Is It Ever Appropriate To Take Narcotics For Years To Treat Chronic Pain?

Is It Ever Appropriate To Take Narcotics For Years To Treat Chronic Pain?

Take THAT paranoid, judgmental people in my life who have tried to label me a junkie just because they saw me taking one a couple of times! lol. (I usually do take pain medicine when I'm around people for any significant amount of time, or drive very long at all, because it's a pretty rare occasion, usually I'll get tired and start to hurt and not be able to sit or lie down every 15-30 minutes like I do at home. And tired, burny muscles will make me cranky and out of it so...)

No, seriously, it was nice to see this in writing, doctors have become so freaked about prescribing narcotics since the FDA cracked down, that they sent me to a pain management specialist! I wasn't sure what the point would be, because I do not have the type of chronic, non-stop pain that most people dx'd w/FM describe; I did at one time, but was able to get it in check with Myofascial Release Therapy and Chiropractic visits, and very slow but steady self-rehabilitation at the local Y Gym.
(I still get hurt easily, get disproportionately sore doing simple things, and wake up with or develop the body aches from time to time though.
I'd injured myself last year and been in moderate pain for a couple of months (evil vacuum, yup, that's how fragile I am. Granted, I also have Degenerative Disc Disease, so...) but that was months back, so I went just to appease the doctors...

Pain Specialist's verdict? There was no reason for me to have been referred there. He didn't prescribe narcotics at all, and if I needed and could manage my pain with just a few Vicodin a month, the doctor behaved unprofessionally in not giving me the script!(And trying to pawn me off on him!) He told me to be careful and do nothing that could mess up my back any worse, because it looked livable in the MRIs, but if it got any worse I'd likely need surgery AND/OR welcome the epidural pain shots in my spine that he'd graciously offered before he realized I didn't have any significant pain at the moment. Then he sent me on my way. (Not to say I was pain-free, I do live with some level of discomfort, but it's a level I can usually ignore to the point I'm not even conscious of unless it starts interfering with my thinking or making me cranky, then I usually realize it and take something to calm it down...And I'd spent 45 minutes filling out paperwork before seeing him, so it was to be expected that my neck would be bugging me. I just don't think that quite compares to the level of pain I have experienced in the past or that most FM patients deal with contantly, to call it chronic pain...if that makes any sense.

So yup. If you've had similar problems, here it is again, share it with the paranoid peeps in your life! (Not at all to say that you don't have to be careful with narcotic painkillers. If you ever do have to take them constantly for more than a couple of weeks, or feel any dependence on them, DO talk to your doctor and explore alternate pain techniques. For example, if I'm at home and in pain, I try every pain mangement method I know before going to the pills, & save those for when I have to be around other people & showing up smelling like arthritis cream or ice/hot packs hanging off me would be inappropriate and/or embarassing, hehe.)

Here's another article: Is It Ever Appropriate To Take Narcotics For Years To Treat Chronic Pain?

Sleepwalking through Life

I just took half a tranquilizer. I feel so overwhelmed, it's almost a scary feeling because I feel strangely calm, but with undertones that I could lose it at a moments notice...maybe that's what my new psychologist was referring to yesterday when he said I seemed so calm describing my illnesses, my life, and how it's all affected me. I was tired, and getting to his office 20 minutes away by 1pm took a lot of planning and will power. I think THAT'S the problem. I am running on pure will power lately, so it's bound to make me a little zombie-ish. Have to, have to, have to, must do... I feel like I just need a few days, a week, of doing NOTHING, of everything being easy and effortless. I've been keeping busy. Trying to have a social life, because I don't think I'll make it without one; I can't keep wishing my family would be there for me. I need people who have the capacity to give a damn. But the cost is high. So exhausting.

I'm tapering down on the anti-viral, as per my doc's instructions, and I'm starting to get sore throats again daily, and hoarseness, feeling like I'm coming down with the flu, but then it goes away. (And comes back, the very next day.)

Pain is back full force. It's a whole new type of pain, that makes the aches and pains that (fortunately) were the whispers that I'd learned to live with from the Fibromyalgia seem insignificant. I feel like I have lobster or a scorpion attached to the top of my spine, I swear I can feel the vertebraes; they hurt and they are wrapped in barbed wire, making the skin around them raw and sending shooting pains to random areas of my upper back, almost to my armpits, and sometimes down into my fingers even. I can't even get comfortable lying down much of the time, and my recliner was off-limits until right now. And normally I need to lie down often...Fine, I'll adjust, I'll stay upright longer to ward off that discomfort, but then I start looking for things to do, which is easy, because there are dishes and laundry, but then, if I do those, it will aggravate my back. Catch 22. Yes, I've been pulling out every trick in my dusty pain-management archives of my brain...heat, no, ice sometimes, capsaicin, when desperate and willing to risk the stomach effects, daily anti-inflammatory, shiatsu massager if tolerated, TheraCane for what that doesn't get, an extra muscle relaxer or more than one narcotic class analgesic a day, which I usually would hesitate to do...Fun times are here again! lol. It's ok, I'm seriously laughing, what can I say, maybe my therapist is right and I am getting somewhat Zen? Sometimes? What can I do, one must keep on keeping on, or so they say...

