i will start with how i deal with chronic pain including meds , my mind, and of course my anger. please keep this thread to physical pain and mental health due to physical pain. mental health pain is just as valid but would be better in it's own thread. since opioid pain meds were discontinued or drastically reduced people are desperate which can lead to street drugs and overdoses and of course many thousands of suicides. please only list legal meds and if not sure like mmj say if legal in your area. there is hope for those of us who suffer daily.
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surviving your chronic pain
- Thread starter 1964dodge
- Start date
i used to be on very high doses of opioids mostly from severe leg pain. due to the cdc and dea my pain meds were reduced by at least 75%. so what were my choices. if i tried street drugs it would be dangerous and when i failed a drug test i would lose what pain meds i had left.
so the only thing i could do is experiment with my doctor. the first thing he did was seperate out the diabetic nerve pain and gave me gabapentin for that. for now i'm on 45 mg. morphine and 4 mg. hydro - morphone for pain. i finally talked my doctor into mmj because it is legal here. a couple of months ago my doctor and i agreed on cyclobenzaprine ( a muscle relaxant )
i also think outside of the box a little. i tried a tens unit which also helps a little but usually only works after an hour or 2 and is a pain in the ass to use. the best thing you can do is research your pain condition and discuss things with your doctor. you may also want to keep a daily log to record your pain and show it to your doctor. there are a lot of opioid and non - opioid treatments that could work. the most important thing is do nothing without your doctors knowledge
mike
so the only thing i could do is experiment with my doctor. the first thing he did was seperate out the diabetic nerve pain and gave me gabapentin for that. for now i'm on 45 mg. morphine and 4 mg. hydro - morphone for pain. i finally talked my doctor into mmj because it is legal here. a couple of months ago my doctor and i agreed on cyclobenzaprine ( a muscle relaxant )
i also think outside of the box a little. i tried a tens unit which also helps a little but usually only works after an hour or 2 and is a pain in the ass to use. the best thing you can do is research your pain condition and discuss things with your doctor. you may also want to keep a daily log to record your pain and show it to your doctor. there are a lot of opioid and non - opioid treatments that could work. the most important thing is do nothing without your doctors knowledge
mike
untreated chronic pain : when pain is untreated or undertreated life can be hell. if it gets bad enough thoughts of suicide start into play, unfortunately thousands of chronic pain patients lose that battle. of course it's natural for mental health to suffer greatly. my depression and anxiety were very bad and i almost lost that fight a few times.
somebody suffering from uncontrolled chronic pain may be strong but not strong enough to fight this alone. no matter what we can't lose hope. my pain management comes a piece of this and a piece of that which sucks. if possible seek therapy and try to get a support structure of family and or friends in place. i can promise that when pain gets too high for too long you will need that support in place.
even now , my mental health is pretty good but there are times i am ready to lose it. my wife helps me until my pain goes down. believe in yourself and you can get through chronic pain
mike
somebody suffering from uncontrolled chronic pain may be strong but not strong enough to fight this alone. no matter what we can't lose hope. my pain management comes a piece of this and a piece of that which sucks. if possible seek therapy and try to get a support structure of family and or friends in place. i can promise that when pain gets too high for too long you will need that support in place.
even now , my mental health is pretty good but there are times i am ready to lose it. my wife helps me until my pain goes down. believe in yourself and you can get through chronic pain
mike
of course anyone that suffers from or knows someone that suffers chronic pain can give methods that can help in reducing pain. of course must be legal and people must check with the doctor first.
another thing can be talking to representative and senators or whatever politicians in your country to help with the problem. the #1 thing is to tell them to encourage research into effective non - opioid pain meds. i think it's posible if the research is done, i'd be the first one to switch. in the meantime they could make insurance cover non prescription pain meds reccomended by the doctor. make massage therapy and accupuncure available as well. i honestly believe this can be fixed
mike....
another thing can be talking to representative and senators or whatever politicians in your country to help with the problem. the #1 thing is to tell them to encourage research into effective non - opioid pain meds. i think it's posible if the research is done, i'd be the first one to switch. in the meantime they could make insurance cover non prescription pain meds reccomended by the doctor. make massage therapy and accupuncure available as well. i honestly believe this can be fixed
mike....
I was prescribed a wonderful drug for arthritic pain in my neck, back and feet. The drug was Indocin (indomethacin.) It's an NSAID - that means "non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug." That puts it in the same family as aspirin and ibuprofen. Indocin is by prescription only, and it's way, way, way stronger than ibuprofen. It's great! I had been taking Vicodin, an opioid, but Indocin was way better. It made me feel 10 years younger.
