Re: Desperate

From: Jo Eslick (joanne@bombobeach.com)
Sun Mar 10 21:32:42 2002


Hello Mary Lou, Welcome to the board, and YES it is possible to have a pain free day..... it takes work, experimentation, determination and support from your doctor.

I also take amytriptaline at night, and felt bombed out the next day, the trick was to take it earlier... I have it at 6pm so that by the time I go to bed at 10:30 I am feeling a little relaxed and fine.... I usually drift off to sleep just fine PROVIDING I haven't been having a busy day, full of emails, letters, phone calls etc.....

I have a pain management PLAN I am always advocating this idea, but I am unsure of how many actually try this out. Mary Lou I am in Australia and I founded the Adhesions Support Group for my country http://www.bombobeach.com and it is open to everyone, not just Aussies. There you will find some practical ideas to get you started on working out a pain management plan that IS RIGHT FOR YOU. One mistake people make, is trying something that someone else uses, finding that they don't get the same relief so, they forget it, give it up because it didn't work for them.

The secret is to use the ideas in the "How to Cope" section and experiment with them, change it around a little, substitute activities, words whatever it takes to make it feel like YOUR PAIN MANAGEMENT PLAN!!! The next step is to also have a good talk to your doctors about how pain medication works. Ask about the different groups, yes there are different groups of drugs targeted at particular problems.... then sometimes they find that the drug also works on other conditions..... I will be drawing a diagram soon to illustrate this point for a page that will be added to the how to cope section soon.

You also need to include the people you live with, work with and socialise with. To have maximum help. patience and understanding, you need to make them a part of your pain relief plan. This eliviates stress caused by trying to live up to unrealistic expectations of work collegues, family or friends.... with chronic pain... it is a disability and those who are around you and love you need to be aware of that.... THEN they too can be an important part of your overall pain management plan.

Some will say that's too hard! BUT I say, you will never never know.... if you don't give it a go. What have you got to loose? NOTHING!! What have you to gain? PAIN FREE DAYS, a social life and interaction with family, loved ones and precious friends. Make your pain a part of you.... not a hidious second head! Use what you have to your advantage and do the best you can with your life! You owe it to yourself, your family, your friends but most importantly YOU!!:-) OK Joey lecture one o one is now finished *grin*

Mary Lou..... how you spend your life, how you feel your pain and what you let it stop you from doing is really up to you. I find comprimise a great friend... I juggle and plan things well. The children's concerts & special activity days go on the calender first, then business and social. In between there needs to be rest time.... PLUS THE MOST IMPORTANT INGREDIANT is time with your spouse or partner.... because if your partner isn't standing beside you through all of this.... then there is a chance it will crumble around the edges.

You don't have a partner or spouse? FINE then make sure that you allow YOU time to be ALONE to read the books you enjoy, paint, fish, cook read....whatever you are pationate about. Successfu;l people are PASSIONATE people..... Why not use the same principals when you deal with pain? Thats what I do.... and Mary Lou, I have a WONDERFUL husband whom I adore, as he loves me.... I have FOUR precious gifts, our beautiful daughters.... I have my support system and I have my passion.... my family and including my very large extended family...... and that includes all my dear, wonderful, funny, loving, giving and my "rock" people... those who are with me no matter what.... Pain doesn't control me and stop me from having a life..... my pain has GIVEN me a life.... rich and wonderful full of amazing people who have courage, compassion and love..... and as the song goes.... love makes the world go round.... it also fives us pain free snapshots in our life.... some more fortumate get larger windows of time....BUT even with pain, our lives can be full.... we just have to learn how to reach out and grab it, without stretching those pesky adhesions too far! LOL

At Sun, 10 Mar 2002, Mary Lou wrote: >
>Please someone respond to this message.
>I have constant thoughts of dying to get out of
>this pain. I (stupidly) had a cosmetic
>procedure done 3 years ago to remove a lot of
>loose skin rolls around my lower back, from years
>of an eating disorder, which was finally in
>control. Now I have adhesions covering my entire
>torso front and back. It feels like meat
>hooks pulling, stinging, tearing, biting, terrible.
>I take amytryptilene to sleep at night (it works)
>but I am like a zomby during the day, struglling
>to be alert. I have to continue to work
>full time and i am a college teacher, so I have
>to act like I know what I am doing. during the
>day i take advil, tylenol, aspirin but all they
>do is make me more sedated with no pain
>relief. I want to try a TENS (trans epidural
>nerve stimulator. I am going to be seen at a
>pain clinic. My questions: 1) does anyone
>out there in adhesion sufferers land have pain
>control without sedation?????? 2)I have been
>reading the board for a while. When people say,
>"Have a pian free day", I wonder is that
>possible?????2)3) those of you taking
>strong meds like methadone and oxycntin, are you
>alert enough to function mentally? 4) I identify
>with the people who say, "I used to do so much
>and now my life is nothing." Just barely
>hanging on. PLEASE PLEASE P{LEASE SOMEONE ANSWER ME.
>Mary Lou

--
I am not a medical person, and all my messages are based
on personal experience.  I am a fellow adhesions sufferer
reaching out to help others.

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