Find someone else to bend the rules

[Racket_Man]

I must be one of the exceptions to the rule like some of you upthread.

8 years ago I had a BAD kidney stone attack. Over the years mine have continually gotten bigger with each attack. I now grow boulders not sand grains. OK of this one I end up in the ER. They give me some anti-nausea med and some IV pain killer and all is well as I finally get a bunch of fluid into me (drinking water and IV saline) without me puking it all back up from the kidney pain. As they were discharging me the ER Dr. gave me a prescription for Oxi. OH NO NO NO NO. No Doc I do NOT want this as I have been told many times in the past that masking the pain that much is not a good thing (plus I already knew about the dangers of Oxi even at that time). Doc says nope mask the pain as much as possible and hands me the paper prescription back. I go home, put that paper someplace and forget about it.


A couple of weeks ago I got a really really badly infected ingrown hair/zit/pore/don't know (the size of a US half Dollar coin and about half an inch high) on my lower chest area. Now I get these every now and then but they usually are on my back and my pain threshold there is way higher than in front. Time to go to the Urgent Care place. UC Doc warns me that he will "try" to numb the area but don't get my hopes up because of the nature of the infection. OK I can be down with that as I have had to have a decent pain tolerance for other things.

Doc. does his slice and dice thing (YEAH the pain was fun ) As he was finishing up the Doc says he is going to give me some antibiotics to kill off the rest of the infection. I asked if he was going to give me any pain meds and if he was could he go really light as I drive for a living and can't really take much because of driving if I have got extreem medicine head. He says Thank you for saying that because for this type of thing they really do NOT give out medium type pain meds but something very mild and meek and to supplement it with OTC pain meds.

Hurt like hell for a week or so but I still could work.

YEAH for responsible drug prescribing.

[gerund]

One more thing - there has been a study done on recovery from major trauma. They found (with PTSD) that there is one way to reduce the trauma. I believe this also works with minor stuff like bad customers, minor arguments with the boss, ETC.

So they had one group talk to a therapist, while a second group did nothing. The third group wrote a journal about their trauma. The best results came from group 3, followed by a much lesser result from group 1 and nothing at all from group 2.

The assumption they made from such dramatic results (when they expected the therapist's patients to do much better) was that:-

Talking about something does not need our full attention. We really don't unpack our feelings when we are just talking to someone. The real benefit comes from writing the chain of events that lead to our bad feelings, and then writing how we felt about it. Evidently, we concentrate much more when we are writing something than when we are just talking.

So these writing benefits accrue whether someone reads the journal or not. I believe a greater benefit comes from someone else reading and validating our feelings.

Hence my good feelings about this place.
Sorry to thread-jack.

[greek_jester]

Aye. I currently have my mom in the hospital (heart attack, CHF, AFib and now getting a pacemaker), and I have experienced this first-hand in the past week thanks to a pack of extremely vigilant nurses and doctors. If not for them , she'd likely no longer be with us by this point.

I hope your mum recovers well. A pacemaker can be a new lease of life.

...the posts are well written. The grammar, spelling and formatting makes the posts and comments easy on the eyes and comprehensible. It appears posters proof-read their submissions.

The opposite sort of place (obligatory frog-book joke here) has posts that are a wall of text, full of spelling, and grammatical errors that are impossible to understand.

I'm saying I like the community we have here. I like the posters, I like the moderators, I like being in a safe place where we can express ourselves without fear of real-life consequences from bigots or far out views.

This. So much this. While I enjoy NaR, I often have to take a break as the trolls get me down. This site is my safe place, and it has been a quite-literal life-line at times.

[AkaiKitsune]

Our pain med laws are a bit different from the sounds of it but still... Trust the people who have the knowledge of the meds you are using a bit please.

That being said, I’ve been a competitive equestrian since a very young age. Because of that I have severe pain problems due to repeated injury, arthritis, and because of the stress of the sport and the young age I started competing my skeletal and muscular structures have grown slightly altered from the average to compensate. Unfortunately I have had pharmacists take one look at me (not even 30) and decide that because I’m on opioids that I must be a drug seeker. I actually had to have them call my doctor who informed them that when I actually fill a prescription for pain meds it’s usually at the point where anyone else would be blacking out from the pain. Yes, I’m a frequent flyer. If you routinely got into arguments with 1500lb animals then you might realize that stopping that isn’t an option sometimes. I also sometimes slur words or have difficulty pronouncing certain words sometimes because of brain trauma. Strangely enough, blunt force trauma to the brain cage is bad.

That being said, I once walked in on a busted leg with blood pouring down my pants because the bone decided my body was too stuffy and went for a wander outside. All I wanted was for someone to call the paramedics (I didn’t have a cell, still don’t) and I got a three ring circus instead.

No I’m not in shock yet, but if you don’t call 911 I certainly will be soon. No I don’t want a t3, those don’t do shit for me and I’m a bit far gone for that. I’m aware it’s broken, the bone exposed is quite a clue really. Yes I put a tourniquet on it and no it hasn’t been on there long. Yes, it does fucking hurt, stop asking. No this isn’t a bid for attention because you wouldn’t fill my prescription last week. If I was going to do that it certainly wouldn’t be in $350 riding jods. Yes my horse is outside, yes a friend is on their way to pick the beastie up. Why didn’t I just ride here instead of walking? Well it’s a bit hard to pull yourself into the saddle with a broken leg. Particularly without jostling it. Not to mention getting up on a freaked horse would be detrimental to my health, I don’t fancy breaking my other leg. I really don’t need a matching pair even if a wheelchair is more comfortable then crutches....

Needless to say, I’m bitchy when I’m in pain.

That being said I have an extremely high tolerance for it.

I can respect that a pharmacist might not want to fill a prescription they consider dangerous particularly if it violates the SOP. After all they must “first do no harm”. That’s why I have the doctor on standby in case they want to call and confirm that yes, giving a cocktail of powerful pain meds to this random chick is in fact allowed. And no, I’m not looking to get high. If I wanted to get high I would have accepted the numerous offers of a bed and morphine. I don’t like taking meds as I’m unable to swallow pills easily it either means waiting for them to dissolve, crushing them, taking a liquid form (utterly disgusting), or having it injected in if that’s an option. And yes it says specifically on the prescription how it’s to be dispensed. I can eventually swallow a pill but it takes a good half hour to get it down. If it’s small. What I can’t stand is when some pharmacist decides I should take it this way because... and gives me pills instead of whatever it says for the form of how it’s dispensed. It’s fine if it’s a pill that can be crushed or that can be dissolved either in water or in mouth. But certain meds can’t be taken that way. Or they can’t be taken with food/liquid.

I happen to love dangerous sports. It puts a lot of stress on my body and it doesn’t help that I often wait until a day off to deal with the cumulative effects or injuries. So yes, I have shown up to work with broken ribs. I have shown up in so much actuall pain that I move the wrong way and I drop to the floor not from pain sensation but because the pain I’m in is enough to cause my muscles to spasm/give out. That being said, I could lose the time and money and get checked out before it gets crippling.

But I do expect that when I have a prescription for X drug and X amount that it gets filled in some way. If that means I only get three days instead of two weeks then I’ll be back three days from now then. If it means you are uncomfortable then here’s the doc’s cell number, work number, email. Call or message them confirm. I always make sure they can get a hold of my doctor in case they do want to confirm before filling a prescription for powerful drugs. If they tell me that legally they can only give me X amount I’ll accept that and give them my doctors number so next time this isn’t an issue.

But I’m not in the habit of shooting the messenger if they won’t give me my meds. I’ll still be annoyed but I’m not gonna take it out on someone just doing their job. I took and still take my enlistment oath seriously. I expect them to uphold their own oath. If they feel that by filling a prescription violates that oath I will respect that and give them other options so they can do their job.

People in the medical profession tend to be people inclined to helping others. It’s why they took up that job in the first place usually. That being said, I’ve met some incredibly bitter people in the profession and that’s probably from idiots who want what they want because they had it before and need it right damn now. I know just enough about medication to follow the dosage requirements and to administer morphine if I have to.

Why do people think they can play doctor because they webMDed it or ‘because they got it last time.’ The human body is as variable as it is weird. There are times it amazes me what kind of trauma the body can endure while still surviving and other times how something seemingly so small can completely ravage it.

[jedimaster91]

I happen to love dangerous sports. It puts a lot of stress on my body and it doesn’t help that I often wait until a day off to deal with the cumulative effects or injuries. So yes, I have shown up to work with broken ribs. I have shown up in so much actuall pain that I move the wrong way and I drop to the floor not from pain sensation but because the pain I’m in is enough to cause my muscles to spasm/give out. That being said, I could lose the time and money and get checked out before it gets crippling.

Not an adrenaline junkie, but I was a dancer growing up with the back, knee, hip, and ankle/foot issues to show for it. Not to mention body image issues, but that's a whole 'nother ball of wax. I also may or may not have an old fracture on my T10, but at this point it's really not worth bothering checking out.


Thankfully I can function most days, but sometimes I can't. And even though I don't do quite as much heavy lifting with my job now as I used to, it's only a matter of time before my back decides it's had enough. Just the other day my knee was giving some rather alarming twinges when I walked down my basement stairs. So I get it. I don't like being in pain either, but I also don't want to get myself addicted to opioids. It's that pesky risk/benefit thing.

People in the medical profession tend to be people inclined to helping others. It’s why they took up that job in the first place usually. That being said, I’ve met some incredibly bitter people in the profession and that’s probably from idiots who want what they want because they had it before and need it right damn now. I know just enough about medication to follow the dosage requirements and to administer morphine if I have to.

It's just like any other profession. Most of the patients are fine, some are even pleasant, but the cranky, jerky ones are what get you down. And due to the nature of the profession, people are scared, hurting, sick, or worried about someone who is, and they lash out. It's frustrating to deal with to say the least.

The human body is as variable as it is weird. There are times it amazes me what kind of trauma the body can endure while still surviving and other times how something seemingly so small can completely ravage it.

This is why I got into the field I did. On a daily basis, I get to see how things work (or not as the case may be), and it's fascinating. And since I have to do continuing education, I get to see where the research is going. I remember in school 10ish years ago discussing how awesome it would be to have alpha radiation emitters as treatments or therapies. And a couple years ago one came on the market, and they're looking to expand its applications. Simply amazing.

[NCIS4Ever2001]

To play Devil's advocate, IMHO there is a HUGE difference between being dependent on pain medication for a legit pain problem & being addicted to meds not for a legit problem but to simply get high

I myself am a chronic pain patient & yes I am dependent on pain medication for my pain, I was prescribed 10mg Norcos for 8 yrs before I moved from Ga to Tx, in TX they don't prescribe narcotics much at all so I have since switched to prescription 500mg DR naproxen with zero problems. In fact, the prescription naproxen works 100x better than the Norco ever did, if I'd have known that, I would have switched yrs ago

Obviously, the OP has to work within the guidelines set upon him by his employer & I have no doubt that some of the folks who inspired this thread are of the variety that they don't truly need the meds they're begging for

Also, I forget who upthread said that untreated pain won't kill you, respectfully I disagree..having severe pain go untreated is terrible for your system, it affects your blood pressure, your heart, causes severe depression etc..Granted narcotics are not the only answer, but for some, they may truly be the only thing that works

JMHO

[greek_jester]

Also, I forget who upthread said that untreated pain won't kill you, respectfully I disagree..having severe pain go untreated is terrible for your system, it affects your blood pressure, your heart, causes severe depression etc..Granted narcotics are not the only answer, but for some, they may truly be the only thing that works.

This. So much this. While my pain from carpal tunnel in both wrists and the migraines from intracranial hypertension were no-where near as bad as some of the conditions others deal with, the lack of sleep (hard to sleep when you're in pain) mental exhaustion from avoiding triggers, and the sheer, grinding misery of wondering if it was ever going to end were a contributing factor in me developing depression. It also put a lot of strain on my body and my interpersonal relationships (hard to be upbeat and diplomatic when you're exhausted and in pain), with the associated knock-on effect on my depression. I also tended to pick up every bug going in that period as my immune system took a beating trying to deal with everything else.

