Pain managment (w/o tests)

[roman6886]

(summary) 20 yrs old. Got TTP last year and cost $300,000 in 3 months before insurance and a pretty big opiate tolerance ( 2mg IV dilaudid every for hours for 4 months straight) then got kicked off of insurance because i wasnt in school while i was in the hospital and spent 8 months getting back on.. One side of my family has osteoarthritis and my mother has rheumatoid arthritis.

I have been having intense arthritis knee pains (no prev injury) unbearably so (pull off the road, leave class, get out of bed). I cannot be tested for arthritis or rheumatoid no cure or anything that makes a big difference. my doc gave me 200 mg ER ultram and it doesnt do anything.. I dont want 2 ask for more because the doc was pretty nice giving me it in the 1st place.

[roman6886]

does anyone have any advice cause this stuff is no better than a few ibprofen or aleve?

[acolon_5]

Poppy Pods made into a tea. Lasts about 12-20 hours, similar makeup to opium and the pods are legal (ish)

[fnord]

ultram is rather week,id explain to your doctor it dosent work.does your friend look/have the history of a drug abuser?

[roman6886]

the guy i know has know recorded medical history of drug abuse
out of the hospital he did abuse pain pills a little to combat the withdrawl but it was never logged

[fnord]

as mentioned poppy pod tea is a good choice,poppys are easy to grow and one could easily grow there own daily doses if they dedicated the time/space to it.

[roman6886]

sorry i posted this somewhere else but i cant figure out how to delete it........

They put me on propoxyphene-n /APAP 100/60mg (darvocet) is this better or worse than the 200mg er ULTRAM

[pixplzthx]

deleted

[bloot]

Originally Posted by roman6886

sorry i posted this somewhere else but i cant figure out how to delete it........

They put me on propoxyphene-n /APAP 100/60mg (darvocet) is this better or worse than the 200mg er ULTRAM

SWIM doesn't think that the d-propoxyphene will do much better than the tramadol.

[roman6886]

personally i would think that if i wait a month on the darvocet it will be easier to jump to something that actually might do something

[BobTheGreat]

From swim's experience(he had the 650/100 a/p) they take a couple of days to kick in and after about a month they are worthless because the amout of acetametaphen. But swim should give them a chance(it makes it look like swiy isnt drug seeking). After a couple of weeks if they are doing any thing or if it takes so many to work ther is a risk of acetametaphen OD, then go in and talk to swiyour doc.

[sarbanes]

Originally Posted by roman6886

my doc gave me 200 mg ER ultram and it doesnt do anything.. I dont want 2 ask for more because the doc was pretty nice giving me it in the 1st place.

It is so sad what medicine has come to in this country. How can so many doctors live with themselves, behaving in this manner?!?! They all seem to have some form of elaborate rationalization, based on erroneous and inflated ideas of evil drug seekers. I mean, they must hold these views, or there would be no psychological cushion for a doctor (who is supposed to HELP people in pain, not ignore them) to fall back on. They would ACTUALLY have to look themselves in the mirror, which would cause them moral pain, (and the needs of the doctor are more important than the needs of the patient, right?). We can’t have that - doctors feeling pain and having a conscious, which might lead them to do the right thing. Oh no no NO! That would be a good thing, and we mustn’t have that!

I think its time doctors start dealing in the truth. Medicine is far too serious an endeavor to not take seriously like this.

[roman6886]

what do yall think a reasonable amount of time is before i ask the doctor to bump the medication???

[bloot]

Originally Posted by roman6886

what do yall think a reasonable amount of time is before i ask the doctor to bump the medication???

You should tell him that if it is real pain and is truly messing with his daily life he shouldn't worry about talking to the doctor about upping the dose.

[roman6886]

swims pain doesnt interfere with his life but the meds only dull the pain and swim does not enjoy taking the large amount of APAP for a long period of time

[bloot]

Ibuprofen

[VincentVan]

Dear Roman 6886
by reading your posts the first thing that is immediatly obvious is that your doc is a jerk.
Nowadays ANY physician who has a patient in pain and leaves him in his condition should be sent back to medical school.
In the last 10 years the techniques and pharmacology for the therapy of pain and particularly the treatment of painful symptoms of arthritic or reumathoid origin, have dramatically improved and enjoyied some spectacular breakthroughs.
There can be only two reasons if a doc is not doing his duty in relieving from pain an afflicted patient:
The first (and sadly the most common) is plain old ignorance.
The second is an outdated, ideological misconception that makes some MDs who left university before the '80s, see some substances and their pharmacological properties as evil per se, instead of viewing them as instruments to be properly and correctly employed by trained personnnel in the circumstances in which they are indicated and often necessary.
If am not mistaken Canada has recently legalized even the use of heroin for the treatment of (mostly carcinogenic) pain.

The best thing you could do then is to look for a good specialist in pain therapy.
The US of A is home to some of the world's luminaries of the medical science; and even if i'm aware that they are available mostly to those americans willing to pay their exhorbitant honoraries, I like to think that some good doc must exist over there too who would ask for your name before your credit card number.
How about university clinics? Do you think you could get in touch with a decent prof.?

I don't think that poppy tea would do much for you beside putting you in a better mood, but if you decide to give it a try you don't need to actually grow the pods by yourself.
On the web you can easily find firms that sell them as ornamental dry plants and ship them to your adress overnight.
In this forum's threads you could then find instructions on how to brew your drink.
I wouldn't do it though.
The risk is finding yourself with two problems instead of the original one.
Anyway, let us know how you manage.
All the best.
V.V.

