Re: How to live with body pain when you're afraid of taking meds?

Most of my troubles, including the pain, started at about 49-50 years old when I began the premenopausal crap. I'm now 51, almost 52, and if I have to deal with another 20+ (if I'm lucky) years of this, I'm not going to have any hair left because I'll be ripping it all out. And I have a lot of hair, lol.

This time of life is no fun at all. My cholesterol went up, my blood pressure went up, body aches and pains began rearing their ugly heads and... oh bother, nevermind, I'd bore you to tears with the list of things on my body that have started falling apart. But I'll tell you one thing... if there's a such thing as reincarnation and I come back as a female again, somebody's gonna get hurt.

Re: How to live with body pain when you're afraid of taking meds?

UK-Co-Codomol contains 8mg of Codeine and is available from Chemists , but not recommended for more then three days due to addiction. Co-Dydromol contains 10mg of Codeine and is available on prescription here. When working I was taking 10 a day and recon so far I have taken about 100,000. Are they any good, waste of space as far as I am concerned.
If you can cope pill free, carry on as you are and don't invite further problems. Most medications have side effects.
Cholesterol medication can also cause serious disability and leg pain. etc.

Re: How to live with body pain when you're afraid of taking meds?

That's good, sound advice, thank you

Re: How to live with body pain when you're afraid of taking meds?

The first drug company who can develop remedies safely, without any harmful side affects would be a godsend, and knock all the other companies out of business.

Re: How to live with body pain when you're afraid of taking meds?

Linda darlin' - go have a look at my profile. You'll see I have had arthritis for some years and now have a full set of titanium steel implants in both hips and both knees. Despite being surgically replaced, they still give me grief when the weather is either wet or cold or converely when the humidity is high. When the pain is bad I take the co-codomol, but my doctors are very good to me, and when the pain is particularly bad I have a bottle or Oromorph (liquid morphine) stashed away.

Re: How to live with body pain when you're afraid of taking meds?

You said it!

I realize all medications can have their side-effects. Heck, even aspirin can bother certain people. But some of the side-effects to these new drugs, especially, are downright dangerous.

Oh my goodness, I'm sorry you're going through all of that. That's got to be hell to live with.

Is morphine really as good at killing pain as they say? I've never taken the stuff.

Re: How to live with body pain when you're afraid of taking meds?

Absolutely darlin' - it works for me, but as with the co-codomol, there are unpleasant side-effects for which Sennacot helps. Warning!!! - Oromorph is addictive, so not advisable for long-term use.

Re: How to live with body pain when you're afraid of taking meds?

Well, I doubt my doctor would give it to me anyway

I already take ativan for my anxiety (I can't take SSRI's because of - you guessed it - horrible side-effects) and that's an addictive drug as well. But it's the only thing that keeps my anxiety under control without resorting to SSRI's and the like. I managed to stay on celexa for a few years, but I couldn't handle the floating head syndrome and even though I've been off of it for several years now, my head has never been the same. I'm frequently dizzy and/or lightheaded. That stuff messed me up for life, I think. And the withdrawal of coming off of it, my gawd... I thought I was gonna die.

Re: How to live with body pain when you're afraid of taking meds?

How much Ativan do you take?

Re: How to live with body pain when you're afraid of taking meds?

My doc gives me scripts of 1 mg pills. I split them in half. So usually I take 0.5 mg at a time and I normally take between 1-3 per day, give or take a 1/2, depending on my level of anxiety. I can take up to 3 mg per day, but generally average 1.5 to 2. I developed 'driving anxiety', which causes me to occasionally have panic/anxiety attacks when I'm driving. I have NO idea where the hell that came from, but it's caused me to take more ativan than I used to because I used to go sometimes several days without needing it at all. Now, because of the stupid driving anxiety (it gets so bad I have to pull off the road) I'm taking more because I can't just not drive. I have to get to work, get my son to school, go grocery shopping, etc.

I went online when that began and did a search and discovered others - even those like me who love to drive - that developed this weird driving anxiety thing. Some of them have become downright terrified to get behind the wheel of a car. It's so weird and I don't know why it happens. But I can be perfectly fine and then I get in my car and start driving and here it comes, feeling dizzy in my head and I start to sweat and I have to pull off and take an ativan and get out of my car and walk around until I feel normal again. So these days I take an ativan BEFORE I get into my car. And it's like I've conditioned myself to needing the ativan before I drive. And that worries me. I honestly believe I'm psychologically dependent on the ativan, if not physically. Without it I'm a mess.

My apologies for prattling on.