Claudia - A Professor/Pain specialist explained this to me.....

From: Wally (wallamara@hotmail.com)
Sun Sep 9 01:07:12 2001


Hi Claudia & welcome back!

I have spoken to many doctors and specialist in the last 18mnths about pain control and how drugs work differently for each individual.

I will try to relate the explination given to me by Professor Liccus, who is a specialist in pain management for cancer patients, she is also a teaching doctor of pain management with interns at Sydney University, here in Australia. Prof. also conducts a pain clinic at the Royal Hospital for Women in Sydney, where Professor Vacaillie is the head of the Endo/Gyno clinic there.

Prof. asked me many detailed questions about my pain, if there were certain triggers I.E. excersise, food, sitting, walking etc.....after I had answered all these questions she asked me about which pain medications I had used and asked me to tell her which ones worked best for me. She also wanted to know if I took these pain meds regularly, or just when my pain was unbearable. Another question also related to how these meds affected me I.E.....did they make me drowsy, constipated etc.

After we had a clear picture of which pain med seemed to be working best for me she categorised them into different groups. One was opiates including morphine, pethadine, oxycontin etc....another was paracetamol & the other I can't recall...but they included things like nurofen, which had a relaxing effect on pain....often used for joint pain, artheritis etc.

We discovered that at the time, I would get better relief from half an endone (Oxycontin) three times per day, and 2 nurofen four times per day. What this routine did for me was to keep my pain at a manageable level, allowing me to be an active member of my family, work, life etc. Thus eliminating the extremes that happened when my activities increased.

That regime has had to change after my last major surgery in April this year. I still take endone regularly, and have to increase the dose at times due to circumstances beyand my control. The ultimate goal for me is to rely more on my meditation and relaxation excersises and less on medications.

Currently I am taking up to 3 endone as one dose (sometimes several times a day), and at times I am able to cope with as little as two in a whole day. I supplement the endone with an occassional valium (which is similar, but a little stronger than nurofen), it is used as a relaxant. I also take 4 tryptinol tablets with my evening meal. Traditionally this drug is used for patients suffering with depression, but in much higher doses than I take. It also relaxes me & interferes with the pain receptors in my brain. Since I started taking this drug, I have been able to have up to 5 or 6 hours uninterupted sleep, this is a major breakthrough for me. I have bladder problems as a part of ARD and I can wake up to 8 times per night to empty my bladder. I have recently experienced nights of totally uninterupted sleep!

So Claudia, my advise is to ask your doctor to refer you to a pain specialist, or ask your doctor to help you find a combination of pain medications to help give you relief. It is a matter of trial & error, and once you have a combination that works, take it regularly and feel the results! Once you have done that, you then have the breathing space to start finding other methods (such as meditation) to help you reduce the amount of drugs you need.

I hope that this helps, please feel free to ask me any questions, print this out & take it with you to your next doctors appointment. It may help you to explain to you doctor the kind of help and relief you are looking for from pain medication. Currently, my goal is to reduce my pain meds and be completely off them by November. If I'm not, that is fine, I can always move the goal posts back a little further. The trick is to have those goal posts to work towards.

Prof. explained that pain medication worked best when it is used as part of a combination, and was most effective when taken regularly to control pain levels, when we use it in times of extreme pain, we actually require much higher doses to bring the pain down to a level that we are able to cope with, she also said that it takes longer for us to gain relief and restricts us from actively participating in our own lives!

Best wishes to you Claudia, I hope I haven't confused you too much!

cheers, love & Hugs

Jo (Australia)

At Fri, 7 Sep 2001, Claudia wrote: >
>Hello everyone! I've only posted once before here & I received some very
>supportive letters & posts. Thank you very much for your responses -
>they made me feel not so alone. I've had a lot of things going on in my
>life over the past couple of months & haven't been checking in like I
>had planned to. This is a wonderful site & I'm hoping to be able to be
>more a part of it.
>Now for my dilemma.....
>Like many of you, I have had a tough time getting my pain under control
>for one reason or another - doctor who will listen, insurance, money,
>etc,etc,etc. I now have a very good doctor who listens to me & wants to
>help me. I had been taking Percocet 5mg, 1 three times a day. It was
>working ok, not great, but ok. Then my dr. had me add the Duragesic
>50mg patch. I felt "drugged", something I never felt with the Percocet
>& also got an itchy rash where the adhesive was on my skin. He took me
>off the patch. Also the patch didn't control the pain as well overall
>as the pills. I decided to experiment on my own. I put the patch lower
>on my upper arm than I had had it before. I had a few patches left
>(good for 3 days apiece). I continued taking the pills 3 times a day &
>wore the patch too. The drugged feeling went away & by putting the
>patch in a different place the itching is only slight. Now I have
>virtually NO pain, just some achiness every couple of hours or so. Now
>for my questions. Has anyone else been on both the patch & oral
>medication at the same time? Is this too much medication? Because of my
>past experiences with doctors (I'm sure most of you have had the same
>problems),I feel funny telling my doctor that this is what is working
>for me. I hope you all understand what I'm talking about. We, as
>patients, are made to feel uncomfortable asking for pain relief. But
>this is working for me, I haven't been this much pain-free in years! I
>feel normal. I can do my housework & play with my kids! Any
>advice/support would be SO much appreciated!
>Thank you in advance. Peace.
>Claudia
>traycla@aol.com

--
Positive Affirmation

Say this with your hands above your head (victory style) and repeat three times: I'm Alive I'm Alert I'm a LOT of fun!!

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