I'm waking up SO tired again. I've slept till 1pm twice this week, and still woken up tired. So much to do at the beginning of the month when I get my little government check. I desperately have wanted to do nothing most of the week and inevitably find that there is something I HAVE to do. Doctor's appointment's to keep. Oil to get changed for the Smog Check I can't afford for the Registration I also can't afford. And then I know telling the shrink that my very soul is tired was right on, because making myself go back out to get some food (can't cook with all the dishes dirty) after 20 minutes of indecision so bad it almost drove me to tears, I pull out of my carport and tear off my sideview mirror on a pole that's always been there, which as it turns out, makes driving so much harder, and adds more money to the things I can't afford but must somehow come up with column. (No, not to worry, I wasn't on any medications I shouldn't drive on at the time. Just a fully natural daze I guess. Plus the neighbor parked her car too close to mine, making me veer to the left myself after pulling in.)

Now reality hits. How the hell am I going to get through all the doctor's appointments I have scheduled for myself this month? (They do kinda have to be now, case is waiting for it) 2-3 a week for a month, topped off by Thanksgiving and birthdays all around, for myself included. Thank goodness the Physical Therapy is right around the corner, but still, I'm not used to being out & about and having places to be feel good or not, so it takes far more out of me than it should. (Or else I'd gladly volunteer, that dilemma is what keeps me away from that, as well as school, so exhausting to deal with letting people down. Right now is about survival, I think that's enough, no?) No, people aren't as much a challenge as they used to be, I was a much bigger recluse last time I had PT regularly. Then, I was just so happy to be around people my age, such a rarity, and they were good-looking, chatty, and gave me massages & made me feel better! And thank goodness because I was becoming a bit tooo eccentric!

Lately I've been graced with kind people and easy conversation almost everywhere I go, now that I think about it. I was actually able to have a slice of pizza at Costco, completely relaxed one day recently, just people watch and feel completely calm and at ease...was it the Pharmacy Tech that shared his experience with the two Capsaicin creams I was trying to decide between? The smile and gracious politeness of the checker, or the easy conversation with the pizza girl? Maybe my energy has shifted and they are just reacting to that. Whatever, I'll take it!

It's later, lately, when I get home, that I can't turn it off. Everything is going but deep inside I'm so exhausted and somehow I can't stop the overdrive and it's hard to handle. Life seems like a big storm of chaos this month, and I'm expecting surprises to boot and there's nothing I can do but walk through the storm, and see what I encounter, hopefully stay in the eye for a bit when I can.

Good news is, I haven't gotten AS sick as I'd feared getting off the anti-viral, though, strangely, supplementing with Zinc seems to be helping a great deal (just ran out and already noticing the difference, ugh) and the Nattokinase & Indole 3 Carbinole supplement I took seem to have done the job, very slight discomfort this month, compared to last, for a much shorter time (although I was on various analgesics before & at the time) and also hardly any worsening of autonomic function, just bit of dizziness, but not even almost completely blacked-out-eyeball-squeezing, headache-inducing kind. Well, I'm sleepy, which is happening early a lot lately, and I'll take it. Going to see a Chiropractor tomorrow, yay? My head keeps telling me this will likely help, even if painful at first (I usually feel like my back is in pieces when I get an adjustment after not having one in a long time, and then better later) but I've never had quite this type of pain before, usually it's muscular, this seems to be all bones and nerves so I'm a little scared. Whatever happens, I MUST get to Costco sometime tomorrow, too, running out of essential meds & toiletries, ugh, wish I could do home delivery! And that damned mirror...Oy. A credit card and someone to help me run errands would be SO handy right now...

A Pain in the Neck.

