Tips on dealing with Pain long-term?

[SunnyHours]

When do you guys use the narcotics and when do you use the TENS?
I mean, I'm not sure what would be the protocol at work or at home...
I won't ask you when you use Cannabis, if it's anything like me it's everyday a little bit (and sometimes a lot in an effort to help the pain, which it doesn't too much)

 

[Quetzalcoatl]

I don't have a TENS. My opiate schedule is 3x a day, I supplement it with vaping. Sometimes I can vape the pain away for a little while, sometimes both a pill + some rips and more a few hours later. Lidocaine pretty much all the time now that it's cheaper. It varies from 4-5 grams lasting me from two weeks to a week or so. I just take it by the day and add as needed.

It's also fantastic as an antiemetic for me so I tend to use it more than promethazine (makes me too sleepy at required doses). I forgot when the last time I had a migraine was, now that I think about it... I don't JUST use it for pain relief.

 

[Snake Plissken]

Narcotics as little as possible and everything else as often as possible to avoid narcotics. Many people use mj medicinally as a means of limiting/eliminating narcotic use. I know many people who only use medicinal tincts and salves for arthritis w/ great success, after relying on narcotics for years.

Quetzalcoatal: if you have decent insurance and aren't looking for the tranquilizer effect of promethazine, you should ask your dr about onandestrone for nausea. Works at least as well as promethazine for most, but no side effects. I can hardly take promethazine w/o following it w/ a nap, but onandestrone is outrageously expensive w/o insurance. Really the only 2 products on the market.

 

[SunnyHours]

I know I'm derailing my own thread but I just wanted to add Metoclopromide (Reglan)...it's an antiemetic I used to take for the heaviest migraines and vomitting that came along, with Demerol or Dilaudid...
Thank god since the removal of my wisdom teeths I no longer get them weekly, it's more like "once in a blue moon"

 

[Quetzalcoatl]

Narcotics as little as possible and everything else as often as possible to avoid narcotics. Many people use mj medicinally as a means of limiting/eliminating narcotic use. I know many people who only use medicinal tincts and salves for arthritis w/ great success, after relying on narcotics for years.

Quetzalcoatal: if you have decent insurance and aren't looking for the tranquilizer effect of promethazine, you should ask your dr about onandestrone for nausea. Works at least as well as promethazine for most, but no side effects. I can hardly take promethazine w/o following it w/ a nap, but onandestrone is outrageously expensive w/o insurance. Really the only 2 products on the market.

The lame thing about Zofran/ondansetron is it doesn't really take away the feelings of nausea, just the actual reaction of throwing up. I remember a few days at the hospital with IV's of it feeling like I really really wanted to empty my stomach, but I just couldn't physically do it. I have decent insurance but Zofran is brand-only right now IIRC (so more expensive) and doesn't really take the feeling away for me.

 

[t-dub]

The lame thing about Zofran/ondansetron is it doesn't really take away the feelings of nausea, just the actual reaction of throwing up. I remember a few days at the hospital with IV's of it feeling like I really really wanted to empty my stomach, but I just couldn't physically do it. I have decent insurance but Zofran is brand-only right now IIRC (so more expensive) and doesn't really take the feeling away for me.

Yeah I tried Ondansetron and it is a serotonin mind fuck, its really strong. It put my tummy in neutral so I wouldn't puke but I couldn't do anything else. Couldn't eat, couldn't puke, this shit is not a daily driver for me, I keep some around for emergencies when I travel . . .

 

[Snake Plissken]

Guess I've had different effects. I use it daily and find it to be the easiest on my system. I'll take Phenergan when it's really bad, but it knocks me out. I do use quite a bit of mmj to keep my system regular though. Everyone reacts differently.

 

[Denver912]

I just want to give you guys background medical info. I almost lost my leg and shattered my collar bone in a bike wreck. I've got nice cold steel in my leg and a lop sided clavicle to remember. Major tissue damage to my leg from trama. I have pain hourly from both sites. I've been through many accidents or incidents where my body took abuse. Moto raced as a teen and had a bike since first grade. Bmx dumbshit typical south watch this jackass shit. I've got some disc probs in my back and my neck def isn't normal.

