Author: Romeo
Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2011 9:13 am
I found this article to be a very interesting read and it deals with a subject matter that a lot of us on the forum can readily identify with.
This is a quote from the article, "More and more doctors are realizing that for most people, opioid pain medications do little to increase function. People become tolerant to whatever dose of pain medication they are taking, and with that tolerance, the pain relief goes away—unless the dose is increased, which only repeats the cycle at a higher tolerance level. Patients become slaves to their medications, developing severe withdrawal from missing even one dose. Their high tolerance makes it difficult to treat pain from surgery, or from other painful conditions that the patient may develop. Finally, there is more and more evidence for the phenomenon of ‘opioid-induced hyperalgesia’ where pain symptoms are ultimately increased by opioid pain medications."
Immediately after my accident, pain meds worked great for me, I had never really taken them before and had no tolerance built up. It didn’t take very long for me to build up a tolerance to pain meds though. Once my tolerance increased, I needed more and more medicine to achieve the same level of pain relief that I had previously got from the smaller doses…..the only problem was that my doctor refused to prescribe me stronger pain meds or more of what I was already taking, so, off to the streets I went looking for any and all pain meds I could get my hands on. This cycle went on for years until I finally decided to have both of my ankles fused, my doctor assured me that this would decrease my long term pain levels.
Because I was so addicted to pain meds and because I had built up such a ridiculously high tolerance to pain meds, my acute pain after having my ankles fused basically went untreated…..if any of you know what’s involved with an ankle fusion, you would be able to imagine what kind of ridiculous pain I was in. I kept asking the nurse to check the IV they had in the back of my hand because I was convinced that I wasn’t getting any morphine into my veins, but she assured me that it was the same IV they used to knock me out for surgery. All through the night I complained bitterly of not getting any pain relief and all through the night the nurses were calling the doctor on call to get him to approve more and more morphine for me. When my orthapaedic surgeon finally came in the next morning and checked my chart, he said something to the effect of, "OMG, you should be dead", well, I wasn’t and I was still in a lot of pain.
After many months, my pain levels did improve. The fusions were pretty successful, but I still had considerable pain…..the fusions did not eliminate all the pain. Fast forward 3 or 4 years to when I finally quit all opiates…..it took several months for me to fully realize it, but I no longer suffered from chronic pain in my ankles. I’m convinced that I suffered from opioid-induced hyperalgesia.
I work 40 hours per week. I’m on my feet about half that time and all I take for pain relief is ibuprofen. I don’t even take ibuprofen daily……maybe a couple times a week, that’s it.
So, in my case, I believe I should have been prescribed opiates for short term use only. Had I been forced off of opiates quickly, I would not have waited years and years to have my ankles fused, I would have had them fused much sooner and I’m pretty confident that I wouldn’t have had to endure such a wicked addiction to opiates as a result.
BTW, I guilted my doctor into giving me pain meds for 10 years straight, even though he knew it was ultimately not the best course of action for me. I became an expert at guilting him into writing me for 4 hydrocodone 10’s per day for the decade I was his patient. Every face to face visit I had with him, I could see and hear the very real concern he had for me and my well being, but my addiction was so incredibly powerful that I didn’t care. I knew exactly how to push his buttons and guilt him into giving me my meds. He never did force me off of hydrocodone, I eventually made the decision on my own to start Suboxone and quit taking hydrocodone.
I accept full responsibility for my opiate addiction. I knew VERY early on that I was addicted to my pain meds, probably within a matter of weeks I knew I was addicted to them and I made the decision to become an expert liar to continue getting pain meds.
Like Dr. J. said, training doctors to stand up to a patient like me is going to be next to impossible. Unfortunately, there are no easy answers here.