Hi there. I should probably not be typing right now, but I'm bored silly and I keep stuffing my face even as I feel myself getting fatter, so I need a distraction! Sunday, even though my upper back stuff was still bugging a bit, I got frustrated, and told myself blah, it's just a a lil vacuuming. I'll live! So I vacuumed the master bedroom. Silly optimism. I soon had a burning shoulder, and felt like someone was sticking a crown of thorns into my neck on the right side. Switched to the left till I killed that one too. Last night I was in so much pain & discomfort, and nothing seemed to help; Heat, Ice, Rx-strength anti-inflammatory, hardcore muscle relaxant, Arnica Cream, Capsaicin Cream....and if I'd had no copayment I was thinking about hopping over to the ER...Haven't had pain this bad in ages! I think it's the messed up discs/pinched nerve, magnified by Fibro, because it ended up being that type of thing where I couldn't stand any pressure or even light sensation on it, plus, I think the Capsaicin really helped in the end, and that affects nerves to shut down pain soo... Finally got to sleep . Woke up better. But not for long. Within an hour I was to the point where I was doing yoga stretches, then I know it's bad! Helped a little, then I had to lie down, because even the back of the recliner was aggravating it, and it's amazing how much your arms weigh when your shoulders/back hurt just having them attached, all the little things you can do to aggravate them! Tried to watch depressing reality TV about overly fat people and overly skinny people... Yeah, I ended up making more phone calls, I couldn't take the inactivity. More hoops to jump through to get the specialist for my Endo, got referred to the wrong one again! Oh, let's not forget a shouting match with my social worker, who claimed not to have gotten my form yet, and then found it in her Inbox. That could have been that, but I made the mistake (more like right move) of asking her about the stupid Direct Deposit form I sent her 2+weeks ago! She said she had received it but knew nothing about them...and when I told her I'd assumed she did because they had sent me one a few months back, she started to get defensive so I told her, it's okay, just find out and get back to me, you can do that, right...ugh, it was just ridiculous. Long story short, I'm pretty sure it's not going to be set up for next month, but I kinda knew that, would have been okay with it if she hadn't made my heart rate shoot through the roof with her confusing shouting! Wow, scary this is starting to feel normal, but I just took a step back and thought, Wow, my world is SUCH a madhouse...Just utter madness. But what else to do but soldier on?

Just so long as this darn pain eases up, I'd forgotten it could be this bad. It totally makes my anxiety go up, especially when nothing is working. Usually it's just aches & pains, malaise, but somehow that's not the same as full-on pain. Tempting to try the gym tomorrow, because that same anxiety had me eat half a box of graham crackers...plus I can just do the recumbent bike and maybe that will ease the tension & help? Of course, the idea was to start back at a few minutes, so as not to piss off my heart/nervous system so not sure how well that would suit both purposes, ugh. Hate having to think about every little thing. Alrighty, my hands & arms are prickling, so I guess it's time to go for now.

Back to Basics: Pain

Cool sites I found about pain & what to do. I think sometimes, when we have Fibro, and the magic pills have failed us or are unavailable, I think we forget that there are other things to try that help, as outlined here:

http://www.backandbodycare.com/home/neck/neck.htm

Another one on my other weak spot, arms/wrists:

http://www.backandbodycare.com/home/wrist/wrist.htm#TENDONITIS

Good stuff, especially the exercises, some of which are stuff that they had me do at Physical Therapy, so I KNOW they help.

A little bit of peace, brain scatter, and my remedy for a killer sinus headache

I'm feeling silly right now, not sure why. But in a good way. I'm home alone, sitting at the dining room table sipping some Yogi Detox Tea, and for some reason, right now, that is enough. All is well with the world.

Just a couple of hours ago I was near the desperate edge of misery fighting off an excruciating sinus headache. Yep, the allergies are back with a vengeance. It seems what was doing the trick were all the enzymes I was taking, and I had to lay off them during my monthly cycle, because if I don't bad stuff happens. (I won't gross you out w/any more details.)
What is this miracle allergy cure I've discovered? (Well not a cure, but pretty damn close!) Well, I have been taking a supplement called Inflatrol, which contains Papain, Bromelain, and Quercetin (of which the first two help by thinning secretions, i.e., mucous/phlegm, and the third works as an anti-histamine) along with a negligible amount of Vitamin C, and Ginger and Turmeric, two potent antioxidant/anti-inflammatories. That helps a bit. But the last couple of weeks on this diet, I've been taking another digestive enzyme formula as well (it was free, and it contains pancreatin, along with other ingredients which aid in digestion, including some more papain & bromelain). But what I think has really been the key is the Natto I've been eating, which contains Nattokinase. I've noticed the difference right away whenever I have some of the gooey stuff. So yay for the Body Ecology Diet! (I'd heard of Natto awhile back, actually been taking Nattokinase supplements to help keep my Endometriosis in check for awhile on & off, but it wasn't until I heard Donna Gates' Liver Cleanse protocol that I decided to try the icky sounding stuff. As gooey and slightly icky as it is, I can't seem to keep away from it; my body just seems to love it. The protein from the fermented soy beans seems to do be me good, plus it's not as heavy as Tempeh, and seems to help digest whatever else I eat with it.

