Dear Joyce,
I can tell you what my pain management doctor had me do to access what pain
med would be best to try and maybe this could help you. She had me keep a
daily pain journal using the time frames of morning, afternoon, evening and
night. I wrote down my pain level from 1 to 10 at each of these times and
what affected the pain level like taking a short acting pill, exercise,
relaxation, heating pad, etc. You know, all the things we try to relieve the
pain. I did this for 2 weeks then she went over the journal and said I would
benefit from the 12 hour pain med, twice a day. That did give me a much
better quality of life and I'm able to do things now like go shopping, drive
a car, do some housework and other stuff I couldn't do. I have been on them
for over a year now and haven't had any problems with them. She is not
concerned about addiction because she said that all the studies show when you
take pain meds appropriately and for true pain, people are very unlikely to
become addicted. Helen Dynda has some great articles on this subject you
should check the archives for. It will ease your mind. I hope my experience
will help you. Please write if you have any other questions, I'd be happy to
help.
In friendship,
Deb