After unsuccessfully trying mexiletine, my pain doctor has prescribed me a calcium channel blocker (nifedipine) for my EM. He warned me that CCBs can help but that they make many people’s EM worse.
Is anyone currently taking a CCB that is helping their flares? Or have you tried them in the past with bad results? I looked at previous posts, and they mirror his advice. Just wanted to get a feel for what I’m in for.
I was on them for high blood pressure they didn’t help my EM at all. One thing wrong with them is they tend to cause ankle swelling which in itself can be painful. However like all meds people react differently so it’s worth a try.
I really hope I don’t get any swelling BUT I agree: at this point, it’s all worth a try. I just tell myself I can stop if it bothers me. Thanks so much for sharing your experinece 
Let me know how it goes!
@BNashville There was a recent study just completed in Japan I believe (I’m trying to find it my stacks of stuff so I’m going off memory) where CCB’s were very effective in treating EM. HOWEVER it was only where the EM was secondary to of all things Psoriasis. Psoriasis however is frequently hard to find or pin down.
The thing is when treating psoriasis and similar the meds that work OFTEN flair the disease before tamping it down.
Thats a lot of gobbldy gook on my part for saying is if the nifedipine has an effect on your EM that is BAD to not be discouraged and hang in there with your doc as it could easily turn around. We all (who suffer from chronic diseases) tend to lose patience with new meds too quickly. Our immune systems aren’t normal (or we wouldn’t be in the state we are in) and don’t always respond the way one would expect and we frequwntly don’t give that immune system enough of a chance to get its “stuff” together so to speak. Hang in there. Your day is coming.
IF you are really nervous about this thing you may want to ask your doc about a pretrial of low dose aspirin. It sometimes has the positve effect of the CCB’s without the possible negatives.
Like I sad earlier worth a try. Also remember that if you get side effects very often they wear off after a while. Plus some things do take time to work they don’t always work straight away e.g. amitriptyline takes a few weeks to have any effect on nerve damage.