I also have what has been diagnosed as boxer fracture/crush hand syndrome and have bone spurs around my collapsed middle knuckle. I just want ppl to know I understand what pain is. And I just want give my advice on this type of topic.

With that being said I believe high strength narcotics are way over prescribed in the USA. I'd be careful with any opies. Also opies become the source of your pain and discomfort.

It took me seeing both sides of the coin with opiates for me to realize that (like I previously learned through deep benzo addiction)sometimes there is more to play with the body as well as as some drugs aren't tolerated long term creating imbalances in the body. I've suffered through severe benzo withdrawl(4-6mgxanax daily for years) and severe opiate withdrawal(got to absurd amounts did to at the beginning being in lots of pain). I'd really put some thought into trying other solutions to pain.

Inactivity is a motherfucker. It's depressing and is actually bad for your body in so many ways. Tv and this computer are killing you slowly and actually making your pain amplified. Go walk a dog or smoke a joint. Do anything but sit. Garden even. Go walk dogs at the pound if you don't have one. Smoke joints there too. It won't be fun at first. But just do it. Outside in sunshine not gym.

Also realize that nutrients and pain/depression are linked. Just like the plant we all love so much we too need ferts.

I can break this down for why each vitamin but this shits long enough.

7-8 fish oil caps morning time on empty stomach 30 mins before eating if not take with food like I do

2-calcium vitamin d 600mg? More is cool

1-1000mg vitamin c at least

1-magnesium gel capsule or regular(also epsom salt soaks or baths as often as you can... Smoke joint in tub)

1-one a day vitamin

1-b complex

Probiotics as directed or eat a yogurt day and night with brands that have probiotics

Unfortunately this won't help overnight but I promise it will help in all areas.

 

[SunnyHours]

Thank you Friend! You are too right about inactivity! However I think this is just a flare up, do I dont think taking opies for a week or less is gonna hurt me.
Honestly, all I want now is to go back to work!

I also think I should get some yogurt+probiotic hehe
P.S: We try to avoid the "S" word (smoke) over here
Just kidding hehe

 

[Denver912]

Lol. True. I have something in my neck also that when it flares up I can barely move. I haven't returned to the doctor for checkup a but I fear later on in life some sort of fusion surgery to hold that section still.


It took me a long time to treat certain meds as sort of a life or death thing. I was raised up where these drugs were the norm. Still have friends doin dumb shit back home. Man fl pill mills ruined the south and local doctors picked up the slack in 2011. It's a mess.

I hope you get to feeling better man. Pain of any kind(nerve pain especially for me) is both debillating and depressing as shit. And after over a decade into treating myself for anxiety and now severe pain daily pain for years I've picked up a lot of info and stored it in my brain. But the American diet(which I love to eat, but try not too) slowly inflames the body and makes shit so much worse.

Also water is your friend to start moving slowly to loosen stuff up. Gives you a sorta buffer zone with gradually moving the part of you body.

 

[SunnyHours]

Hehe I'm not sure what type of pain it is...It's usually a persistent dull throbbing pain in the sacrum region and sometimes I get some shocks and stabbing pains in the lower back...I also have issues with my neck, feels like it's gonna break sometimes. I also sometimes get a burning pulsating sensation in my right hip.
My guess is bone pain in sacrum and nerve pain in low back as well as a fucked up neck (probably muscle issues as well).

 

[Denver912]

Yep. Getting old sucks. I'm almost 30. Shits for the birds.

 

[SunnyHours]

and I'm 24 lol
Haha can you imagine how I'll be at 60 lol

 

[Vicki]

Yep. Getting old sucks. I'm almost 30. Shits for the birds.

I wish I were "almost 30" again. I'll be 47 this coming January.

 

[Snake Plissken]

I also will be 47 this year. The drs started calling my wife into the hall to tell her to say her goodbyes to me when I was 18. Happened many more times. I was never supposed to be around this long, and lived accordingly - I'm paying for it now. I used to have 2-4 major attacks a year that sent me to the er - and many smaller ones. After growing for myself and having a steady supply, I have gotten er trips down to about every 5 years, and this time up to 7 years. W/O a steady supply, I would have been dead long ago.