Unfortunately there was a price to pay. It works by stopping the body from producing prostaglandins. That gets rid of inflammation with beautiful results. (They even use it for gout, which is terribly painful.) However, prostaglandins are what keep the lining of your whole digestive tract protected by a layer of mucus. Stop the prostaglandin production and that protective mucus starts to thin out. In my case, I developed bleeding ulcers in my stomach and colon. Gradually, I lost so much blood that I was near collapsing. I ended up in the hospital needing blood transfusions.
So no doctor will order Indocin for me again, which I agree with. I'm back to making do with the Vicodin. I've been told not to take even an aspirin or a Motrin. Opioids are actually less damaging than NSAIDS, as long as you don't take enough to slow down your breathing. I would say opioids are less toxic than Tylenol, which can be bad for your liver. So I rely on this opioid drug, Vicodin.
Any drug powerful enough to do you a lot of good is going to come with the potential to harm you. That's the catch. Don't think Big Pharma isn't doing all kind of research to try and come up with a new class of pain killer. It's not easy. All drugs come with potential bad side effects. Plain water can be toxic, if you drink enough of it, as Brooke Shields found out.
I think they've gone way overboard in restricting opioids to people in pain. People think NSAIDs and Tylenol are safer because many of them are over-the-counter. That's leading to trouble, since these drugs are not all that safe.
Of course, opioids get less effective over time, as you develop tolerance. By now, you probably know about that first-hand.
TENS units got real popular in the '70s. Hospitals were really into using them. They seemed to have little downside. Then, in the '80s, I stopped seeing them in hospitals. They fell out of favor. My guess is that they weren't all that great at relieving pain. I find warm baths and warm showers help my pain a lot. A cold pack on my neck helps. I like these warm packs that you can heat up in the microwave. (I think they are full of seeds of some kind.) Good luck with your efforts to manage your pain.
Unfortunately there was a price to pay. It works by stopping the body from producing prostaglandins. That gets rid of inflammation with beautiful results. (They even use it for gout, which is terribly painful.) However, prostaglandins are what keep the lining of your whole digestive tract protected by a layer of mucus. Stop the prostaglandin production and that protective mucus starts to thin out. In my case, I developed bleeding ulcers in my stomach and colon. Gradually, I lost so much blood that I was near collapsing. I ended up in the hospital needing blood transfusions.
So no doctor will order Indocin for me again, which I agree with. I'm back to making do with the Vicodin. I've been told not to take even an aspirin or a Motrin. Opioids are actually less damaging than NSAIDS, as long as you don't take enough to slow down your breathing. I would say opioids are less toxic than Tylenol, which can be bad for your liver. So I rely on this opioid drug, Vicodin.
Any drug powerful enough to do you a lot of good is going to come with the potential to harm you. That's the catch. Don't think Big Pharma isn't doing all kind of research to try and come up with a new class of pain killer. It's not easy. All drugs come with potential bad side effects. Plain water can be toxic, if you drink enough of it, as Brooke Shields found out.
I think they've gone way overboard in restricting opioids to people in pain. People think NSAIDs and Tylenol are safer because many of them are over-the-counter. That's leading to trouble, since these drugs are not all that safe.
Of course, opioids get less effective over time, as you develop tolerance. By now, you probably know about that first-hand.
TENS units got real popular in the '70s. Hospitals were really into using them. They seemed to have little downside. Then, in the '80s, I stopped seeing them in hospitals. They fell out of favor. My guess is that they weren't all that great at relieving pain. I find warm baths and warm showers help my pain a lot. A cold pack on my neck helps. I like these warm packs that you can heat up in the microwave. (I think they are full of seeds of some kind.) Good luck with your efforts to manage your pain.
thank you, and you are right about some non opioid meds can be more dangerous. before opioids my doctor became alarmed by how many extra strength tylenol i took at a time. i was desperate nothing worked. so he did the right thing the right way. he started with non opioid or low opioid combos and eventually sent me to a pain specialist. they put me on the 100 mcgph fentanyl patch 60 mg morphine and 8 mg dilaudid. it was a high dose but it made me high functioning. the tide is finally starting to turn but it will take time. i look forward to the day big pharma can produce a safe non opioid pain med that actually works. the tens unit does help but not a lot, it's my go to when i'm desperate
mike.....
mike.....
TL;DR version: Physical therapy was a game changer for me.
Advanced version:
I have chronic pain from an injury that was dealt with surgically. It was a torn labrum in my hip. Labrum is a ring of cartilage that deepens the socket of the ball and socket joint. The painful thing about it is that it was a tissue injury, plus a muscle injury, and on top of that the torn tissue was flapping over a nerve causing lightning like shocks of pain all the way down my leg.
TENS unit worked beautifully for me once I dialed in the settings. At first it was too strong and felt like I was being electrocuted. If I turned too low, though I would get nothing but a mild buzzing sensation. At the goldilocks zone, the TENS unit would block the pain signals in my nerves by distracting them with the electric current. At least I think that's how they work.
