Hello to all of you responding too or asking questions about managing pain. Firstly, pain and how it affects you is very individualistic both in the type and degree of pain you feel. People have different tolerance levels to certain types of pain which may adversely affect some patients more or less than others. Unfortunately, one of the worst, (in my opinion) questions to be asked is what level of pain do you feel between 1 to 10? One person’s 5 could be another’s 3 or 7. Describing what each number from 1-10 represents is more descriptive and helpful. Frankly, once your pain level is debilitating the numbers don’t mean much any longer. If you’re able to get some measurable to adequate pain relief it can be very beneficial. When you are dealing with pain levels of 9–10 or worse, you live in a very different world. I describe 10 or worse because your personal experience of a 10 can change over time. What I once thought was a 10 became worse as my symptoms and pain grew exponentially. Managing your pain successfully comes down to what your various levels of functionality are. At my worst, I was forced to lay in bed and just endure as much pain as I could while taking maximum doses of pain meds. One can also have a number of different areas of their body affected with high levels of pain. I had severe nausea, migraine headaches, joint & muscle pain throughout my entire body, extreme exhaustion, arthritic type pain, severe cognitive and cognition challenges etc…….all occurring simultaneously with pain levels of 7-10 and above! Whereas somebody else might just be dealing with back, knee or some other “singular” area of pain or severe discomfort in their body. No less hurtful but not experiencing the multifaceted pain experiences etc.
The specific type and amount of pain meds might be somewhere between somewhat to very effective for one person and provide very little if any relief to another. The strongest pain meds aren’t necessarily the best or most effective. You just have to keep trying different meds, combinations and dosages to find what is most efficacious for you. However, even that can change over time. Pain is still one of the least and or misunderstood health and medical challenges for most physicians to treat successfully ir at least effectively! Comparatively, not many physicians specialize in long term chronic pain or chronic acute pain. They have a difficult time being successful in treating it so it’s very frustrating and unsatisfying to the physician or pain specialists so they’d prefer not to deal with it or the patients who have it. Even worse, people whose only modicum of success is using opioids are especially challenged because so few physicians will even prescribe them anymore. I’ve had to endure some absolutely inhumane periods of pain due to my inability to find a physician or so called “pain clinic” to treat me over the past 32 years. Through no fault of my own physicians I had established great relationships with in addition to high levels of trust and experience would retire, move away or pass away etc. Trying to get a new physician to work with has become practically impossible. Even worse, working with any physician or pain clinic which doesn’t offer or provide you with any kind of efficacious treatment(s) are essentially worthless!!!! Personally, I never found any kind of marijuana or THC product helpful for pain. However, they’ve been helpful to assist me with my sleep. Hopefully, you will find a physician who will be willing to work with you and provide you the types and dosages of medications that work the best for you. However, in today’s ineffective and mostly worthless “War on Drugs” strategies the authentic and genuine pain patient and loyal physician are held captive, threatened and prevented from gaining access to the opioids they need and work for them. The physician’s are under constant threat of losing their license. In short, effective pain management in the United States is a disaster and a huge social failure!!!! One must be extremely persistent in pursuing the pain management care they require. Best wishes and the best of luck in your pursuit of effective pain relief and wellbeing. GODSPEED