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[grumble] Drugs and pain
Feb. 24th, 2010 10:33 amToday has been a bad day. The changing weather pressure has played havoc with my pain tolerance. My foot at times feels like I have sharp pins being driven into all parts of it. And then I remember 'oh wait, I really do have pins driven into parts of it'. And then I take a cacophony of drugs, and I get a short reprieve from the burning.
I have such a bad reaction to opiates that I usually go without relying solely on Advil to control pain. But this is the first time I've had things broken, screwed sewed and pined back together. As we were trying to figure out what to give me, the nurse asked me how high my pain tolerance was. "Pretty high", I said. She said, "I imagine its higher than that". So the sent me home with 2mg of hydromorphone (which from my understanding is a nice light dose for a narcotic.) It works amazingly fast. Within 20 minutes, I and everyone around me knows when it has 'kicked' in.
But in order to keep taking this drug, I have to take a bunch of other ones just to keep the side effects at bay. One drug to keep the night terrors away and make me sleep. One drug to keep me from the itchiness. One drug to keep things 'regular'. And yet another drug to keep me from getting queasy. 4 additional drugs, just to get through the day relatively pain tolerable. All of these chemicals are doing a number on my system. I have a hard time eating, because 3 of the drugs suppress appetite. Standing can be problematic because 4 of the drugs cause dizziness. Dry mouth, confusion, restlessness, sleeplessness, drowsiness (depends on the time of day and drug taken).
Sigh. I am ready for being better now. The good news is, i will never have to worry about becoming an addict.
I have such a bad reaction to opiates that I usually go without relying solely on Advil to control pain. But this is the first time I've had things broken, screwed sewed and pined back together. As we were trying to figure out what to give me, the nurse asked me how high my pain tolerance was. "Pretty high", I said. She said, "I imagine its higher than that". So the sent me home with 2mg of hydromorphone (which from my understanding is a nice light dose for a narcotic.) It works amazingly fast. Within 20 minutes, I and everyone around me knows when it has 'kicked' in.
But in order to keep taking this drug, I have to take a bunch of other ones just to keep the side effects at bay. One drug to keep the night terrors away and make me sleep. One drug to keep me from the itchiness. One drug to keep things 'regular'. And yet another drug to keep me from getting queasy. 4 additional drugs, just to get through the day relatively pain tolerable. All of these chemicals are doing a number on my system. I have a hard time eating, because 3 of the drugs suppress appetite. Standing can be problematic because 4 of the drugs cause dizziness. Dry mouth, confusion, restlessness, sleeplessness, drowsiness (depends on the time of day and drug taken).
Sigh. I am ready for being better now. The good news is, i will never have to worry about becoming an addict.
