No pain meds for the painful

[Denisej007]

I have a cyst on right ovary that is killing me. The Dr. wants to set a date to rip it out. He called in one rx for pain. When they were gone I was still in pain, I had to beg for them to fill another. The Rx was not even a narcotic, but taken with tylenol the pain eased considerably. I am not even a fan of pain medicine. But when you are in pain, your are in pain! Well the appt. they have schedule for me is on the 20th., and again I hurt. I wished there was a way Dr's understood a person's pain or at least feel the pain the patient is feeling.
Thanks for hearing me out.
Denise

[illusion129]

Denise,

I was in your shoes for a good 3 years; I've been fighting my "battle" for a little over 6 years all together.

Before the only thing my doctor would prescribe was Naproxen, or 800mg Ibuprofen. Good lord it didn't even begin to touch the pain! So after dealing with that for 3 years I finally said enough was enough and found a primary care physician that would also handle my pain management control "program".

After about a year, I'm now on a steady, long-acting Morphine pill with Percocet for breakthrough pain. It helps control the pain to a very managable level, although I still can't do a lot with pain I can actually enjoy life a little bit.

I wish you the best in trying to get your doctor to refill your prescription. If I were you, if I had a lot of very bad pain I would go to your ER and tell them. After that the doctor may get the picture.

[Denisej007]

It's nice to know someone has been there.

[911]

i remember when i was first d/x'ed with psoraitc arthritis , i went thru some hellish pain it was terrible i tried all the anti inlfamiitorys with out much luck , they hurt my tummy i ended up with tummy probs to bboot after that . getting the docs to understand i was in pain was like pulling teeth they wouldnt prescribe anything narrcotic so i feel for you and whats going on i have been there to it took me yeARS to get the right docs best wishes dave

[A Chronic Painer]

Hi DeneseJ,

Believe it or not, there are many thousands of us that have been in almost your exact shoes. There are just some docs who are not educated to what pain can do to a person. Your doc may be one! If so, you can either try to educate him, or look for another, more compassionate doc.

I do have one thing that may help you in the short run though. Put everything in writing, that the pain is putting you through, and bring it to your doc. He'll now have something for your folder, and may be more inclined to help you out.

So may people go in to see their docs, are not prepared, break down in tears, and the doc really has nothing to back up his reasons for prescribing you pain meds. Many docs are terrified of the DEA, but they really don't have to be, as long as they follow the guidelines set up in their state. Thats where the education comes in, if you want to try that route. You can find out through the Net, what the laws are, in your state, for docs to write scripts for pain meds. Some states have their own rules and regulations, some use the reg's set up by the DEA. Both are pretty close in content though.

1st though, spend some time to write down just how much the pain is affecting your life. It could be the key to getting help for now.

[mcdan]

Although I have no idea how much pain you are having, Last check I dident have an ovary. Maybe you are better off with less at this time because post operation pain may be significantly greater and harder to touch with any meds. I really do have sympathy for you. I have been on some heavy duty meds over the past 3 yrs and I am concerned that if I need surgery my pain may be out of reach for meds to kick in.. I truly hope you can get some relief shortly. Before you agree to surgery make sure you know this Doctor will prescribe significant relief. I once had heavy duty shoulder surgery and I was sent home with the equivilant of an asprin. I suffered like an animal for a week...
Good luck :eek:

[Bluey]

Well, I had one and that was one too many!
I was told "When the pain becomes unbearable, go to emergency and they'll give you some demerol".
Yea, right.

Well, a Naturopathic Doctor was right behind my house in an office complex. Went there, and told him I'd been ultrasounded etc. and told him what they'd told me. He shock his head, gave me some preparation of vit, min, herbs and glandulars. Pain was gone in four hours. NO PAIN. I took the tablets for 10 days. There were some left over, and when my sister got the same thing six months later, I gave them to her. She's been in agony for four months, and within six hours of taking this preparation, NO PAIN. Gone. Forever.

I've never had another episode, and neither has my sister.

You can only get these preparations from a Naturopathic Doctor.

Good luck.

[Denisej007]

Very good advice, Thanks so much!

[brians2000]

Well, I had one and that was one too many!
I was told "When the pain becomes unbearable, go to emergency and they'll give you some demerol".
Yea, right.

Well, a Naturopathic Doctor was right behind my house in an office complex. Went there, and told him I'd been ultrasounded etc. and told him what they'd told me. He shock his head, gave me some preparation of vit, min, herbs and glandulars. Pain was gone in four hours. NO PAIN. I took the tablets for 10 days. There were some left over, and when my sister got the same thing six months later, I gave them to her. She's been in agony for four months, and within six hours of taking this preparation, NO PAIN. Gone. Forever.

