can't take it anymore

[tenacious]

hello everyone,

i have had chronic pain for over 31 years. i have been on many pain medications, but my current pm doctor only believes in a very, very conservative approach. he weaned me off of methadone when i first went to him, and put me on vicodin instead, and my memory greatly improved, and i did and am still trying to do all of the range of motion exercises he suggested. however, i have not been able to get him to understand the depth of my pain, and have finally gotten a referral to an anestesiologist pm doctor, which is what i prefer anyway. i will nevertheless, continue to exercise, but i am praying this next doctor will get my pain under control. i cannot take it anymore, and am finding it to be very difficult to be tenacious.......i just need this pain to go; i need some relief.....now.:D

[Pamster]

My PM doc is also an aneisthesia doc and I think it helps him understand pain better. I've only ever been to him though because the other pain doc in the area here is into those implantable morphine pumps and I don't wanna go there.

I'm sorry you're still in pain and the doctor doesn't seem to get it. I know it's not easy sometimes living with pain. I lived with it without meds for years, but it got so bad I could barely lift my arms shoulder high and DO things I had to do for my family so I broke down and went.

I hope it gets better soon tenacious. You're definitely not alone though, we're all here for you. :)

[tenacious]

thanks so much for your kind reply. i just had two cortisone injections into my sacroliliac joints and thought it was such a blessing, but now i cannot even tell i had them. my rheumatologist just took me off of methotrexate, and i am injecting humira once a week. i was injecting methotrexate every week and the humira every other week. in all of the years of having chronic pain, there were very few times in which i just couldn't take the pain anymore, but i feel that way a lot lately.:(

[tenacious]

i forgot to ask you.......if you don't mind me asking, what is controlling your pain? i have used my heating pad so much i have blisters on my back........ouch.:(

[Pamster]

I take vicodan and robaxin along with neurontin and elavil to try to combat the pain I have from a pinched nerve in my neck. I also lived through a serious motorcycle accident when I was 18 and lost my leg to the hip just about and in it I broke the right leg in like seven places and they had to pin and plate it back together. :p

But don't feel sorry for me because I was lucky, many people don't live through somethiing like that, but I was young and strong. Now though in my late 30's I am feeling the pain a lot more intensely. Also because of a car accident in 98" which is when I think the nerve iin my neck got pinched. :(

My pain doc has talked about injections and I have refused, I even refused an epidural when I had my son because of breaking my back in several spots in the motorcycle accident I am PARANOID of anything injected anywhere near my spine let alone INTO it, you know? It just scares me more then living with the pain does. :confused:

I don't mind talking about it though, so don't feel bad for asking. ;)

[tenacious]

i am so sorry to hear about what you have been through!! i love your positive attitude!! i have actually been like you, in that i did not want any type of an injection in my back, but i learned to trust the knowledge of this doctor, and he had previously injected one of my knees, and i can't take the pain anymore, so i tried it. like you, however, i wouldn't ever get an epidural, as it scares me too much.

personally, i feel that my pain management is in my control, in that there are things i can do to help alleviate the pain, and i do them.....i don't feel that my pain should be treated in such a manner that i just want pills, because i don't. i always want to know what i can do to help myself first. swimming helps my pain, and it strengthens me, so i love to do it.

again, i want you to know that i love your attitude!!

[Pamster]

*grin* Thanks tenacious, I got this attitude from a dear friend I made when I was in the hospital, she had been pushed off a doc into a foot and a half of water and landed on her head. This woman was something else though, she had spunk and spirit that was just incredible.

She was never bitter and taught me that things could always be worse, to embrace what you've got in life because you never know how long you've got and I try to live life that way. I think it's horrible that so many of us suffer chronic pain like we do, but like you said and I agree with you, that our pain management is in our hands.

My pain doc told me that because I was a young mother he didn't want to have me impaired and I so appreciated that attitude towards treating my pain. He knew that I needed my wits about me in dealing with my son, and I have never felt over medicated.

If I ever have any concerns he addresses them, like recently I felt that the 5/500 vicodan wasn't cutting it so I wanted to try something just a little bit stronger and he upped me to the 10/750 I think it was. I had a growing concern about too much tylenol in the pain meds taken daily so I brought it up and they got me on one now that is 10/350 and I feel MUCH happier about it.

If you are with a doc that isn't working with you it might be worth looking at a new pain doc. I am lucky I found the righ tone on the first time. He was so nice I remember how he didn't want to just give me pills for something he couldn't see yet and he had me get an MRI before he began treating the problem that the MRI revealed. I have nothing but respect for the man and I frequently thank him for all he's doing and done for me. :)

[Matuboo]

hello everyone,

i have had chronic pain for over 31 years. i have been on many pain medications, but my current pm doctor only believes in a very, very conservative approach. he weaned me off of methadone when i first went to him, and put me on vicodin instead, and my memory greatly improved, and i did and am still trying to do all of the range of motion exercises he suggested. however, i have not been able to get him to understand the depth of my pain, and have finally gotten a referral to an anestesiologist pm doctor, which is what i prefer anyway. i will nevertheless, continue to exercise, but i am praying this next doctor will get my pain under control. i cannot take it anymore, and am finding it to be very difficult to be tenacious.......i just need this pain to go; i need some relief.....now.:D


It sounds as if this doc is doing you no good, putting you on short-acting pain meds with all that APAP. I think you're making a good move and hope that your new PM doc takes your pain more seriously. I came across similar problems when I was in a great deal of pain. At one point, I was only prescribed two 5 mg Vicodin per day!

