pain meds - psychological issue

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carken

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Okay - don't call me psycho, but just let me express what I'm thinking. I've been to a pain management doctor who is affiliated with the neurosurgeon who has done 3 back surgeries for me. An MRI w/wo contrast and xrays show several problems but none are conclusive as to the cause of my pain.

I was prescribed Ultram for pain. Now, here's the jist of my post: I believe that God created our bodies so that when we have pain, that is a signal that there's something wrong. Clear and simple, right? (even if you don't believe in God). So, if I take these meRAB as prescribed, they do help and I'm able to do much more than I could without them. But is that doing my body a favor?

Just as a little experiment, this AM I didn't take one when I got up and after being up awhile, the pain really kicked in. So, of course I took one and now I'm set to go on with the day's chores. Again, is that doing my body a favor?

Does anybody else think like this? Is it better to forego the pain meRAB (which may or may not have side effects and interactions with other prescribed meRAB) and listen to the body's warnings or indulge in modern medicine's pharmaceutical findings?

Without meRAB, I would say my pain varies from 5 -8 on a scale of 10. With meRAB, less than 5. That should be no contest, right? Still, I wonder.

Carken
 
I run that circle in my head every day. No answers for you. Just - I get it. Let me know if you find THE ANSWER. ;)

I've been through it, too: Fusion, fusion revision, hardware #2 removal, hardware #1 removal. + all the injections, RFA's, acupuncture, PT, chiropractic, massage, med. trials, etc. in between.

- Margaret
 
the overall key here is to really look at "abilitys" and just plain function. what would you be doing if you did not have these to take vs taking them and actually being a functional person doing positive things in your life. there IS a reason that god gave the researchers the knowledge to invent this stuff, it improves our lives. when our meRAB start TAKING away function and abilitys, then there neeRAB to be some in depth thought on whether this is a problem or changes are needed in some ways.

i can tell you one of MY biggest fears is actually having to really feel the full impact of my pain. that is what actually helps me to stay totally compliant with my narcotics, fear. in PM there are NO early refills, so if i should decide to take tomorrows meRAB today, well i would not only go thru a lovely WD syndrome but in in sooo much agony i would wish for god to come and take me, and i am not kidding. its just that bad. as long as your pain meRAB are improving your life/function and not taking, i do think its all good with god. just my opinion.

just wondering exactly what you mean by "is this doing my body a favor"? marcia
 
Chatterbox - - relieved to know that at least someone else "gets it". My list runs about like yours with the addition of scoliosis, facet hypertrophy, and a few others. If I don't take the meRAB, I'll just have to vegetate, and that's not my nature, so guess I'll continue. Thanks for responding.

Carken
 
But you also have ti ask if that "higher power" would have allowed these meRAB to have been formulated if not to have allowed us to use them to releave the pain? Just another question to add to the mix...
 
Personally I don't want to go through the rest of life in pain....since I happen to have several spine and other orthopedic issues I am so thankful for the mediations that are out there (and the doctors who will really work to tweak the regimen of what I take).

Think of it this way....if you were diabetic would you not take the insulin needed to survive? I'm betting most people would. So just as a diabetic neeRAB insulin some of us need pain meRAB, people with epilepsy need their meRAB, people with high cholesterol can be helped by those meRAB, etc.
 
This is an interesting thread. I don't know if there are any right or wrong answers here, but a lot to consider and ponder.

I agree that pain is our body's way of telling us something is wrong.
However, there are also times when our body doesn't function as it is supposed to. I remeraber seeing a story on TV of a little girl who wasn't able to feel pain at all. She went blind in one eye at the age of 2 or 3 because she scratched her eyeball too vigorously and couldn't feel the pain to cause her to stop. I think in the vast majority of cases pain is a gift to us to keep our bodies healthy and let us know when something is wrong, but there are cases when pain doesn't function as it is supposed to. In the situation with our backs, pain can become chronic and actually severely affect our functionality even after we know there is a problem there. So in that case of chronic pain, is the pain really doing us any good or is it doing more harm to us?