I've never had another episode, and neither has my sister.

You can only get these preparations from a Naturopathic Doctor.

Good luck.
Bluey please give us the precription that helped so much.

[Boopers]

Hi Denise,

I'm so sorry you are in such pain. I get so aggravated when I hear about these doctors that don't give strong enough pain medicine to help with the pain. :mad:
IF you can find a doctor that will give you something good for the pain, don't worry about it affecting the surgery, or worry that when surgery time comes, will you have sufficient pain relief.
I am on very strong pain meds and have been for eight years. I have had two surgeries since then and have had no problems with going under and not having enough pain relief.
Before you go in for surgery, they write down everything that you are on and will adjust for the surgery. The anesthesiologists? are very good at figuring out your pain meds, weight, and age for control while you are under.
I just hope you can find a doctor that will realize that you need something that is going to last until then.
Good Luck to You,
Linda :)

[Bluey]

It was made by Standard Process Labs. But they may have discontinued that particular formula and have another one now. You have to go to the Naturopathic Doctor to get anything from Standard Process labs. Other companies may make similar products, but only the ND will know what is right for you.
God Bless.

[tenacious]

denise,

i cannot sit here long enough to read all of your other responses, but i do want to say that i am sorry you are not being taken seriously about your pain. i have tremendous abdominal gynecological pain at times, but i cannot get my ob/gyn to understand. although he is aware i have the dx, he won't treat the pain. that is when i sometimes wonder if it wouldn't be better for me to see a female gyn..........let's face it, women cannot understand some problems men have, yet i expect my male doctor to understand my female problems..........:confused:

[sallyb]

Wouldn't it be nice if scientists would figure out a gadget that they could clamp on your finger to register the amount of pain?

[Pharmacist.steve]

Actually, they are working with a MRI to determine the intensity of pain via brain activity..

[sallyb]

Something that I find to be distressing is that my GP docs always talk about how when something (?) is over, they are going to talk to me about exercise!!!
If any of them could figure out the pain problem, I would get more than enough exercise!!! Besides, my old neurologist would not have allowed much more than very simple moves since my spinal cord is pressed upon by T8/9, causing deformity. Watch out for what some of the docs suggest without reading the whole story!!!

[vette]

Actually, they are working with a MRI to determine the intensity of pain via brain activity..

Tell us MORE, Steve!

I know that a few years ago I had some kind of EEG done where the dr stuck pins in me & they marked & read the EEG. I'm HOPING that the MRI-thing is something more than i had as they didn't give me any feedback...

Having said that, it seems to be that way with everything here in England. I was dx'd with FMS privately four and a half years ago, but it turns out - i was told on Tuesday - that a rheumatologist put in my notes some **** years ago that i had "symptoms of FMS, including *ALL* ( :eek: ) tender points, fatigue, memory issues, generalised pain" and yet he then put "no firm diagnosis at present" YE GADS, what do these guys WANT?!?!?!

As to the pain meds issue, at my local maternity unit - just as a little indicator of the way they medicate here - after delivering your baby, including after day 2 following a forceps, ventouse or c.section delivery, the pain relief you get offered? PARACETAMOL!!! :(

Having said that, i talk to my practice nurse and she tells me what to ask the dr for and my g.p. then lets me have what i tell him. For the pain, i'm currently on Tramadol 200mg M.R. twice a day and 2 x Co-Dydramol 10/500 four times a day for top-up.

OK, i'm rambling! Thanks for letting me know i'm not the only one!

Be well,

'Vette

[Pharmacist.steve]

As far as I know the MRI & pain determination is in the experimental stages.. 18 yrs ago FMS was just being recognized as a "disease".. the fact that your Rheumi put it in your records shows that he/she was starting to recognize a disease that not many still today don't recognize as valid disease state. Pain is subjective - unlike blood pressure, blood sugar and the like which are objectively measured via lab tests. I have have yet run into a doc that doesn't believe that a patient is in pain .. but the problem is when it comes down to the INTENSITY of the pain..

Pharmacist steve
www.chronicpainresourcecenter.com

[hermit]

i think its crazy so many pain meds prescribed for "chronic" pain longterm treatment have acetaminphen laced in them, while this combination is very effective,for short term usage, large amounts acetaminphen is very toxic to liver, kidneys, etc..etc.., whether injesting to much to soon,.. or concentrated over time, may damage organs .... at least i think.. i may be mistaken.
and i think "STRESS" plays a very,very important fuction on the body as a whole.
i hope your holidays painless an stressless, and the new year better than the last one. sincerly, hermit

[Denisej007]

I saw where they have developed an MRI don't lie as a way to tell if you are lying. Something like a lie detector. I sure hope the pain MRI comes along quickly.