[RustyD]

Vicodin can damage the liver if used over an extended period. Google "Vicodin Liver".

Vicodin is a fast acting short termg pain reliever as mentioned and if the pain is one that will last longer than 4 weeks most medical people agree it is time to move on to a slow acting long term pain med..

Take care of you.. And I had to change PM docs until the right one and I meshed.. The others actually were prescribing MORE.. and I am willing to endure some pain for quality of life..

Good Luck to us all....

[sallyb]

I am so sorry to hear about your pain. I, too, am without a med that helps much at all. In fact, I do not know that they are not helping until I go without them. But, I have hopes since I just started with a new Rheumatologist, and will give her time to increase my meds. Right now I am on the Fentanyl patch and Cymbalta. lIf she fails to help me, I will be back in the same boat of giving up. I so hope that things begin to look up for you. That state of mind is awful.

sally

[tenacious]

thanks to all of you; it means so much to hear from others. right now, i feel so alone. i am seeing a new pm doc in two days, and i cannot wait. however, what i have been finding with anestiologists is that they are not afraid of treating pain, but i don't want to be 'doped up' either. furthermore, i have found that many anestiologists strongly encourage their patients to have any of a variety of injections.........and i do not want that. i don't mind having the two cortisone injections i had in my back, but i don't want to have them again because i am very aware of the long term side effects of cortisone.

i agree completely about too much apap, and i am grateful that my liver is doing okay.

i also feel that there are still too many physicians that feel we are to do what is 'ordered', rather than us having a great deal of imput into our treatment plan. when i see my new pm doc on friday, i will have a list of questions i want to ask, along with a short written medical history, and i also will make a list to remind myself of the specific goals i hope to obtain from the consultation. i have found if i don 't write out what my goals are, to read before i see the physician, the consultation may not include discussion of any of the things i wanted to articulate.

just a couple more days, and i pray that my consultation will be the beginning of managing my pain.

[razzle51]

What is your actual diax ? I take Tramadol for pain and Keppra

[tenacious]

i haven't ever heard of the two meds you are on; could you please tell me about them?

you had asked about my dx, and i have ankylosing spondylitis and hypothyroidism, and endometriosis, and late-stage rheumatoid arthritis.

right now, my hips are so bad i could scream. i am praying and believing i will not lose the use of my legs again.

i look forward to hearing from you, and thank you for replying.:o

[A Chronic Painer]

Hi Tenacious,

I've lived with chronic heel pain for over a dozen years now. I could not walk, if it wasn't for daily pain meds. I'm a big believer in long acting pain meds (MsContin or OxyContin). If you take small amounts of these meds, three times a day, it should even out your pain, to a much more tollerable level. If you continue to to take Vicodan, you pain is just going to continually spike up and down. You'll never be happy when that happens.

I know that your worried about loss of clarity, etc, but that will not be a problem if you start at low levels of long acting pain meds. I'd give them a chance, if your new doctor offers. You can always titrate down, if you don't like how you feel. I do think that you owe it to youself, and your family, to get your pain under control. Time release meds is the best way that I know how to go about it. Best Wish's :)

[tenacious]

thank you so much chronic painer, you have given me a lot of useful information. i did not get to see my pm doc yet, buti am rescheduled to see her on next wed. i am just praying to hang on until then. my home enviornment makes thins much much worse, so plan on changing that very shortly also.

again, thanks.

[Cry Tears]

OK.....all you CP'rs.....I wanna join in too!
I am very familiar to pain...sick of it! Like a mad monkey on my back, but I can do nothing but try and accept it. Slowly....I have...somewhat.
I have lots of fears for my poor liver! I have a very large and dense liver, and my liver enzymes are always high. Don't know if its from having a severe case of hepatitis type A when I was just 20 years old.
For BT pain some people take Roxicodone....this doesn't have any Tylenol in it. Its just pure opiod pain meds....very similar to Oxcycontin...but not time realeased. Oxcycontin has a wax matrix that wears off during digestive process. You can find whole pills floating in the toilet...thats if you have diarrehah.

The Roxicodone doesn't have the wax...so is fast acting.
This way you can take what ever dose of Tylenol or Ibuprofin you'd like or need.
If this is going to be a way of "living" then perhaps leaving out the Tylenol would be wise choice. If not I'd insist on a much lower dose of the Tylenol such as a 10/350 mixture...this only gives you 350mg of the Tylenol.
For what its worth! Cheryl
PS....here's a picture of what Tylenol has done to my hair!:eek: