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Tips for working with your doctor to help pain
Chronic Pain | Last Active: Jul 8 5:10pm | Replies (74)Comment receiving replies
Retire Registered Nurse. I have severe arthritis in all joints, especially neck, low back and erosive arthritis in my hands. I have been on tramadol, hydrocodone/APAP for about 18 years. Taking a minimum of tramadol 2x/day, adding an extra tab during the day if needed. If pain is still bad, not improving I will take the hydrocodone/APAP—usually 4-6 tabs per week. I have never had any kind of high or craving of these meds! I am not addicted, I have a tolerance for these meds. If I don’t take the minimum, such as forgetting to take a dose, I will become nauseated, high pain levels, ending up in bed! Without these meds I would have a poor quality of life. Tolerance is different than addiction! My rheumatologist has me on a drug contract, can only get narcotic meds from her, Dr appointments every 3-4 months and urine drug screen yearly! I think there are many physicians who don’t want to deal with managing all the appointments, drug screen, drug contracts and the patients who try to manipulate for more drugs! Okay, off my soapbox!
Replies to "Retire Registered Nurse. I have severe arthritis in all joints, especially neck, low back and erosive..."
I think you may have some misunderstanding around what addiction is. Maybe some biases. Whether or not a patient tries to manipulate a doctor or not is not really the issue. Many people want the drugs for a variety of issues. The issue is the opiate. If your opiates were to be taken from you, you would withdraw like any other human being taking opiates for any other reason. Physiological addiction is the result of these meds. Period. The longer you take it, the more likely to go through withdrawal. People can take opiates for only a couple weeks and go through withdrawal. Furthermore, just because a patient is "not addicted to their meds," the people around those meds are also at risk for addiction. There are many ethical considerations. Off my soapbox, too! 😉
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Great comment, though I'm sorry you're in so much pain.
"...physicians who don’t want to deal with managing..." Yeah, it's a bother for them, so they force patients to suffer the torments of Hell. Thanks a lot, Doc.
The war on opioids is causing so much suffering! I could never explain to a doctor that opioids nauseate me if I take much at all, but one hydrocodone a month would at least let me sleep for more than a couple hours before waking up in pain.
Argh.