I have other chronic pain injuries to my back and shoulders. The most effective relief I have gotten is physical therapy (PT) exercises. Since learning how to form the neuromuscular connections that would allow me to use my core muscles properly, the pain in my hip is all but gone. PT has also helped me with the upper torso issues. It's kind of miraculous to me, that doing something awkward with a resistance band can result in drug free pain relief. But hey I will take it.
Advanced version:
I have chronic pain from an injury that was dealt with surgically. It was a torn labrum in my hip. Labrum is a ring of cartilage that deepens the socket of the ball and socket joint. The painful thing about it is that it was a tissue injury, plus a muscle injury, and on top of that the torn tissue was flapping over a nerve causing lightning like shocks of pain all the way down my leg.
TENS unit worked beautifully for me once I dialed in the settings. At first it was too strong and felt like I was being electrocuted. If I turned too low, though I would get nothing but a mild buzzing sensation. At the goldilocks zone, the TENS unit would block the pain signals in my nerves by distracting them with the electric current. At least I think that's how they work.
I have other chronic pain injuries to my back and shoulders. The most effective relief I have gotten is physical therapy (PT) exercises. Since learning how to form the neuromuscular connections that would allow me to use my core muscles properly, the pain in my hip is all but gone. PT has also helped me with the upper torso issues. It's kind of miraculous to me, that doing something awkward with a resistance band can result in drug free pain relief. But hey I will take it.
@UrbanRose, just a question. Does vicodin have tylenol in it? They say my oxycodone cant be provided without the tylenol. 325 mg of tylenol and 5 mg of the opiod. It isn't much of a dose, but 3 and a few more months i will have taken tylenol along with all my other meds for 3 yrs. I'm concerned about my liver, how do I ask for something without tylenol when my doc dismisses my pain and says its just my brain or psyhosomatic?
Just my 2 cents worth.....
Different pharmaceutical companies have varying amounts of hydrocodone combined with Tylenol (acetaminophen) in their products.
Hydrocodone (Vicodin) can come in 5mg, 7.5mg or 10mg amounts per pill. The acetominophen component can be 300, 325 or 500 mg. 500mg is what is considered an extra strength dose of Tylenol.
There is a limit of how much acetominophen per 24 hours the body is capable of handing and processing without injury. (liver mostly). For decades the maximum amount of it is no more than 4000mg for an adult. Some have even reduced to prescribing 3000mg total in a day in the past years to prevent injury.
But everyone has individual response so be aware. And most every medication on the market that there is is processed at some point via the liver. Rarely is there one that isn't.
Aspirin is a different kind of nonsteroidal anti inflammatory (NSAID). It's a different chemical, aka acetylsalicylic acid (ASA). They all work differently in the body. Products like Aleve, Panadol, Ibuprofen better than acetominophen for most if problem is related to inflammatory injury or disease.
Oxycodone used to be made without Tylenol, maybe still is, but the Tylenol (acetominophen) supposedly increases the effectiveness of the opiate. And if still made, I don't know what countries and/or states still might support prescribing oxycodone without it being in a combo form.
Different pharmaceutical companies have varying amounts of hydrocodone combined with Tylenol (acetaminophen) in their products.
Hydrocodone (Vicodin) can come in 5mg, 7.5mg or 10mg amounts per pill. The acetominophen component can be 300, 325 or 500 mg. 500mg is what is considered an extra strength dose of Tylenol.
There is a limit of how much acetominophen per 24 hours the body is capable of handing and processing without injury. (liver mostly). For decades the maximum amount of it is no more than 4000mg for an adult. Some have even reduced to prescribing 3000mg total in a day in the past years to prevent injury.
But everyone has individual response so be aware. And most every medication on the market that there is is processed at some point via the liver. Rarely is there one that isn't.
Aspirin is a different kind of nonsteroidal anti inflammatory (NSAID). It's a different chemical, aka acetylsalicylic acid (ASA). They all work differently in the body. Products like Aleve, Panadol, Ibuprofen better than acetominophen for most if problem is related to inflammatory injury or disease.
Oxycodone used to be made without Tylenol, maybe still is, but the Tylenol (acetominophen) supposedly increases the effectiveness of the opiate. And if still made, I don't know what countries and/or states still might support prescribing oxycodone without it being in a combo form.
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first of all of course it's your brain, the brain recieves and sends the signals but probably isn't psyhcosomatic. i understand the fear for your liver so you have to be careful. what i always do is research my condition and what meds could help. please do the research and you will learn a lot. after you research it write down at least 5 or 6 meds that you think would help, both opioid and non pioid. next appointment tell your doctor of your research and what you found for meds to try see if he will try one. that's what i do
mike...
mike...
