Rama... about the pain pump. Narcotics dripped into your spine by the pump are, according to my doctor, 300 times more effective than those that you eat because of the amount that is absorbed by your stomach and other organs but don't deal directly with your pain. My pump running at 2.75 mg of Dilaudid for 24 hours is more effective than 200 mg of Oxycontin + 32 mg of hydromorphone plus 20 mg of Valium over the same 24 hour. It's a big Improvement pain wise and it removes that need for constantly getting prescriptions refilled and being looked at as some kind of Criminal by doctors and nurses and other assholes that have no idea what we're going through . I am not speaking about my general practitioner or my doctors at the pain clinic at M health. They all know how to deal with chronic pain and are very respectful but I have a long history with doctors and nurses of the other persuasion. Not perfect but one hell of an improvement. I don't know if they do them at Mayo they do do them at the University of Minnesota. Good luck

The surgeon at the department of neurosurgery at M Health which is part of the University of Minnesota in planted my pain pump. This Thursday I will go see him and you'll put a needle into my stomach and you'll withdraw all the old medication. He will then put fresh medication in and may or may not increase the dosing level. I have to do this roughly every 3 months. It is a new therapy. I don't know how many places they do it. But it is an answer to chronic pain and it is an answer to the unavailability of opioids. No one gets freaked out about 3 mg of hydromorphone a day. Plus there is absolutely no way the patient can abused this or sell the drugs that they get. It leaves you and your doctor Beyond reproach from the idiots who want to limit people's access to opioids. I saw where you also posted a somewhat negative comment about pain pumps and narcotics that you didn't want anything to do with either. When I hear such responses I wonder how much contempt people have for those who are willing to use opiates. there's a connotation that there's something wrong with using narcotics to ease pain it's the same kind of assumption that a lot of people make about people who use narcotics to ease pain that were really just a bunch of drug addicts. Think about these things before you post them and ask yourself how somebody on the receiving end of these drugs might interpret your comment. I'm sure you had no intention of hurting anybody's feelings but I'm equally sure that you probably did hurt someone's feelings.

Yes, I believe that's right. A lot of us have no other options than opiods. I'm personally not a candidate for a pain pump as my pain is from inflammation vs. a mechanical problem, or so I was told by pain management doctor candidate 1. I can't take any nsaids as I've had kidney failure and have chronic kidney disease. I've tried sulfasalizine, cymbalta, gabapentin and all sorts of others and had terrible side effects. So I'm on prednisone for life, Remicade infusions every four weeks, oxycodone, muscle relaxers, meds for depression and anxiety. I also do yoga, breath work, warm water therapy, short walks, stretching, aromatherapy, tens machine, lots of baths and I can't even remember what else. We need to be kind and know that everyone has a story that we don't know.

@wsh66

I wholeheartedly agree with you. A stigma seems to be building around the use of opioids. Not just the abuse, but the legitimate use of them. It's hard enough to live in a culture that stigmatizes depression, anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder and the numerous other mental health disorders. We really don't need to start being stigmatized for using pain medications. Many of us here have to deal with multiple diagnoses - chronic pain and depression being just one example - and have to juggle a mix of medications for any number of things.

I don't think I'm ready for a pump, but it sounds like a really good solution.

Jim

WSH... Very well said. The best intentions of some people can cut deep. I just finished an entire week of a very painful episode. I have RA. I was diagnosed with Fibro but about three years ago, the blood tests were changing. My pain this past week was as though my body was trying to shut down. I can't get into my Pain Mgt doctor as I am still waiting for the doctor to send the referral. My Insurance does not require the referral, but the Pain Doctor requires it. I think most doctors want to stay as far away as they can from the "drugs". Nevermind the med I am given for RA is poison. I give myself a shot once a week of Methotrexate. Then two infusions in a month. I was so sick for over a week that I stopped the Methotrexate. I actually started to improve. I agree until you have had to walk in our shoes with our own particular pain please do not judge. Obviously, the person doing the judging has not suffered the pain I have. And, many of you.