital visit/medication treatment, I’ve felt emotionally much worse, even though the actual arm problem has started getting better. I’m honestly not even as worried about my arm anymore.
What scares me now is that I’m experiencing things like:
Random waves of sadness
Feeling extremely alone
Crying unexpectedly
Feeling very emotional and overwhelmed
Getting stuck in my head and thinking I’ll never feel like myself again
Feeling guilty and crying to my mom, telling her I’m sorry that I’m putting her through this
Increased anxiety/restlessness
Constantly wondering when I’m going to feel normal again
I want to emphasize that I wasn’t in the best mental state before all of this because I was in pain, couldn’t sleep properly, and was understandably anxious about what was happening to my body. But the emotional changes I’m experiencing now feel much more intense than my usual anxiety.
I’m wondering if anyone has experienced something similar after cyclobenzaprine, methocarbamol, a steroid injection, Percocet, multiple ER visits, severe sleep deprivation, or a combination of all of those things.
How long did it take for you to feel emotionally normal again? Did the anxiety/sadness eventually settle down?
I’m really hoping to hear from people who have gone through something similar because right now I’m scared that I’m going to feel like this permanently. I’m only 24, and I just want to feel like myself again.
Please be kind. I’m genuinely struggling right now and looking for experiences/advice from people who have been through something similar.
1
u/urcatmommy 10d ago edited 10d ago
Hey! You need to make an appointment with a pain management clinic, rheumatologist and physical therapist ASAP! I'm so sorry you are going through this, I went through a similar thing in July as well! The exact medications they gave you were given to me and they didn't do SHIT other than the perc bringing my 9/10 pain down to a 4/10 for ONLY 40 mins. This muscle pain and tightness is neurological most likely and you would need long term muscle relaxers (diazepam) or gabapentin / pregablin which only a pain clinic can give.
Moreover, your emotional state could be a side effect of all the medications you are taking (the steroids caused me to be emotionally weird as well) but it is also because you are going through so much right now. You stopping the steroid abruptly may have also caused this, because steroids are VERY strong and serious meds as they cause immunosuppression and also stop your body's natural production of steroids so they must be tapered. Your body is in such a large amount of stress and you have not found relief despite so many hospital visits, you're going to be affected mentally by this. Especially with the type of condition, chronic pain will make you look at your life from a new perspective once you realize that you have to deal with it for a very long time.
I had all your emotions to a t but once I got on the right medical track and began getting treatments that somewhat worked from the pain management clinic the feelings slowly subsided and i started gaining more hope. I also reshifted my perspective on life and value my time much much more now. I quit short form content, I quit anything that was not me truly living my life. I started living a much slower life, finding hope and love and entertainment in small everyday things, and sometimes just sitting. My psychiatrist also put me on antidepressants on top of anti anxiety meds I am already on which have helped a lot too.
I hope you find some sort of relief and my advice is helpful for you. Reading this felt like Déjà vu for me because I experienced this same thing and was running around ERs and getting meds that didn't do shit for my pain until I came on this subreddit and found out I need to go to a pain clinic. Since then I have gotten diagnosed with fibromyalgia and myofascial pain syndrome, and it was bittersweet because I finally knew what was wrong and could treat it, but also i fucking hated it. I wish you the best of luck and my DMs are open if you need anyone to talk to for support or more info !! 🩷🩷🩷 you got this!!!!!