January 25, 2009 - 9:22pm
I'll save you the long background story and get to the point. My wife has never done any opiates until she started the PM doctor 3 months ago.
1 My wife is now seeing a PM doc. He started her on 25mcg fentanyl patches, and #240 5mg Oxycodone IR for BTpain for one month. She said the patches did nothing but the 5mg oxy's helped alot.
2 Month 2 she gets 50mcg fentanyl patches and #120 5mg Oxy IR's. she got so nauseas from the 50mcg patches, she can't get out of bed, and her pain is still there and not subsiding at all. after 1.5weeks she stops taking the 50mcg patches and keeps taking the 5 IR's.
3 Month 3 he switched her to 40mg OC's and 90 5mg oxy IR's. Now she says the 40's don't help the pain, and they make her tired, so she's still taking the 5's but now they're not helping the pain.
Now I should tell you I was addicted to pills for 5-6 years before she evr started I have stopped and am on suboxone now, because Of her getting drugs for her Pain. a 40mg OC would take all my pain away . I don't understand why it doesn't help my wife. Any thoughts?
(edit mod x)
January 27, 2009 - 11:38am
#2
Some people just do not seem
Some people just do not seem to get relief no matter how much narcotic you put them on, or they just cannot tolerate the side effects. Perhaps a different holistic approach to pain management using alternative and conventional therapies (meditation, hynosis, accupuncture, yoga, TENS, ultrasound, etc) would help your wife.
January 27, 2009 - 5:07pm
#3
Great points
The problem for many patients is that most ins. companies don't pay for holistic treatments or pay for a very limitted amount.
I need ongoing outpaitent PT to remain up on my feet and mobile. I do an hour of stretching and ROM at home each morning and a half hour of stationary bicycle each afternoon. In order to be able to stand up and move, I require ultrasound and light therapy on my feet, legs and lower lumbar three times a week. Medicaid will pay for it approx. three months out of the year. Approx. one month after they discontinue the therapy, I am back in my wheelchair.
Lexy
January 27, 2009 - 7:00pm
#4
My wife is the same way
Narcotic meds do not help her...like they said, some people are built differently. also, some people do not realize that their pain receptors are working in certain ways. Some people's pain is just too great for meds to work, but realistically those high powered doses just feed the need.
January 27, 2009 - 7:10pm
#5
She's actually done a few
She's actually done a few months of accupuncture, and as far as "feeding the need", if they don't work she doesn't even take them. she's got scripts from 2 months ago that she's tried for a week and then thats it
January 27, 2009 - 8:05pm
#6
and it depends on the
and it depends on the condition. some people find no relief from huge narcotics dosages but then are completely without pain using Neurontin. another example, for some skin ailments sometimes a topical may fix the prob when morphine won't.
January 27, 2009 - 10:22pm
#7
woner
i hope you dont take offense,but how does it feel having those rx"s around the house?i couldn't do it especially if she wasn't using them. always trying to figure the brain out.thanks
January 28, 2009 - 9:48am
#8
It was extremely hard, so
It was extremely hard, so hard in fact I was stealing them. I knew at some point she would realize that eah bottle had 40+ pills missing and only a few patches left. I made her lock them up in a gun case I had. But I eventually picked the lock open so that didn't work. So I made myself get on suboxone. I knew It's the only way we could cohabitate. I'm in the process of tapering off the sub's to see if I can do it. And remain clean after Sub's. Right now I have no urge to (use) at all. I want to see If I feel that way without Suboxone. I guess I'm like you in that sense, I'm so interested In how the mind works, I use myself as a guinea pig. It's funny though because I've smoked cig's for 10+ years and I can quit cold turkey for 3 weeks or 3 months and it doesn't bother me at all?
(edit mod x)
January 28, 2009 - 10:40am
#9
nevermind
nevermind
January 29, 2009 - 4:43pm
#10
Pain Mgt
I wouldn't let my wife give up hope on getting on top of her pain. Hopefully, her doc has a big bag of tricks. Sometimes it takes quite a while to find the right combination of medications and other therapies to do the trick.
I am probably saying the obvious but here goes...........................keep your expectations reasonable. There is no total relief for many conditions. What you go for is being on top of the pain so you can function reasonably and have some quality of life. Three months is way too soon to throw in the towel when there are so many options. Best wishes for both of you.
Lexy
My only thought is that she needs to try a differnt base med. It is very odd that drugs that strong are not helping her but everybody is built differently. Give them back and switch to a different type of pain reliever.