http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=317x2974Oh my.
zanne (1000+ posts) Tue May-13-08 02:25 PM
Original message
I saw my doctor this morning and asked him for pain meds.
Yikes! I've never asked for pain meds before and I didn't realize what a huge deal it is. I've been diagnosed with a lumbar disc rupture and one is degenerating. I was told that surgery wouldn't help in my case because the pain is in the center of my lower back, not radiating down my leg. The pain is excruciating when I'm just standing up and walking around. I've tried physical therapy, non-narcotic pain relievers, lidocaine patches and injections. Nothing helps.
My doctor told me I'd have to go back to the Pain Management Clinic to get pain meds. I found out that I'll have to join a therapy group and sign a statement promising not to abuse the meds. If I do, I can be reported to the police.
I really don't want to put myself through that kind of degrading treatment. I've never been addicted to any pain medication; I only use it for a day or two after surgeries. I just might wind up in a wheelchair instead! Is getting pain meds this hard for everybody?
If any health care plan of Pa Kettle in the White House ever gets underway, one suspects getting pain pills is going to become even more difficult and expensive.
The baby-talking warped primitive, a registered nurse, lapses into common sense:
Warpy (1000+ posts) Tue May-13-08 03:15 PM
Response to Original message
1. That "degrading" treatment is for your health and safety and prevents you from ending up deaf as a post like Lamebawl or with a burnt out liver from taking too many combination drugs.
All pain docs require contracts from their patients. The DEA monitors pharmacies and any patient who doctor shops and gets multiple prescriptions from multiple pharmacies will eventually be caught and prosecuted, contract or not, unless he's a fat Nazi propagandist on AM radio.
The group exists primarily to get you out of the house and talking to people, since chronic pain patients tend to isolate.
Please get treatment. Untreated pain can be fatal as it leads to social isolation and depression.
DiverDave (1000+ posts) Sun Apr-05-09 02:39 PM
Response to Reply #1
3. It IS??
I see you have the same mindset as all the idiots that think my chronic pain is an excuse for more dope.
I wouldn't wish chronic pain on anybody, but people like you make me want to rethink that.
There is no reason for you to be mistreated by ANYBODY!, keep looking for a compassionate Dr., and ignore the idiots that tell you that being treated like a drug addict is "good for you".
I have a life, and pain management is a part of it, and if ANYBODY treats me badly, I give it to em...educate yourself, I wish others would.
Uh, wrong target, primitive; the baby-talking warped primitive knows what she's talking about, so shove that up your ass and smoke it.
Warpy (1000+ posts) Sun Apr-05-09 08:21 PM
Response to Reply #3
4. Excuse me?
I explained the rationales for the contracts and the groups. If you find that mistreatment, I would hazard a guess that pain isn't your problem.
Great comeback, and oh so true, about pain not being the primitive's principal problem.
hedgehog (1000+ posts) Tue Apr-07-09 01:09 PM
Response to Original message
5. We really need much better research in relieving pain. My mother was crippled for several years by a painful hip and she did the rounds: pain clinic, X-rays,cortisone injections, lidocaine injections, even acupuncture trying to determine the source of the pain or at least relieve it. Finally she found a physical therapist who really studied anatomy in college. He rotated her hip back into the socket and gave her the exercises to keep it there.
I have other family members living with daily pain that can't be diagnosed or resolved.
Warpy (1000+ posts) Tue Apr-07-09 05:10 PM
Response to Reply #5
6. I live for the day when we have pain medication that relieves pain with absolutely no side effects. Until then, Ultram is going to have to do it for me.
Yes, I jump through all the hoops to get it. I know why they are there. I'm just grateful something like Ultram exists and I don't have to go though life snowed.
I hope your family members can find help. Untreated pain is fatal.
franksolich lives for the day when we have no hunger, no homeless, no illness, and all is strawberries and cream, mountains of it for each and all.
However, unlike the warped primitive, franksolich knows it ain't gonna happen, and so doesn't waste a whole lot of time dreaming about it.
hedgehog (1000+ posts) Tue Apr-07-09 10:57 PM
Response to Reply #6
7. Untreated pain has turned my father-in-law into a grumpy old man.
He can't sleep, he can't move without pain.
I dunno. Maybe having the hedging primitive as a daughter-in-law makes the old man grouchy.
ncrainbowgrrl (1000+ posts) Tue Jun-02-09 10:57 AM
Response to Reply #6
8. Same.
Tramadol is a life-saver for me. I don't have any reactions to it, and I don't rebound from it, Migraine-wise.
