Doctor’s and Prescription’s

Gene G-

I wonder if the tv program “House” is giving Vicodin a bad name?

If you are not familiar with the program, Dr. House the leading character has chronic pain and an “addiction” to Vicodin. Many episodes of the series have dealt with this, and invariably the writers’ take on it is negative.

Just wondering.

Suzanne

When you go to the Dr. CRY!!!!!!Tell him your not sucidal but you can’t get to sleep or get up without something stronger than baby asprin and thats what the meds you’ve been getting seem like.When he leaves the room start CRYING and keep it up until they come back in and appologize for being a baby but the pain is more than you can handle! If I have a back ache my doctor asks me what I want, I say Mepregan usualy a thirty day supply with 2 refills. But you gotta CRY!!!;)

It’s hard to explain pain. Doctors do not want to give you anything that is addictive. The problem is that that pain tolerance is very subjective. I’ve found that coming in with my cane and explaining that I hope I don’t have to use it to explain how much I hurt sometimes makes an impression.

The biggest obstacle is that medical professional do not want to be seen as drug pushers. But… 😎

Gene G, don’t give up and don’t give in, that is what they want you to do-that dr just doesn’t want you to see him for just pain med scripts. they will use that line on everyone and if it works and makes you stop asking for the meds then you really didn’t need them in the first place, they keep track of those type of things. i’ve been told that by many drs, but never by my own pcp, he gives me what ever i tell him i need, no if ands or buts about it-he knows me well enough and trusts me when i tell him i need something stronger. actually i even tried pain management for lower back pain, just before i came down with this gbs stuff-it didn’t work for more then 1 day. if you need the pain meds, do research and take in a list of possible meds to try, see if that route will work for you. thats what i had/have to do everytime i go to the hospital because i have soo many allergies to meds, and the drs always ask me what will work on my pain and i tell them and i get it.

Suzanne had an interesting point about the TV show House. It does seem to be giving vicodin a bad name, especially the way he swallows handfulls of the pills throughout the show. I can’t even imagine how you feel, I take only a half a vicodin maybe a few times a week for back pain, but if my GP or neuro refused me neurontin, I don’t know what I would do. I probably would just sit in their office until I got a Rx. Luckily no one ever questions neurontin, a I guess it is not conisdered addictive. But I still strongly believe that one does not become addicted to pain killers if they are used only to treat pain.

Pain medication is a tricky subject with doctors. Honestly having a good relationship with your doctor and knowing that there is a good relationship built there is THE most important thing. I battle chronic pain myself and have had a real issue over the years. I’ve had 6 abdominal surgeries and after that many now they decide I’ve got severe scar tissueing, along with a couple major MVA’s and my horse exit’s haven’t helped my back either. My main problem was growing cyst’s on my ovaries like they were going out of style. I dont’ know if it is the canadian medical system but I’ve actually found if you stress your point about the pain and they ask what helps your better off than going in and saying I want this! I had one time the doctor sat and looked over my feet and arms to ensure I didn’t have track marks! I finally found one small hospital that when a cyst ruptured I normally got the same doc and he never second guessed. Yet on other hand I went in one time crying in pain, layed down in the waiting room floor! Few days into my hospital stay after loading me with demoral they cut me cold turkey….. after I got out they found out I had severe samanela poisoning. Point is you can sometimes go in and sit and cry with some doctors and they just arent’ going to give you a thing. Reality is the doctor won’t want to give you anything unless they trust you and sometimes doing stuff like going to the pain guy may be better because if the problem is that bad they will back you up and in the long run that is probably going to make things easier – you sometimes have to go through hoops to prove it because someone who is just looking for the fix normally won’t work too hard. I have a doctor now who keeps reminding me that when my life calms down (when I’m not the primary care giver of a CIDP sufferer) I will wind up doing this pain course given at the hospital that lasts a month. Honeslty the day I can live without meds will be a great day but till then I can’t immagine getting out of bed and functioning otherwise. But the reality is if a doctor see’s you jumping from doctor to doctor and the first thing you ask for is pain meds – unfortunatly those people who have not been honest with the system and have ruined it for the others make it harder(eg. those “House’s” out there). Besides there are only so many doctors in a town and sooner or later one runs out of the next one, and I know up here hospitals are now being technologically linked and records are at a fingertip – having your own family practitioner behind you on the records makes life a lot easier but it takes the effort to find a doctor who you can build a trusting relationship with and proving that what you suffer from is painful and tylenol isn’t cutting it!

When Drs prescribe narcotics to many times, it gets reported to the DEA and the Dr has to justify the over use of such meds or they could be brought up on charges and possibly lose their licenses. I know this from working with Drs for such a long time.

Some Drs are also afraid of patients selling the drugs on the street.

I know from my own experience and from Frank’s pain dealing with CIDP, the drugs were much needed and I thank God everyday that his Neuro was very kind with the drugs for him and so was my Ortho and Neuro for myself.

Drs don’t realize that there are a class of patients that need these meds just to survive their illnesses and try to get up in the morning.