pain

CASSIEME1

good morning all, I am a 8 years cancer survivor dealing with pain. this pain doctor / clinic is just another money making scheme. for those of us that need the medicine we have to jump through hoops. yet I see all the time people are hospitalized from overdosing on fentanyl and heroin or meth. so they categorize Percocet and Tylenol #3 with these . those drugs people buy off the streets..this plus covid 19 is enough to make you throw your hands up.

GregP_WN

I understand how you feel. Sweetie's mom was on a huge amount of pain medicine and antidepressants before she passed away. Just all of a sudden the doctors around here decided they weren't going to prescribe pain medicine anymore. They just stopped, it took some adjusting, but she made it through the switch.

Bengal

Pain can really destroy quality of life and since the opioid scandals it can be difficult to find effective relief. Doctors used to pass out opioids like candy; now they're reluctant to prescribe at all. I go to Pain Management and get so frustrated that there seems to be so little they can do that is truly effective. I understand you frustration but don't know what the answer is. Sorry you are having to deal with this.

GregP_WN

It's a shame how this whole pain medicine thing has worked out. In the last 30 years I've been around the whole cycle. When I had my first surgery in 88 for staging, it was a major abdomen surgery. The pain was unreal. I remember watching the clock waiting those last 15 minutes before the nurse would come in and give me the next dose of demerol. It knocked that pain right out, for 3 hours, then the last hour was stare at the clock and wait. In the next several years drug reps got rich selling to doctors and clinics/hospitals, they were legal drug pushers. After so many people got hooked, od'd died, they finally started cutting the supply off. Now those of us that really need help might not get it.

Luckily, my facility has a philosophy of no patient will sit in pain. They do have one thing for us cancer patients, we sign a waiver saying that we will get whatever pain medicine we need, but if we get hooked and jump off of the Empire State Building, we can't sue the doctor or hospital for prescribing it.

That seems OK to me. That's kind of like the person that sued McDonalds for making them fat.

I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get anything from my new oncologist, even though he's at the same facility, but apparently, that won't be a problem.

beachbum5817

This makes me so mad. We should not have to suffer because of drug addicts. I understand that addiction is an illness, and I mean no disrespect to anyone that has had to deal with it. While my husband was suffering with his pancreatic cancer, his doctor prescribed him with a one week supply of Oxycodone each week. It didn't take away the pain, but it helped to ease it.
When he passed away was he addicted to them? Maybe. I am positive that if he hadn't had the pain meds, he would have killed himself because of the constant pain. I also know that if pancreatic cancer was more treatable, he wouldn't have needed so much pain medicine. I think the doctors need to take each case separately, and if nothing else will work, give the patient the medicine that can help them. Sorry for the rant, but I feel very strongly about this.

gpgirl70

The fault for the opioid crisis is not addicts but doctors and pharmaceutical companies. My son blew his knee out and after surgery came home with 60 pain pills. That was 8 years ago. He died in March from an overdose. He had been clean for two years, had a good job, wonderful fiance ... He had never been a drug user prior to this. He rarely even drank. My husband and I were both teachers and felt like we needed to hide his addiction. We struggled getting him treatment. The first time we tried to get him into rehab there were 4-5 week waits and even out patient treatment was a 2-3 week wait. That’s a lifetime in addict world.

Why would a doctor prescribe 60 pain pills for knee surgery? Why not start with 10? I only took 2 pain pills after I got home from my mastectomy, but I still got 30.

I had a friend die of pancreatic cancer last year and she had to go to the oncologist’s office and throw a fit to get more pain meds. She was only receiving palliative care so why make her suffer because doctors were mislead and coerced by pharmaceutical companies. PCs actually told doctors that oxycontin was not addictive based in a very flawed, small study. I’ve researched this topic extensively.

Teachertina

My mom died with no pain on morphine when she asked the doctor to please let her die. Her pain had her screaming out for help. Becoming addicted was not a concern! She was “ kept comfortable “ until the end. After all the treatments I’ve had, surgeries, etc, I’ve come to understand that pain issue. Addicts are a whole different problem. My 88 year old mother in law has joint pain but does not keep taking the stuff that makes her out of it because she wants quality not quantity! It’s a very complex problem. Each case is different.

GregP_WN

Tina, that's how it was with my Mom and Dad both. We kept them comfortable with what they needed at the time.