Am I alone on stronger pain med from pain specialist, I feel alone

I took the name down just in case i ever need to bring things up with the pain specialist.  thanks heaps.  sue2z

Sue,

You are not alone in your fear. I too did not take anything strong for pain. Until I just could not take it anymore. My Doctor (bless his heart) was just waiting for me to finally accept his advice. I went on a strong opiate and have never regretted it other than having to take something that strong for pain. But, other than having to have it, I finally got the relief I so desparetely needed. I think society has us programmed to always "just suck it up and dont complain" Society was wrong. well, for me they were. Different people handle it (the pain) differently.One way is no more right than the other.  You are not alone in your feelings. I truly understand. I am sending you the most positive, kind, loving, healing thoughts I can.I hope you find your comfort zone soon for your decisions in your treatment. It is not a character weakness in admitting your pain or even having pain. Remember Sue, you are not alone.

Hearts, flowers, puppy dogs breath and babies laughing.

Breath

Doesnt work that way unfortuantly.  Thanks so much for your reply and honestly its so important to everyone.  hugs.  suez2

 breatofsighs,  So glad to hear of someone on an opiated, was feeling like the odd man out. Peoples replies arm you for when you see docs ect and to tell people who dont believe as well , I am on half the dose im allowed.  I manage but only just, and so long as I do nothing. If I increase I start having problems as I have uncerated colon which bleeds.  I think everyone should take what they need though.

d2parrotperson , thank for reply and thanks for the list of meds, if ever mine stop being effective I can go to pain specialist with a bit of knowledge and its important because otherwise in the med field we are totally on own.  hugs   suez2

Ledaebel, your are def not alone, its so awful when you first get it because you dont know how bad its going to get and its so scary I remember . At least now you know your not alone.     sue2z

As long as we have this forum you don't have to be alone with fibro, we are always here for you.

I don't think about the future when it comes to fibro, it's one day at a time for me. I'm sure there will be more meds coming out for fibro in the near future. It's a work in progress and who knows the next one on the market might be better than lyrica or cymbalta. I have to keep a positive attitude about the future or I would curl up and give up.

I have been lucky with the pain so far and can control it with 4000 mg of tylenol, tramadol and TENS unit. It's the fatigue that gets to me everyday.

All we can do is take what we have to until something better comes along, and it will.

luv and hugs

Marlee

I got a few things to address today, one being the thing about blame and suffering.  I think no matter what rotten things some of us have done in our pasts there have probably been times that we have thought we brought this all on ourselves.  I have been dealing with chronic pain for many years,way before the fibro hit.  Kelly,there have been times that I have been in pain from head to toe and knocked to my knee's asking God "what did I do to deserve this?".  There have been times I truly beleived that if I had been a better person and made better choices in my life that this would not have been brought upon me.  I even tried bargaining with God.  Begging him if he only took away the pain right then I would do this that or the other.  First off you don't bargain with God,it doesnt work that way and I saw that when my pain eased that He had given me the strength to endure it.

If any of you have read some of my older posts you would know what dark places I have been in when pain had wrapped its arms around every part of my mind body and soul.  Do I feel guilty for taking narcotics to get through the day?absolutely not.  Eventually you get into survival mindset and all you want to do is find a solution to getting on some meds.  And believe me some of us even once we get on narcotic meds are in no way medciated to the point of no pain.  It puts us down to a dull roar on some days.  Are there days that I take more then the recommended amount? yep and as I have read these posts I have seen where others have said they took an extra pill.  The thing is that for ppl like me with pain hitting you from all sides and undermedicaited to begin with when I really bad day hits then you have no other choice then to take extra even though it shouldnt be called extra because every time you take that one more pill you have to make up for it somewhere else on a better day.

I was supposed to have "extra's" for breakthrough pain but it didnt work out that way.  So now for you Breath about the medication holidays.  First off it doesnt feel like much of a holiday when you start lol.  And if you are taking pain meds in capsule form you can't do this unless you are taking smaller amounts with more pills to make up the whole of what you take each day.  I start out the week by cutting my usual 2 vicodin down by one  half of a pill and do thats for several days then I knock my morning and bedtime doses down to just one pill and stay with the one and a half for my afternoon and evening doeses where I can't cut it too much because I am out running around during that time.  I stay at these lowered doses for about 10 days and then go back to regular dosing.  By the end of the 10 days I am right back to getting the good pain relief I did from when I first was taking the meds.

I am in not any way telling ppl they have to do this.  Some medications are meant to be taking in full dose at all times.  Meds like vicodin will many times say as needed for pain so its not going to hurt you to take less for a short time.  All I know is that the chance of me getting into a pain clinic is next to none now that most of them have switched over to private insurance.  Medicaid sucks in some ways but depending on some private insurances medicaid is paying for more treatment and meds then the private ones are now.  My brothers wife works in an exective position for a food service company that serves Boeing(the big plane makers) and thier insurance has been cut horribly the last few years.  I get more name brand drugs then they do and I dont have to have permission to have alot of exspensive tests or to see certain specialists that they have to.  But there are some doctors that wont deal with medicaid even though medicaid covers them and that is the thing I am dealing with trying to find a pain clinic.

I have had way more trouble with the guilt of easing up on myself then anything else since I got fibro.  For the last 30 years I was always working around one surgery or another and chronic pain left over but was able to keep it together most of the time.  All the sudden all my reg pain was way worse then ever before and I had all this new pain too and the horrible fatigue and neuropathic pain.  I tried for so long to keep up just as I had done for years but then came the flares and I had to finally admit to my family that I couldnt do it my way anymore.  Then I had to get my family on board with not asking as much of me since they continued to take advantage of my wanting to please well after I had explained fibro to them.  But they were selfish and would not let up on thier demands so I had to learn the word"NO".  I did that here.  And slowly my family is learning to do for themselves again.  I had gone from helping to enabling them to use me for a chore girl to the point where even on days that I was hunched in pain and crying they still wanted just one more thing.

You have to stand strong and advocate for yourself in all aspects of your life in order to have the best life that you can.  Ok time to get off my soapbox lol.  I am getting ready to spend 4 days at my daughters with my 4 grandchildren.  But I set this up on my terms and when I felt ready.  Still going to be a hard 4 days with all those kids wanting gramma time all at once lol oh and the weather turned and its now pouring!!! and will be the next 4 days so we will all be trapped inside oh yah!! lol.  Everyone take care and be kind to yourself.

Soft Hugs,

Karen