@1964dodge My question is when you are experiencing a lot of pain what do you do to control your mood. I get very cranky and my body starts to shake all over. I become a miserable person around others. Do you have any secrets to control the crappy mood and intense anxiety. TY
ok @SillyOldBear i will try to be as honest as possible without it taking too long. first when the pain gets too high , between 8 and 10 i do feel a bit cranky and of course those thoughts creep in. when i get cranky my wife understands, i get cranky just because but once in a while i'll be cranky with her. either way i always apologize. she doesn't get offended because she knows how bad my pain can get. she becomes more worried than mad, luckily this is rare.
i know that my pain will come down eventually if i treat it aggresively. i take whatever i can safely take, sometimes i go right to the edge of safe dosing but i tell my wife so she can watch over me. right now i'm in a hard way because my hydro morphone is on back order. i try to keep myself busy. one of my go to things is going on SF. this keeps me distracted as i try to help people. i spend a minimum of 2 or 3 hours on SF a day.
so to recap : 1. know that your pain will come down, treat it the best you can but don't give up. 2. try to keep yourself busy and something positive will help. 3. try to be with someone a friend or relative when the pain gets so high. irl is best but phone or online will help as well. as i said when it gets too bad those thoughts creep in so you need to be careful. just remember if you get cranky because of high pain it isn't your fault. and lastly i kow you believe in god so a prayer couldn't hurt, i pray
mike....
i know that my pain will come down eventually if i treat it aggresively. i take whatever i can safely take, sometimes i go right to the edge of safe dosing but i tell my wife so she can watch over me. right now i'm in a hard way because my hydro morphone is on back order. i try to keep myself busy. one of my go to things is going on SF. this keeps me distracted as i try to help people. i spend a minimum of 2 or 3 hours on SF a day.
so to recap : 1. know that your pain will come down, treat it the best you can but don't give up. 2. try to keep yourself busy and something positive will help. 3. try to be with someone a friend or relative when the pain gets so high. irl is best but phone or online will help as well. as i said when it gets too bad those thoughts creep in so you need to be careful. just remember if you get cranky because of high pain it isn't your fault. and lastly i kow you believe in god so a prayer couldn't hurt, i pray
mike....
i did forget one thing @SillyOldBear, tea. when my anxiety rises especially because of high pain level i drink tea. it doesn't help with pain but it does calm me down for some reasn.
mike
mike
Thank you for explaining all this. I guess I'll bring it up with the woman doctor, she seemed more caring, although as soon as I had something else I talked about, she held the bottle of oxycodone and said ''maybe it's this thats causing all your problems.'' umm I think she thought I'm stupid and going to give up my pain meds. Nope.
Tylenol is added to some oral opioids mainly to discourage I/V addicts from crushing the pills, mixing them with water, and injecting the powder into a vein. Hardcore addicts tend to be quite knowledgeable about the dangers of various drugs. The authorities know that addicts are afraid to mainline Tylenol into a vein. It is very toxic.
In my case, I requested Vicodin 10/325, which I take twice daily. That means I only ingest 650 mg of Tylenol each day. That's the best I can do to minimize my Tylenol intake.
Some seniors take Tylenol 4 times a day. That can add up to 2600 mg daily. If they use extra-strength tablets, it adds up to 4000 mg daily. Big Pharma says 4000 mg per day is the safe upper limit. Some experts say that's too much to take, if you take that much for years on end.
Big Pharma is trying to talk governments into letting them market oral opioids that are just plain opioid. I think there is one on the market. I think it's a time-release oxycodone. BTW, supposedly, oxycodone is stronger than hydrocodone.
In my case, I requested Vicodin 10/325, which I take twice daily. That means I only ingest 650 mg of Tylenol each day. That's the best I can do to minimize my Tylenol intake.
Some seniors take Tylenol 4 times a day. That can add up to 2600 mg daily. If they use extra-strength tablets, it adds up to 4000 mg daily. Big Pharma says 4000 mg per day is the safe upper limit. Some experts say that's too much to take, if you take that much for years on end.
Big Pharma is trying to talk governments into letting them market oral opioids that are just plain opioid. I think there is one on the market. I think it's a time-release oxycodone. BTW, supposedly, oxycodone is stronger than hydrocodone.
I have to take Tramadol (goes under different names in different countries) and is always mixed with paracetamol. Its quite strong, but I take minimum doses. Three a day (sometimes four). Around 100 mg a day is ok. Important - if you stop this, you have to do it (as everything) gradually and slowly. For me it would take many weeks. But I am pain free.
I wish you can manage your pain, dodge64. Take your old car, drive some miles - to forget for some time about all of it,
I wish you can manage your pain, dodge64. Take your old car, drive some miles - to forget for some time about all of it,