I was lucky; I was able to have operations to correct my conditions, and other than the beginnings of arthritis in my hands and a dodgy knee, I am relatively pain-free. There are others who have no choice but to live with their condition, and so long as their choices don't hurt anyone else I will never condemn them for doing whatever they have to do to be able to survive that never-ending pain.

[skeptic53]

Also, I forget who upthread said that untreated pain won't kill you, respectfully I disagree..having severe pain go untreated is terrible for your system, it affects your blood pressure, your heart, causes severe depression etc..Granted narcotics are not the only answer, but for some, they may truly be the only thing that works

JMHO

I agree, we need to treat pain as it causes deleterious effects that over long-term can harm patients. But in the short term, you can't die directly from pain, you have to have a pain-related heart attack or something. And you are correct there is a big difference between dependence and addiction. I have patients on controlled substance agreements because alternatives have not worked. My beef is the people who want to mix dangerous combinations of drugs and/or get early refills, continually ask to increase the dose, or want more pills per prescription than clinic policy allows, AND who get angry when I politely explain why I can't do that.

[gerund]

Years ago I had cluster headaches. During these, I visited the Doctor a number of times and never got any help whatsoever. He seemed rather dismissive every time I raised the problem.

So I searched the (new) World Wide Web for some sort of solution because I was suffering depression from the ongoing effects. You can imagine what I thought when I found a medical article that stated they had no idea if cluster headaches lasted more than 5 years because every person who had cluster headaches committed suicide before the 5 year mark.

I did a quick search just now and could not find anything like that now, but perhaps things have improved since then. I know I am in remission for over 20 years now.

So for sure, pain can be life threatening.

[EricKei]

He seemed rather dismissive every time I raised the problem.

I can see his thoughts now: "It's never happened to me or to anyone I've met, so it's probably not real." x.x

[RealUnimportant]

For some serious pain, we can always rely on our Australian cousins to out-do us... Ever heard of the Gympie-Gympie bush?

[dalesys]

... Australian cousins to out-do us... Ever heard of the Gympie-Gympie bush?

Then there are the sheep that placidly graze on it... PTerry forever!

[Slave to the Phone]

My sweetie and I don't like to take pain meds. When given them for something, we only take them when we really need them.

About 10 years ago, my sweetie had a quad-bypass. The surgeon was very clear that he needed his pain pills as prescribed, even if that meant I had to wake him up to give him a pill.

This is because a body in pain tends to tense up, which delays healing. In order for someone who has just gone through extreme physical trauma to heal, they need to rest. In order to rest, they need to be relaxed and pain free.

I never imagined I'd ever be in a place where I was saying things like "Wake up, honey. You need to take your sleeping pill.", but there I was.

It seemed to work, my sweetie healed nicely and we are back to not bothering to fill pain med scripts or filling them, taking 1 dose and putting them in the medicine cabinet until they expire.

[gerund]

My sweetie and I don't like to take pain meds. When given them for something, we only take them when we really need them.

When you take lots of pain meds, your body builds up a tolerance to them. Then when you are really in pain they don't work much. When you don't take them much, then when you really need them they work at their full potential.

So you are using them the right way.

The other side effect of taking lots of pills you don't really need is that your body just eliminates them and they end up in the environment. Not only are you wasting money, but the fish are turning female and can't breed and other pills are making some male animals sterile.

[ladyjaneinmd]

Years ago I had cluster headaches. During these, I visited the Doctor a number of times and never got any help whatsoever. He seemed rather dismissive every time I raised the problem.

So I searched the (new) World Wide Web for some sort of solution because I was suffering depression from the ongoing effects. You can imagine what I thought when I found a medical article that stated they had no idea if cluster headaches lasted more than 5 years because every person who had cluster headaches committed suicide before the 5 year mark.

I did a quick search just now and could not find anything like that now, but perhaps things have improved since then. I know I am in remission for over 20 years now.

So for sure, pain can be life threatening.

I hear that! I had migraines from the age of 3(the first one I remember), to 30, when they were finally diagnosed and treated properly. And the only reason I got diagnosed properly was that I told the doctor that I was tired of living like this and if he didn't do *something*, I was going to kill myself.
It took a few years, but I am finally on a cheap med with few side effects, that keeps away 90% of the migraines. It's like my life began for the 2nd time in 1991.