Valium (diazepam)

I had a dream one night that if I could relax my muscle in my arm, I could reduce some of the pain by reducing the signals I was sending down my arm.

May have been influenced by the phantom pain treatment on the 'Tyrant' episode of 'House'

So after some research, I may have *cough* acquired *cough* some 5mg Valium to test if it helped stopped the arm pain after exercise. 
< Don't try this yourself! I am a trained professional who can make these educated choices only for myself, knowing my own personal blood chemistry and drug interactions. DON'T COPY ME! >

And... it worked! Yes, I have to go to bed afterward (because it knocks me out), but I get a painless night sleep.

You can't take it everyday, tolerance builds fast and addiction is a big issue. 
But for me, it is a little piece of peace on the rare occasion.

If you are in a similar neuropathy filled heck hole, and want to try this, TALK TO YOUR DAMN DOCTOR! 
You don't have the drug knowledge I have (and no, I didn't learn it from 'House').

And what happened

So, I did my exam (which I didn't ace because let's be honest, I haven't been great).
At least its over! (until I have to repeat the subject)

So, what was this super bad news I was referring to?

Well, as you may or may not know, I have had severe to moderate nerve pain since January-ish.

Electric blue is the damn nerve pain. Red is the subsequent muscle pain. Yellow is Hades' cat hair, he didn't cause the pain, he is just trying to help.

I went to a neurologist that my doctor recommended. This doctor foolishly said "They will be able to solve your problem. It will be run of the mill for them." and I like a damn fool believed him.

Through the neurologist, I found out:

1) I have an inflamed nerve originating from the C7 verterbrae.
2) I have muscular atrophy in my right arm.
3) I have lost the reflex in my right triceps tendon.
4) I had a MRI and it showed no compression/physical abnormality.

That last one sounds great... until you realise that means that surgery is not an option.

The medication doesn't work and my only hope for a real cure was surgery.

Like if Princess Leia's message never reached Obi Wan because he was dead and R2-D2 blew up.

There is nothing they can do for me. I only have pain ahead of me.
They say it usually resolves itself. But that could be months. That can mean years.

I was devastated. I stayed in bed for a week after that appointment and didn't go to work. (My work was really understanding about it.)

Now days I have tried to reset to a new 'normal'. I hate thinking about the future, I have to keep it to a week at a time or I get too sad (although something great is coming up for me in July). 
Some days are good, recently it has been playing up again.
I take Valium to ease the pain after my night walking (I can't live in a world without walking), but that can't be used too much without losing effectiveness.
I am currently covered in Deep Heat Arthritis strength.

My current plans for my gamy arm include:

- Acupuncture (first session today, it feels pretty good right now).
- Creating and proposing a pain medication cycle that will reduce the risk of addiction and loss of effectiveness. I don't know if my doctor would be open to that, but he is usually pretty receptive to new ideas.
- Find a muscular masseur (preferably brunette) and marry him.
- Trick people into rubbing my shoulders (dressing like a cat may help with this plan).

This post is long and sad, so lets cheer it up a bit:

This is Seamus and Angus. They are on Instagram and are amazing.

Better!

Also, if you want to help, post a comment of something that makes you happy :)

Endone

Nerve pain (at least in the case of my arm and shoulder) is like pressing on a tack and having that signal of pain travelling up your limb, over and over again. It cannot be ignored. No paracetamol or ibuprofen can reduce it. It works through a mostly unavoidable messenger pathway that is responsible for your motion and senses. 

The only thing that helped when the pain was at its worst was oxycodone (Endone).
It is a strong pain killer and came with it's own draw-backs. 
It made me tired and sleep a lot. 
It made me less useful, less active, and dulled my ambition.
It has been linked with addiction (not something I personally experienced  after a month of use and not something I want to experience). 
It gave me dull headaches in the frontal lobe (with constant use) which stopped me from ever getting the taste for it.

But all these negatives were fine, if only the pain stopped.

I have other management systems now and will see the neurologist soon, but this was an angel in a time of need.

Price: Controlled medicine ($16.92 for 20 tablets)
Effectiveness: 5/5
Warnings: Addictive (you don't want to get addicted to opiates! I have seen someone weaning off them, it isn't nice), looses effectiveness over time.