So today, as I was having a rather unpleasant reminder of just how awful allergies can be (I had no energy, brain fog up the yazoo, although only slightly worsened by the allergies, and I was starting to feel fluey, feverish, heavy-headed and just plain miserable. And oh yeah, the sinus headache felt like my forehead/skull were being pried in two. That bad!) when I decided to say screw it, and get back on the enzymes. First, I had some Natto, whipped up with some gluten-free Tamari, some Nori flakes, and a side of cultured veggies. (I know that sounds totally gross, but I feel compelled to eat it! Almost, even, maybe...LIKE it!)

In slight desperation, while out running errands, I'd taken a pseudoephedrine (decongestant that is an upper, sometimes sets off my POTS, or makes me very restless and cranky) but that wasn't helping, neither was my nasal spray, so I gave in and did a sinus rinse (I cannot get used to that whole deal!) and what a relief right there...well about halfway... Next I took a couple of acetominophen (paracetomol for those in Europe or outside the U.S.) and some ginger tea (in hopes of it acting as an anti-inflammatory. I also sucked on some chewable enzymes (about $3 a Trader Joe's, great for when you forget to take the non-chewable kind in time, and in this case, for liquifying & loosening phlegm clogging up your sinuses. I knew it wouldn't all help instantly, so in the meantime, to keep any more allergens from entering my poor nose, I coated it with Vicks Vapo-Rub and trapped the vapors inside w/cotton. An hour later, much better.

Now if I could just get my attention span back...I can barely even seem to write an e-mail, much less chat or Tweet...can't even seem to watch a DVD...To think I used to be the Queen of Multi-tasking...not much hope trying to do anything useful until that improves a bit...

In the meantime, I'm going to rev up the detox tea and water w/lemon, since I seem to be out of Vitamin C, and it just occurred to me that the reason they keep saying to sip water w/lemon is possibly partly at least because of the Vitamin C in the lemon...good for energy...well off I go to throw my hippie self into a reclining position, back's so tired!

Oh wait! Speaking of back!
The rheumy I saw yesterday called and left me a message that she looked at my MRI report (uh, that's what I gave it to her yesterday! Shouldn't she have done that then?) and I have some issues w/my spine that cause pain so she's going to refer me to a pain management doctor and there's an injection that they can put in my spine to help with that.

!!!?!!!?

Hmm. Needle. Spine. I'm not in THAT much pain!
I actually feel grateful, because my pain is actually not constant, and even though it's been worse this past year than it has been in awhile, I know if I could just afford to see a chiropractor I could get it under control, probably completely, plus some physical therapy to strengthen it and get rid of those trigger points I always get...

Maybe she didn't believe me that 30 Vicodin last me at least 3 months... I know that stuff is addictive and if I don't have anywhere important to be or anything to do, I'd rather ride it out in bed w/my trusty ol' heating pad, unless it gets really bad. Other than that, I only take them when I have something to do, like drive...go to family function, etc. and being out for a couple of months and detoxing my body w/this diet has made me want to take them even less frequently. (Not to mention people close to me abusing Rx meds or becoming dependent on them! Still enough of a control freak there that I couldn't stand to have a drug controlling me.)
Fun stuff when you're poor and have a pain condition! One doctor alternates between pushing pills I don't need (which I declined!) and then warning me they're addictive, another tells me if I should lose my bottle I won't get a refill! I miss my old doctors. They knew me, had access to all my med records for the last several years, and never made me feel like a drug seeking addict. Ah, well. Someday I shall know the joys of private insurance again! Or not need pain meds other than Tylenol! I know the day will come.:)

Roller Girl

Ah. The day I discovered the foam roll...I was sooo happy. The YMCA trainer was showing me how to use it to stretch out my thighs, but my back got jealous (like it does when I put Banalg pain cream on my arms or hands) and I swear it was practically crying out, "Now me, me, me!"

And it was RIGHT. I lay down on it, knees bent, and just rolled up and down.
That first time, my back cracked and I felt something falling back into the place where it should've been. It was a GLORIOUS feeling. Who would have thought it'd be so easy to give yourself a back massage? Plus, rolling it under the fronts of my thighs...it felt like the muscles were so tight, they'd been meshed together in knots, and the rolling action worked it all out...My body was thanking me.

And the trainer was right. I've had this thing, where if I try and do the recumbent bike, within a couple of minutes, my thigh muscles lock up into a cramp-spasm type thing where I can barely walk. No amount of stretching ever seemed to help. But that magic little foam roller? Voila!

So here's a link to an article about using foam rolls and other PT aids for exercise even a weakling like me can do!

http://www.naturalsolutionsmag.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/center.article/articleID/13801/subTopicID/118/RollerGirl