PAIN MEDS

WHEN I AM IN PAIN I HAVE TRYED DIFFERENT MEDS.  MOTRIN, TYLENOL, SKELAXIN, DARVACET, FLEXERALL, AND VICODEN.  THIS IS OVER A 16 YR PERIOD, NONE OF THESE WORKED EXCEPT THE VICODEN AND FLEXERALL.  THE THING IS I AM VERY CAUTIOUS about TAKING ANYTHING, I ONLY DO WHEN I'M IN EXTREME PAIN.  I'M ALMOST OUT OF MY VICODEN, I HAD BEEN GIVEN THEM FOR A ORAL SURGERY A YEAR AGO.  NOW I DON'T KNOW HOW TO GO about ASKING A DR FOR THESE WITHOUT THEM THINKING I'M AN ADDICT.   THEY WEREN'T PRESCRIBED TO ME FOR THE PAIN I HAVE ALL THE TIME.  WHAT DO YOU DO IN A CASE LIKE THIS?

I suggest asking about tramadol for the chronic pain with a small script of vicodin for really nasty days. I have darvocet on hand for really nasty pain. I try to keep my pain meds to a minimum and the least dose/strength med when dealing in narcotic pain meds. That said I get tramadol (the strongest non-narcotic pain med out there) every month- 180 of them I can take 2 every 6 hours if I need to but I tend to use them 2-3 times a day. My signature should give you some indication of the pain I am managing with the tramadol combined with skelaxin. I will double check and make sure it is up to date. During my pregnancy I was given darvocet and when needed vicodin for pain and took it every single day at least once without becoming addicted. Pain caused high blood pressure and depression. A good doctor knows this and tries to manage pain.

I walked away from several doctors since my dx who tried to say I was seeking pills. Turns out the pain I was trying to get help for is caused by irreversable nerve damage. I see a pain specialist who does nerve blocks for it.

If you have inflammation that is chronic you need long term anti-inflammatory treatment to help control the pain.

I spent 15 years suffering with only occassional help for the pain and then only because the doctor wanted me to go away. I can say that if your doctor doesn't want to treat chronic pain you need to figure out if it is because they are uncomfortable prescribing pain meds or if they thing you are seeking pills. If they are uncomfortable ask for a referral to a pain specialist. Truthfully, I think anyone with chronic pain should at least consult with a pain specialist because some kinds of pain can be managed amazingly well with nerve blocks and other narcotic free methods. Since we will need these meds for pain for the rest of our lives we need to minimize their use whenever possible because if we develop too high a tolerance level the day will come when there is nothing they can do. That fact is only one of the reasons a pain specialist is a good idea but in my mind it is the absolute biggest reason. I suffered my gallbladder shutting down without pain meds, wisdom teeth removal (with a large amount of jaw bone as well) with advil and tylonol- no real pain meds, and compression fractures in my spine without any medical help at all because doctors felt my complaints of pain were drug seeking- the wisdom tooth removal doctor said my regular doctor had noted I was always wanting pain meds on my file. I had actually been asking for prescription strength anti-inflammatories but the doctor I was seeing then viewed asking for somethings stronger than advil for inflammation in my joints was drug seeking.

I have found all of your entries very helpful, thank you.

I am going to check into the pain mgmt dr asap. I had a very bad week and rushed in to see my primary (rhmy 2 hrs away) for severe pain...note in 10 yrs he has prescribed Percocet 1 x...no other pain meds! He actually told me..."I'm not licensed to treat pain" I nearly hit the roof! There is NO reason for him to think Im a popper or addict! He wrote me a script for 4 Percocet. Took one and was sooo ill from it. I finally got to feeling a bit better and will be looking for a pain mgmt dr tomorrow! I hate taking meds and the thought of someone understanding that and still being willing to assist me in controlling the pain would be great!

Good luck!