What Distracts You From the Pain?

Ultram sucks anyway. Get a pain pump delivering Dilaudid

Sucks for severe pain. Yes. But for someone who has not been on opioids, has no built up tolerance, they just may find relief. I did, until my conditions became more complicated and more painful.

What could be too painful for the pain pump? They can also use morphine which is not as strong as Dilaudid but I suppose they could use fentanyl or one of its derivatives which are orders of magnitude stronger than Dilaudid? Ultrium is very addictive. It's not the kind of addiction where you crave the drug when you try to stop taking it but you do get very very sick if you've been using it long term. When I stop taking it it was a full 96 hours of having the worst flu like symptoms you could possibly imagine.

@stephen, I agree. Long term use of tramadol, then stopping I found it terrible to come off. No one warned me. Guess I just mean it can be useful if one uses occasionally for less severe pain. Doubt if a doctor will allow a pain pump for someone who hasn't used opioids before. I think a pump would be great in my case. I hear very good things about them. If I remember right, the woman said she had not used any opioids. Could be wrong, but if that's the case it would make sense to try out opioids before implanting a pump.

That's true, they probably would want to test the person to see if opioids are effective, they would probably also want to try and implant stimulator to see if that's effective before they put the pain pump in. They could determine which drug they should use by employing genesight testing. This testing predicts what drugs you are able to digest if you will based on your genes and known markers. The fact that a person had not used opioids would make them an excellent candidate for the pain pump because they don't have a built-up tolerance and they could start with really minuscule doses. Remember one mg of anything taken by mouth compares to 1 mg via the pain pump having the effect of 300 mg by mouth. The pain pump for the person who's never used opioids would have a much longer effective range in years. They can only turn it up so far or they run the risk of flooding the pain receptors and have the opioid exchange from something that relieves pain to something that creates incredible pain. I can't imagine why someone would not be a good candidate for a pain pump unless they're Jean type means that they can't digest opioids at all. Even people who have really bad side effects from opiates can use the pain pump because they don't have to run it through their stomach in their digestive system. Remember no side effects as the kind you get in your bowels from ingesting opioids.

@stephen...Ahhhh, hmmmm, you brought up things I hadn't considered. I must be blowing smoke, lol. Seriously just trying to use logic when I don't have enough facts.Still think I'd be a good candidate. Thanks for reply. Not sure about everything you said, but that's ok. I need to look a few things up and educate myself. Thanks again.

@sandytoes......depends on the type of pain. Sometimes I can be distracted. Lately, my headaches, migraines, which are in the area of my stroke, have been constant, every hour of everyday. My pain med helps my other issues, like type2 trigeminal neuralgia, RA, Fibro, ordinary arthritis, thoracic outlet. (Wow, I think I am now my grandma, lol.) Not perfect, of course, but helps. But very minimally the headaches!!! I use a combo of ibuprophen, aspirin, excedrin migraine, but the headaches are too bad for the meds that should help a headache. I've learned to compartmentalize my pain which is helpful, mentally. Yep, it's part of me, but just a part.

Not one of those issues is going to disappear, so along with the pain med, I keep busy and focus on others, or refinishing furniture, which I do very well. Very satisfying work. But lately, my stupid head is making anything I try to do a chore, instead of a pleasure. Hate to give in to it, but it's eating up my "creative energy". What I wouldn't give for something so awesome it could distract me from my stupid head. 🙁

If I have to be honest about it, I really think that opioids are the ultimate pain reliever. We live in a climate where opioids are not going to be available in most circumstances no matter how much pain you're in. The fact of the matter is if you haven't lived with unbearable pain you can't appreciate how hard it is and you're not going to have the necessary Mercy to deal with people that are in that situation. I've been on really high doses of opioids I've done Physical Therapy I've done yoga I do tregon I've done every damn thing there is to eliminate your pain distract your pain or make it possible to cope with your pain. Opioids are limited in their value. I have pain in my big toes from neuropathy which is almost unbearable and what makes it unbearable is the fact that I've had so many opioids and you can develop this kind of resistance to them that can magnify little pain into giant pain. In the present environment the only way you're going to get opioids to help with your pain long-term is to have a pain pump. You can't touch the drugs you can't sell the drugs you can't steal the drugs you can't take more of the drugs than your supposed to their sealed up in a pump inside your body and everybody is comfortable with that situation. No one's going to point a finger at your doctor and save drug dealer nobody's going to point a finger at you and say drug addict. This is the horrible situation that were living with I am fortunate in that I am old and I am sick and I don't have that much longer to deal with these problems. I'm not looking forward to dying but I've lived a very wonderful gifted and blessed life and I would hate to be a young person in the situation that I'm in, I just have no idea what I would do.0p

I fully agree. Opioids are the best for pain. Not for everyone, but for most. But, opiates need to be managed so what you describe doesn't happen. Whether that be by scheduling periodic breaks, or by pain pump, which is looking more and more attractive, thanks to you, Stephen. In the meantime, I will continue on my schedule of 20 days on, 10 days off to reset my head. Usually, by day five I am doing fairly well as far as the withdrawal goes. Yes I am dependent. No I am not addicted. These breaks are by my choice. I do not go crazy, buy off the street, or try to get a script in any other way than my normal channel. I wish gabapentin, lyrica, neurontin would help me, but after extended time on those meds, they dont. Thanks for your input, @stephen 🙂

Oh! @stephen thanks for being patient and explaining to this knucklehead things I probably should know...but dont. Get so caught up in my own little world, I don't step out and explore. But, that's why I'm here, lol. To meet people that know what they're talking about. Have a good one, that is, if your toes let you!