Thanks everyone for your responses, I am still new to this or I need to visit more often but it is hard to sit at a desk when you are bent over.

[Pharmacist.steve]

i think its crazy so many pain meds prescribed for "chronic" pain longterm treatment have acetaminphen laced in them, while this combination is very effective,for short term usage, large amounts acetaminphen is very toxic to liver, kidneys, etc..etc.., whether injesting to much to soon,.. or concentrated over time, may damage organs .... at least i think.. i may be mistaken.

The reality of it is ... if they took the acetaminophen out of the tab/caps they would become Schedule C-II and the docs would have to write a new Rx everytime for everybody taking the meds. Docs shy away from writing C-II Rxs. The bottom line is that the manufacturers would sell less product.. the patients would get LESS/POORER treatment for pain. It is not the best system... but for right now .. it is the only system we got...

Pharmacist steve

www.chronicpainresourcecenter.com

[Tbackpain1]

I agree with you Steve, and while it is very true that there are a high number of acetaminophen OD cases, and cases of organ problems/failures with high or long term doses of APAP, there is no better system as it stands now.

On the other hand, if you have access to a compounding pharmacy, it is possible to get various forms of fixed combination drugs compounded to contain significantly less APAP. But the drawback again is that the medication becomes a C-II, so you will have to have a new paper script every time you need a "refill".

The one thing that does bother me about the APAP containing prescription medications is that many times people make mistakes when taking OTC drugs containing APAP and then suffer the consequences. Or, because the person is in so much pain or is seeking immediate relief, they indavertently (or on purpose in some cases) take well over 4g of APAP in a 24hr period, risking serious health consequences as a result. I've read paper after paper where they survey average American adults, and without fail, at least 70% say taking more APAP than is on the lable is fine...what the??? I just get very frustrated...I spent many hours speaking with patients (and families) on discharge from the hospital, making sure they understood each and every medication they were being sent home with and giving them a pre-made dosing chart (kinda like the one we use in hosp, but larger print and easier to follow at home) for all of their medications, since often there were questions about what to take when.

I'm sorry I went off on a tangent there....Denise, about the ovarian cysts...has your doctor offered you any hormonal treatments to reduce the size of your cyst? I have had ovarian cysts pretty much since my early teens and I have spent many an evening in the ER getting treatment for acute abdominal pains. After a couple of these visits (when I was 14), my OB/GYN decided to being me on birth control pills. I had great results, and over the years, I've been able to keep those annoying cysts from growing. First, I was on Ortho-cycline, and now I'm on ortho-tricycline low, which seem to work very well for me. There are side effects of being on BCPs, but there are lots and lots of different formulations, one of which will most likely be the right one for your body. In the interum period, before I started BCPs, I was mostly given Vicoden 5/500 (I was really tiny...the larger doses would knock me out), and even though I still hurt, it was no where near as bad as before (vomiting, severe abd. pain, shooting pains, low fevers, etc.).

In the mean time, the best thing to do is treat it symptomatically. If you start experiencing any sharp stabbing pains, make sure to make your doc aware, as you could be having a cyst rupture. I was lucky that I didn't need any surgery for mine, but my mom and sister have both had endocsopic procedures where they have had the cysts removed, and they always take part of the surrounding tissue as well to make sure there's no abnormal cells (pre-cancerous). Be sure to have a "bed-buddy" or some other heating pad around for the pain, and try changing the way you position yourself. I found when I was having really bad pain that if I layed on the opposite side to the pain, I was much more comfortable than stretched out on my back, since stretching my abs when I was having a cyst flare was equal to some kind of medieval torture! :eek:

Good luck with your doc appts.

Theresa

[aggscott]

Hi Theresa,

I'm not saying it's ok to take to much OTC pain meds but, I can tell you the reason I used to do it. It's because I could not find a doctor that would prescribe pain meds that would work.
I was given Advil, Motrin, and the other things that they give you, that you have already tried and they didn't work. I tried to end the pain the best I could without breaking the law. So I took higher doses of the OTC meds to help....It's dumb, I know..but, when the pain is bad and it's taking over your life and it's all you can think of, you tend to do stupid things.:confused:

Now I'm on pain meds at the right dose and they work perfect. It took me quite a while to find the right doctor to help me and that should not be.

I thank the stars everyday that I have a pain med that works well and I have my life back.
When I take OTC meds now at the right doses for headaches and they actually work.

Aggie