Pain

How do you cope with mild, moderate or severe pain? I'm not talking about emotional pain (which can be just as bad) but actual physical pain.

I'm on the highest strength painkilling drugs because I have cancer and the pain can get quite bad.

I'm trying to use drugs at a moderate level only taking the highest dose when I can't take the pain anymore. When it's so bad that I can't think of anything else.

My doctor today, though, told me to take more pain pills, up to the maximum allowed but I'm worried that I would soon get used to that dose and become somewhat tolerant, necessitating an increased dose.

Re: Pain

I have chronic back pain after three spinal operations and am on those Oxy wotsit (Morphine substitute drugs) but I stopped taking them on a regular basis because when the pain got really bad the drugs didn't work as effectively - as you say you become too tolerant of them and they just don't work.

Now I only take the drugs when the pain is absolutely unbearable and find that the normal level of constant pain has become like background noise - I know it is there but it no longer worries me.

Not sure if this would work for everybody because apparently I have a high tolerance for pain (don't know how they worked that out). I do have some oddities because I know people who find tinnitus drives them absolutely mad whereas I only realised I had had it for years when it stopped for about 15 seconds - I am more conscious of it now but basically it doesn't annoy me other than it makes me deaf(er)

BTW in my case I tend to first take Brufen which is really just a high dose tablet of Ibuprofen I suspect that its anti-inflammatory action works to my benefit if taken early enough but then I hoe into the Oxycontin or Oxynorm

Re: Pain

That worries me too Ffosse. At the moment I take very little by way of pain relief, I hate taking pills and I feel I take enough already (high blood pressure etc). I occasionally take a couple of paracetamol at night to help me sleep, but they don’t always work which worries me.

Re: Pain

I would take paracetamol but am not allowed as they can give false temperature readings.

I'm on stronger stuff - Oxycontin tablets and liquid. Trouble is, even when I take a high, normal dose they don't always work.

Re: Pain

I wonder why it is that sometimes the meds we take for pain relief work and at other times they don’t!

Re: Pain

when I was in hospital they eventually upped the pain killer to Ketamine injections and it still didn't stop the pain and that is the strongest you can be given. This was before my operation

Re: Pain

That is somewhat troubling. Glad you're OK now though.

Re: Pain

Turned out to be highly infected gall bladder and blood poisoning because of it. Took 4 weeks to get the blood sorted before they could operated and remove the gall bladder.
Had so many things plugged into me I looked like a puppet on strings. tubes into veins , up the nose to help with breathing , blood pressure checks every half hour as well as blood samples. then the little bag on a pole topping up blood with whatever,(saline ???) yes a bit of a rough time, so much so they told my wife to expect the worst. Just don't even mention weight loss, don't think I had any more to loose.
Have to say I would have killed myself to stop the pain

Even so they didn't find all this out after going back into hospital 4 times and took 7 months to find out the problem.

Re: Pain

That's the worst - when they don't know what they are dealing with. Again, I am glad you got over this, sounds terrifying.

My worst pain ever was pancreatitis caused by drinking (and I hadn't been drinking much at the time, just the cumulative effect of years of drinking too much). They told me that the pain I was experiencing was similar to that of childbirth.

Re: Pain

Gall bladder pain is the worst pain I have ever experienced in my life and I never want it again. It was so bad I was literally unable to move, if I did move I screamed out. Nothing helped the pain and only when the gall bladder was removed could I relax again.

Ffosse, I sincerely hope the doctors can manage your pain, I wish I had the answer for you, I'm so sorry, it must be awful for you.