 

[Campers Crumpet]

Hi I'm sorry to hear that you guys are in pain. What caught my attention was the mention of ankylosing spondylitis - I have this in my thoracic and cervical spine, it's from my RA. Most of the battle with my chronic pain is mental, but in saying that climbing out of a mental black spot to a point that you can get on top of your pain is very difficult. So if your down, it's hard to deal with, if your up your motivated (energised) to find a solution.
I've been down the road of being addicted to opiates and my tolerance for them now is huge.
But I just wanted to send you my best wishes and let you know your not alone x

 

[Snake Plissken]

Thanks campers c. Since this thread is mostly about muscle/back/etc pain, I just wanted to clarify that my er trips and nde's were for my chronic pancreatitis - not my back issues. As horrible as back pain is, it never almost killed me. Didn't want to seem like a total primadonna.

 

[darkrom]

I have the same tens unit.

http://www.overstock.com/Health-Beauty/TENS-7000-Pain-Management-Tens-Unit/5320527/product.html


Cheap. Not super effective for me. I can't go over 3.5-4 on the dial without feeling like I'm being burned.

I'll have to see how it works for me I never used it too regularly.

 

[Snake Plissken]

I never turn mine all the way up, I'd be convulsing on the floor. I'll turn it as high as I can tolerate and find that I can increase the 'volume' more and more over time as my body acclimates. There can definitely be a discomfort issue, but nothing compared to the pain I am treating w/ it. It is not for everyone though, some hate it or see limited results. I have my timer set to 60 min. To really disrupt my pain sensors for a significant amount of time, I need to go the whole 60 min cycle, sometimes twice.

 

[Ansel]

On a better note, today is my 7th day without any real sleep. That wasn't very positive was it?
Let's try again, I stopped smoking cigarettes about 2 weeks ago...only been using a little bit of Snuff and Swedish Snus. Doing pretty good! No cravings at all!

Hey buddy... i use snus... check out the snuson forum :-)

 

[SunnyHours]

Hey buddy... i use snus... check out the snuson forum :-)

Buddy, check me out I'm a member (SunnyHours) hehe


On another note went on my 5th appointment today...I guess those doctors don't give a flying fuck if I'm in pain...I asked them for more NSAID's and those Lidocaine patches, the doctor just kept going "go to PT" over and over and I'm like, "I'm doing some exercises and it really hurts so I can't really do them", "I'd need something to help with the pain"...nothing to do...I felt like literally crying when I left the docs office.

I actually got a membership at another clinic (I have to pay, it's a coop).
Hopefully I get an appointment soon and the doctors are helpful...
Shit! Even asking for non-narcotics they just kick me out...what is this world coming to?

 

[Snake Plissken]

Not much different here, unless you have great insurance. I have found that if you have a chronic condition, no one wants to touch you. Most tell me that the only thing for my condition is pain and nausea meds, but they don't want to give it to me.

 

[Denver912]

That sucks man. I hope shit starts to work out. I too did not do therapy and with no insurance I got no help past the second appointment. I think doctors sorta force your hand on the pt to get the meds, but I was sorta in the opposite boat. I had access to way to many meds. Both have downfalls.

have you thought of other routes than drs locally or natural routes like kratom or poppy straw?

Let me add I basically relocated across the country to a place where I can afford to treat my pain with cannabis. I couldn't do that back home and wouldn't. Sometimes quality of life isn't obtainable for a person in a certain region.

mod note: Next time "add" to the post you just made, with the edit button. Back to back posting isn't allowed within the 6 hr. edit window. 2 posts merged.

 

[Snake Plissken]

I live in Oregon and treat my conditions as much as possible w/ mmj. I would always prefer this method, but sometimes have to resort to pain/nausea meds when symptoms are severe.

 

[SunnyHours]

On the other hand I'm just gonna go on my past RC diet...well I should say it's RC's in Canada LOL
Soma and around 150mg of Nucynta. That actually helped more than the doctors. I actually do pretty well with this and have no side effects. Obviously my health insurance doesn't cover it so it gets expensive...