Posted 5/17/2015 12:50 PM (GMT 0)
Great Tom your already doing some things to help,putting your best effort into treating as much of your pain as possible on the non-narcotics level so I would think that the Dr would be accepting and accommodating to having a med on-board to help with the residual pain.
Its really difficult when a practice doesn't have continuing care and a revolving PA or NP staffing. I know that some Drs,and thankfully,use students serving internships in their specialties therefore accounting for the short-term stints in a particular office. A good Dr would be keeping in touch and touching base with his patients outside of the PA or NP visits.
As for metemucil and those class of meds? Well they're just part of all of our daily regimens. They have created some great prescription drugs over the last few years that are far more healthy to the intestinal system and keep the plumbing running smoothly. Much easier for the issues. Miralax is good,linzses is better,as are several others and your PM should be up to date on which will be a good fit with whatever med is chosen. There's also some better meds out now or maybe better designed narcotics I should say and many don't require more than once a day dosing and or no rescue or break trough med onboard which lightens the load on the GI tract lessening the need for laxatives.
Do your research,be familiar with your options,know what new meds are available and their most common side effects then you have a good chance of not having to play trial and error with them.
As for the hydrotherapy,it's been my most important tool in the fight for relief unfortunately insurance companies are stingy with number of treatments so I took it upon myself to join a gym that actually has heated pool. The Y's in some area have them,campgrounds such as KOA,Encore,area motels,and many of them will charge a small fee to allow you pool use only. Then your water time can be increased to your desire taking with you what you have been taught in therapy. Medicare advantage plans,and most insurance companies offer wellness programs and that includes free gym membership,and some even water aerobics which is parallel to aquatherapy.
So there are some tips they may help you and believe me we as a whole have many out of sheer desperation trying to find better ways of living with CP.
As for depression I have to agree that if a meds causing brain fog and depression its time to make changes. I also have to say here that most of the time we see that the amounts of med is a contributing factor and why we preach opiates as a last line of defense rather than first to prevent tolerance issues for as long as possible.
Use all the little tools you can create and come up with then turn to the opiate using the least amount possible to take off the edge. Coming to the realization that we as CPers are never going to be pain free is one of the greatest factors and learning distraction therapy and acceptance is the tool to prevent practicing opiate treatment as a last resort defense.
Glad to see you back and I hope you find that the forum can give as much as take and your experiences are priceless to others in fighting life with CP.