My name is Herschel Richard. I was born September 27, 1955. At nine months old I had polio. The disease affected mostly my right leg and foot. I had very little muscle in my right leg and had to walk tip toe until age eleven, then I received surgery on my foot to make it where I no longer had to walk tip toe. From that time until I turned twenty-five, I lived a normal life with no muscle pain. At age twenty-five I started waking up with slight soreness every morning. I would also become sore easily when traveling long distances. Between noon and three p.m., I would feel a fatigue. After three p.m., all fatigue just seemed to disappear. At that time, I went to Baptist Medical in Little Rock, Arkansas. There a Dr. Kovaleski did a series of test. He said the problem was what was thought to be Post Polio Syndrome. He put me on 25 mg of amitriptyline every night to help sleep and aspirin for pain. This did help some, but for the following twenty years I still lived with pain in the morning. I tried a short nap after lunch to fight the fatigue. This did not work. In 2001, I saw my family doctor, Dr. Bryan Bowen, about my foot being sore when I walked on it. He prescribed a fourteen day pack of prednisone. After the sixth day on the prednisone pack, I noticed that my morning pain had reduced over 80%. I thought the cure for post polio pain had been discovered. I made an appointment with a polio specialist in Tyler, Texas to talk about prednisone. He assured me that prednisone working had nothing to do with post polio. About this time, I started having a lot of problems with acid reflux as a result of taking so much aspirin every day for pain. My doctor prescribed hydrocodone for my pain the acid reflux problems went away. I took one hydrocodone when I awoke. This medicine removed all pain for the rest of the morning. Then I would take one at one p.m. and this would take care of the pain the rest of the day. I also noticed that the one p.m. dose removed the afternoon fatigue. In 2005, the morning pain began getting worse every month. I then began taking oxycodone just to make it through the day. I began waking up at around three a.m. every morning because of the pain. We had a blood study and found that my CPK level was extremely high. Dr. Bowen referred me to a rheumatologist in Shreveport, Louisiana. This doctor started me on a methotrexate shot every week. After a year no improvement He also tried numerous other medications but there still have not been any improvements.

On September 9, 2006 I was forced by by employer to go on full time disability. I then decided to see a neurologist name Stasha Gominak in Tyler, Texas. On our first visit she took me off the methotrexate and most of the other medicines the rheumatologist had me on. She placed me on the Fentanyl patch and had me take a sleep study. The sleep study show had had an severe sleep apnea and was put on a c-pak. This helped me to sleep until at least five a.m. every day instead of three a.m., and it has reduced some morning pain and stiffness and help a lot on the afternoon fatigue. I went back to work in December 2008. At this time I take ( 150 mg, Lyrica),( (4) .25 Requip), (15 mg predisone), (75 mg Fentanyl patch) at night and (3-15 mg Oxycone) during the daytime. Though the sleep apnea helped a lot there is something still wrong with me. I do not abuse my pain medicine and never take enough at one time that my family or employees notice abuse. I take only the amount of dose it takes to get the pain and fatigue level down to the point that I can do my job throughout the day.
List of questions for consideration:
1. Why is it that the longer I sleep the more pain and stiffness I have? (If I get up in four hours I am not half as sore as if I get up in six.)
2.Why does the fatigue seem to go away in the late afternoon and night?
3.Why is aspirin the only over the counter pain medicine that helps with this pain?
4.Why does Prednisone work well at high dosage?
5. Why does Oxycodone work so well not only for the pain, but for the afternoon fatigue?
6.The pain seems to be where my large muscles meet the large bones & muscles in neck area.
7.Even if I take a short mid day nap for one hour, I wake up in pain and stiffness. Why?
8.Once I take oxycodone at 3 pm and it removes the pain & fatigue. The rest of the day to 10 pm I need no more pain meds. Why?