Congrats on having a caring understanding doc.....sometimes it takes us years to find one!
As to your pets, I know my have been life savers more than once. How can you not be soothed with all that unconditional love coming your way!
Good luck, Rose
At Tue, 27 Nov 2001, J&L VERMEY wrote:
>
>To my new friends
> Gosh, I just had the worse night of my life! I went to bed at 10.30 pm, I was then just bordering on abdo pain which was very uncomfortable, but controllable with my pain meds. I went to sleep, only to wake up two hours later in absolute agony, I know I probably have had pain before which was so bad - but the thing I find with pain is that when it is over, I forget, which I see as a kind of blessing. Anyway, John (my husband) soon woke up, as he'd detected thru my altered breathing that something was wrong, so he advised me to take some more Sevredol (Morphine Sulphate), so I did as he suggested and took my normal dose of 40 mg. I also did my breathing exercises, trying to breathe through the pain, I focused on positive thinking, and when a negative thought popped up into my head I demanded of myself to "STOP all those negative thoughts. I am in charge here. I know what to do. I can cope with this situation with my plan." But still the pain would not abate, so I tried to massage m
>y stomach. After 4 hours had crawled by I took another dose of Sevredol. Finally at 4.30 am I fell asleep - only to have to get up at 7 am, because I had to go see my doctor.
> Although we had to wait a long time (John always comes with me - he can tell the doctor things which I forget about!) but when I was finally sitting down, and we told the doctor everything that I'd been through the last 3 weeks. We were in his office for over an hour. I was really happy when we left to go to the pharmacy, as we'd decided to try a few new things, and also because my doctor is so understanding and supportive in regards to my pain. He thinks I need more regular pain relieve, so instead of just taking two doses a day of the Sevredol, he wants me to take it every four hours, just until I feel more comfortable. I am currently coming of Methadone - I've been on that for many years, and no longer felt it was very effective - and as John and I want to start a family we felt it was important to ditch it - as bringing a baby into the world who is addicted to Methadone horrifies us. What I am aiming for is to decrease the Methadone slowly, as I'm not happy to go 'cold turkey
>', I tried that the first time I found out I was pregnant, and John assures me I am not a pleasant person to live with when I'm withrawing!!! Plus I don't need the extra stress, nor the anxiety and everything else you end up experiencing when you withdraw. Dr Robinson wants to instead change my Sevredol eventually to MST (the slow release Morphine) for in his opinion it will work better in helping to relieve my pain, and he reassures me that it is far easier to stop taking MST than it is to stop taking Methadone. I'm really quite proud of what I've achieved since March of this year - I was taking about 60 mg of Methadone then, now I am down to 7 mg. My pain specialist from Waikato Hospital (here in NZ) does not approve of my taking Sevredol, as he wants me to stop taking all opioids, I really feel that he just does not understand how bad my pain is, as he rarely sees me, due to the fact that I am refusing to be hospitalised unless it is an absolute emergency. I need to start handling
> my illness at home, because in the past I spend more time in hospital than in my own home. But if my pain specialist had his way, and I was not allowed to take any form of pain relieve, I believe, truly, that I would go insane! I'm so glad that Dr Robinson does not agree with him. I know that if I insisted on it that I could get another pain specialist allocated to me, but I've had to deal with all of them over the years, when my pain specialist has been away on leave, or simply not on call, and frankly, he is the lesser evil, so to speak. But sometimes when I've been in so much pain, that all I wanted was to double over, and howl, to be told that I should go for a good brisk walk! Well! That just tears me apart, it just makes me angry, how can someone who has never experienced chronic pain for himself give me that kind of advice? Yes, I know it is important that I get some kind of exercise, that I need to keep moving! I know all that, and I make a consistent effort to do so, but whe
>n I'm in as much pain as I have been the last 24 hours, then I take little walks, just around my property, with my dog at my side for company. Still, my pain specialist has made the withdrawl a little more easier to cope with by giving me Clonidine patches, which are normally used for high blood pressure, but for withdrawl it keep anxiety at bay.
> Anyway, to get back to what I was telling you guys about, Dr Robinson took a swob from my mouth, as I've been having such sore throats, to see if I've got thrush in my gut. And he's also going to send some fecal samples to the lab, to test for parasites, etc. He's prescribed a 10 day course of Prednisone to get the inflammation in my gut to go down, he asked me to write down in my journal how I respond to it, and also to record how long it lasts after I stop taking them - so we can in the future perhaps recognise when my attacks occur, in the hope of lessening the attacks before they get the chance to become too severe. he also prescribed Nadolol, to see if we can prevent the migraines I suffer from nearly every day - I use Imigran injections to get rid of a migraine, which I find to be close to a miracle, as they can relieve my headaches within about 20 to 30 minutes, still I think it will be worth seeing if I can prevent them from coming on - I know that stress is the main cause
> of the migraines.
> The other major nuiscance I find about my pain is that it triggers such horrible nausea and vomiting, but I'm glad that we've found something that works, and that is intramuscular injections of Cyclizine. Many people are horrified when they see what a big needle I have to stick in my legs, but it doesn't particularly worry me, plus John has learned how to give them - so if I'm too busy being sick, and can't give it to myself, he can give me a jab. The only thing is I've been getting very lumpy thighs - as I inject myself up to twice or three times a day. But it's a small price to pay.
> So, despite the pain, I'm at least feeling happier, and also considerably more comfortable, as the Morphine has kicked in, so now I'm sitting, fairly relaxed with my laptop on my lap, with my faithful dog at my feet, and a cat curled up asleep beside me. Feeling lucky to be alive, treasured by my husband, and contend by my animals, and excited about forming some friendships, albeit on the internet. For too long I've isolated myself, tried to go it alone, which has gotten me no where.
> I'd like to share something with you guys, and that is about my amazing, caring and loving pets. My dog (who is a cross between a black Labrador and a Rotweiler) is 8 months old, and in some ways, still very much a puppy, his name is Jaap, which is the Dutch equivalent of Jack, and unlike my previous dog, Jaap is really sensitive, he knows how I am feeling, and he knows when I'm in a lot of pain, and when that happens he is constantly by my side, when I lie down on our bed to rest he lies next to me, often resting his head on my stomach, and he watches me with those adorable brown eyes, which are filled with concern and love. If I am in pain during the night he will sleep on the floor next to my side of the bed - he has a basket in the corner of our bedroom, in which he normally sleeps, and if I can't sleep, or I moan he sticks his nose into me, just to let me know that he's there and he'll guard me (he's simply too big to sleep in our bed at night!). I so treasure my dog, even th
>ough he is very naughty of late, and acting a little like a teenager, which I suppose he is in dog years. And then there are my cats (6 of them)! I swear - it's like they've arranged some kind of roster, there's always one with me, either on the bed, or on my lap, and I'm not exagerating - but when one leaves, another one arrives. I get so anoyed when I hear people say that cats are not faithful, for mine sure are, especially my alpha cat, he's the oldest, five years old, he's a hunter, who is normally always away hunting, and only comes home to eat, EXCEPT when my bowel disease flares up, then he's constantly at my side, keeping me sane!
> Well, that's what I felt like sharing with you today.
>
>God bless you all,
>
>Linda (NZ)
-- kcmo ro(se) ICQ #131145100 If you can't learn to do something well, learn to enjoy doing it poorly.