Snowbunny - I am hardly challenging you. I don't have the expertise in this area that you, nor the interest to learn it. I am simply repeating what I have been told, both by the pharmacist (and I would assume they would know what they are saying) and my wife, who works with pain meds with over 80 patients per day. I don't know the technical details that you describe, nor am I doubting your word.
On my personal pain levels, using the standard pain scale of 1-10, let me see if I can clarify:
My bladder spasm pains are random, and are not included in my "normal chronic pain", nor was it compensate for with my oncologist for handling all my radiation damaged based pain. So when I have the bladder spasms (6-36 per day), the spasms pain will range on a short one (5-15 seconds) to pain level 3-5. On the mid-length spasms (16-30 seconds), the pain level is easily 6-8, and on the terrifying long ones (1-4 minutes) - not a doubt in my mind, pain level 10.
Although the bladder cannot physical explode or come apart, its actually considered one of the toughest muscles in the body, it feels that way. Pressure quickly builds up inside the bladder (even though there is no inlet or outlet, so nothing can be in there), it starts burning and stinging as the pressure goes up. On the real long ones, it reaches a point, and for the sake of an easy illustration, it feels just like a firecracker or some explosive explodes inside my bladder. There is no way for the pressure to be relieved, it has to be absorbed back into my body. In fact, at my bladder neck, there is 100% scar tissue, massive in size, that blocks any possible exit from the bladder into my urethra. So these bladder spasms are the largest single source of pain I experience.
On the really long ones, I often drop to my knees literally, hold onto something, tears well up in my eyes, and for those long seconds, I wished I would simply die. Can't be any more graphic than that. The only saving grace, in my mind and logic, I know it won't kill me, and I know it will ultimately pass.
I had them all the time before my bladder by-pass surgery, and then for about
the first 6 months post surgery, they were rare and not too painful. Then the past 2 years, they have been coming back with a vengeance, more and more, stronger and stronger. And it really doesnt' make sense having a bladder that has been disconnected, by-passed, and non-functional. I estimate that I have had over 5,000 of them since the end of 2008. Talk to anyone that has experienced even 1 or 2 in their lifetime, then multiply that to 5,000. Surprised I am not out of my mind.
Didn't mean for this to be so long, but thought a fuller explanation would help.
Now as far as my normal everyday "chronic pain", which is officially diagnosed as cancer pain, but in my case not directly from the cancer, but from failed and flawed cancer treatments, and most has been attributed to severe nerve damage over a wide spread area.
On my good days, with the meds I am on, the worse pain I feel is in the 3-4 range. One to three times a week, I have bad days, usually when I have pushed to hard, or done physical things I shouldn't have done, the pain level can be 4-6. That's on the pain meds, but not including additional pain from the bladder spasms. The spasms take me over the top. When I have those, I am not convinced that even a shot of pure morphine would help.
There is never a time, day or night, where I am not feeling pain, never below a three.
And the worse part is, that I am coming up on 4 years post radiation damage, and 3 years post by-pass surgery, and yet the scope and area of the pain is still spreading through my body. This is why CRPS is still a possibility with what is going on with me.
Hope this clarifies somewhat,
david
Post Edited (Purgatory) : 5/6/2013 5:59:27 PM (GMT-6)