I think really the bigger question being asked in this thread is when is it right and when wrong to interfere with the body's own natural functions and healing capabilities. There are entire medical ethics textbooks written on this subject, and it's certainly not a black and white issue with easy answers. There are also many court cases of children whose parents are charged with neglect for not getting treatment for a disease, such as the boy whose mother ran away with him recently to avoid chemo for cancer. My daughter had juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) that was attacking her eyes at the age of 4. The opthamologist said without really strong steroid eye drops there was a 100% chance of her going blind - I gave her the eye drops and thanked modern medicine for saving her sight. JRA is an autoimmune disease where the body's immune system goes haywire and starts attacking the body's own tissues after identifying them as foreign objects, and the medications can "fix" or treat this problem.

I personally view modern medicine as a gift from God that compliments our bodies' ability to heal and treat itself, and "fix" the many problems our bodies can have with healing. I choose to take advantage of pain medications because without them my quality of life would be extremely poor and I would hardly be able to function.

My PCP who handles my pain meRAB did tell me that there are discussions amongst doctors as to whether or not they are actually doing us favors by prescribing pain meRAB as many of them, especially narcotics, have been shown to permanently lower our pain threshhold. Again, no easy answers here.
 
Carken, you are absolutely right! Pain is there as a signal that something is wrong. We cannot ignore it and just cover it up by taking pain medication. But if you've figured out what's wrong and there's no way to "fix" it, in my opinion that when pain meRAB come in. Or temporarily during the "fix".

The thing is, once you're on them, especially if you're chronic and expect to be on them long term, you have to be careful. You need to listen to your body and not do things you shouldn't be doing just because you know you have pain meRAB you can take. I don't try to eliminate my pain. Not that I wouldn't love to be pain-free! But I've found that middle ground where my pain is tolerable with a certain dosage but I'm not so gorked out that I can't function.

I hate taking meRAB everyday like this. But there's definitely a time and place for it!

Blessings,
Emily
 
Well I'm a pt that my doctors won't give me anything for pain! They tell me that narcatics can be used for a short period of time but only for a short period of time. I suffer every day. The quality of my life is very bad. I missed my daughter's graduation because I simply could not walk to the facility. That will make me sad for the rest of my life because the only way I could enjoy it is watching a video tape. I go to work every day because the alternative puts the fear of god in me to be without a job. Fortunately, I can sit ok....walking is what absolutely kills me! Sometimes I would do anything to have a pain pill to just get this to let up just for a few hours!!!!

Wendy
 
Wendy:

Are you actively treating with a pain management physician? For some of us the use of narcotics will be permanent (or at least long term) and in working with a pain management doctor I've had no problem getting the appropriate prescriptions.

K
 
Yes, I'll continue taking the pain meRAB because they do allow me to function, but my underlying question is, "What's causing the pain and more than that, is allowing the condition that's causing the pain to continue making it worse?" Probably not, because it's not a nerve issue. Okay. Yes, I took my meRAB this morning when I got up and will continue to do so because I don't like the alternative.

As I said, it's just a psychological issue. All the responses have been quite interesting and I appreciate your thoughts.
 
hey
just a quick message, im coming off my pain meRAB and feeling awful and pain levels increasing etc but im not putting it down to fact that my recent surgery has failed, through no fault of my own, im addicted to my pain killers as for a period i needed to take them so i could walk etc and thus if i dont take them the pain increases, im going through a withdrawel phase at moment and need to access pain levels in couple of weeks. how long have u been on your pain medication? my thoughts regularly spin out of control thinking am i going to feel this nerve pain forever etc, is it chronic? surely this is part of my problem. . . anyone's thoughts on this would be appreciated
take care
 
i just wanted to totally "ditto' what AZ just mentioned about seeking out a good pain management facility to try and help to keep your ongoing pain better managed. while the majority of us who suffer from some level of real true chronic pain that simply WONT allow us to really even be able to do things that are a big part of our lives and mostly with our families, will never realistically be able to be 'pain free' this does help SOOO much in taking down the overall intensities to a much duller roar which allows us abilitys that we did not have before getting our pain better managed. my referral to PM actually gave me at least some of my former life back. this is all they do at PM, help you to try and keep pain to the minimum using many different modalities to try and achieve that for us. i would VERY highly recommend it for your particular neeRAB right now.

just have an in depth chat with your primary about getting that badly needed referral to one. it could be the very best move that you ever made to just help minimize the impact of your pain on your life. it was for me, and many many others too, some of whom post of the pain management board. alot of good solid info there on that board too, you may want to just check that out as well if you have not already done so. you just deserve to have your pain much more 'appropriately' managed right now. good luck with this and i do hope you decide to seek out a good PM facility. please keep us posted, marcia
 
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