Reputation Comments on this post:

good post. Lots of great info to help the swimmer

[roman6886]

Swim really appreciates the help Swim will ask his doctor to recomend a specialist
-bloot---i was on 800 ibprofens and the basically tore a hole in my stomach

[BobTheGreat]

If the pain isnt getting in the way of swiyour life avoid opioids. If one is one them a long time the withdraws suck and the depression afterwords is even worse. If one is on them too long, he might end up on methadone for the rest of his life just to feel normal. When one takes certain substances, they cause the natural producers that bond to the receptor site to get lazy or even die off(which would be the reason that one would be on methadone forever). It would take years on an opiod to do this but it's still a risk for long term treatment. Also like said before swim should consider getting a new doc.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Good post, opiates should not be used for chronic pain.

[roman6886]

well swim went through the 30 day perscription in half the time due to the high tolerance,,,,should swim say "the darvocet made it possible to walk up stairs and sleep at night but not much beyond that" or " tht the 200mg Ultram ER worked much better" ...........considering that darvocet is scheduled i would think i could step up cause that would be the resulting goal

[BobTheGreat]

Originally Posted by roman6886

well swim went through the 30 day perscription in half the time due to the high tolerance,,,,should swim say "the darvocet made it possible to walk up stairs and sleep at night but not much beyond that" or " tht the 200mg Ultram ER worked much better" ...........considering that darvocet is scheduled i would think i could step up cause that would be the resulting goal

Swims a big tippsy now but go to a pain specialist. That doc will probably give swiy the drugs needed to fuction in everyday life.

[JJx23]

First off, one would have to be taking massive amounts of medication for this to happen, two opiates are great ways of managing pain, I am on them for my chronic pain. If you take your medication as prescribed, you will be fine. Go to a pain management doctor, they will make sure your pain is managed, and they will taper you down when the time is needed.

Regards.

Originally Posted by BobTheGreat

If the pain isnt getting in the way of swiyour life avoid opioids. If one is one them a long time the withdraws suck and the depression afterwords is even worse. If one is on them too long, he might end up on methadone for the rest of his life just to feel normal. When one takes certain substances, they cause the natural producers that bond to the receptor site to get lazy or even die off(which would be the reason that one would be on methadone forever). It would take years on an opiod to do this but it's still a risk for long term treatment. Also like said before swim should consider getting a new doc.

[lostribe]

Originally Posted by JJx23

First off, one would have to be taking massive amounts of medication for this to happen, two opiates are great ways of managing pain, I am on them for my chronic pain. If you take your medication as prescribed, you will be fine. Go to a pain management doctor, they will make sure your pain is managed, and they will taper you down when the time is needed.

Regards.

I agree. I am also prescribed two different opiates for chronic pain and diarrhea. Having had multiple abdominal surgeries and peritonitis from a ruptured appendix I now have whats known as adhesion disease. I will have to have surgeries for the rest of my life. My GI doc has tapered me down to a manageable level of opiates so when i have my next surgery my pain will be easily treated. It saddens me to say it but you have to see a specialist if you want to be treated with any kind of dignity. It took me 12 years of trying this and that, test after test, doctor after doctor to finally get taken care of properly but once you do get taken care of its worth it! Hang in there and be persistent until you get the care you need. If your meds are not working don't be afraid to ask your doctor for a different course of action. If he is an ass, get a second opinion or ask for a referral to a specialist.

[JJx23]

Exactly. This is why pain centers are available. Certain specialists, whether they are a foot specialist, orthopedic, etc, can only prescribe a certain amount of pain medication for whatever condition it is you have. This is why they refer you over to a pain management center. Pain centers can put you on a weekly or monthly pain medication program. I am on one every couple of weeks and it works out very well.

Hope this helps.

Originally Posted by lostribe

I agree. I am also prescribed two different opiates for chronic pain and diarrhea. Having had multiple abdominal surgeries and peritonitis from a ruptured appendix I now have whats known as adhesion disease. I will have to have surgeries for the rest of my life. My GI doc has tapered me down to a manageable level of opiates so when i have my next surgery my pain will be easily treated. It saddens me to say it but you have to see a specialist if you want to be treated with any kind of dignity. It took me 12 years of trying this and that, test after test, doctor after doctor to finally get taken care of properly but once you do get taken care of its worth it! Hang in there and be persistent until you get the care you need. If your meds are not working don't be afraid to ask your doctor for a different course of action. If he is an ass, get a second opinion or ask for a referral to a specialist.

[oggy]

Originally Posted by BobTheGreat

If the pain isnt getting in the way of swiyour life avoid opioids. If one is one them a long time the withdraws suck and the depression afterwords is even worse. If one is on them too long, he might end up on methadone for the rest of his life just to feel normal. When one takes certain substances, they cause the natural producers that bond to the receptor site to get lazy or even die off(which would be the reason that one would be on methadone forever). It would take years on an opiod to do this but it's still a risk for long term treatment. Also like said before swim should consider getting a new doc.

Swim backs BobTheGreat up on this. Why do you want opiates if the pain doesn't get in the way of your life? Its not just for an easy way out of life is it? This just seems ridiculous no wonder the doctors are messing you about if you've had addictions before. Swim doesn't know how it works in the US of A but you need to do something if the Dr's wont.

Go see a pain specialist, Swim suffers from chonic pain too and was put on Gabapentin. Gabapentin ISO is the best pain killer he has tried, you wont get high but it is also known to be useful as a mood stabilizer.


Hope this helps.