Gave Up On Pain Meds =
Spiritual Being
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Louisville
Posts: 138
Gave Up On Pain Meds =
So, here I sit recovering from my car wreck, on day 3 of no pain meds. I've been in a wheelchair since the wreck due to both my legs being broken severely. Being that I have had two and a half months to heal, I was finally ok'd to start physical therapy. 4 days ago I started the therapy. It hurt, let me tell you. I discovered that I can't curl my toes, have virtually no calf muscle in either leg, my right knee might need more surgery in the future, and walking again isn't going to be as easy as I thought. As the therapist was making my muscles stretch and pretty much just torturing me, I was feeling a lot of pain. I realized that if I'm on 80mg of oxycodone a day and a 7.5 mcg/h fentanyl patch and still hurt than what's the point. What better time to kick the habit? I'm going crazy being confined to a freaking wheelchair. I lie in bed looking at all my scars and watching all the screws in my knees making my flesh poke out in various places. It's swell.
I don't understand this. Day 1 was horrible. Yesterday was worse. Today I'm feeling better. Makes no sense. I should still be really dope sick but, for whatever reason, I'm not. Sure, I'm not 100% better but this is going easier than I would've thought.
Just needed to get this out I guess. Below are a few pictures of what was my car. You can see a spot of my blood on the airbag
I don't understand this. Day 1 was horrible. Yesterday was worse. Today I'm feeling better. Makes no sense. I should still be really dope sick but, for whatever reason, I'm not. Sure, I'm not 100% better but this is going easier than I would've thought.
Just needed to get this out I guess. Below are a few pictures of what was my car. You can see a spot of my blood on the airbag
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Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Atlanta
Posts: 31,179
Wow, ((Spacedementia))!! That was SOME wreck!! You're lucky to be alive!
Have you discussed not taking the pain meds with your dr. and physical therapist? The reason I'm asking is, therapy often IS painful and the meds only take the "edge" off. Some people can't tolerate it without the meds.
I'm not trying to push the meds on you..believe me. Different people have different thresholds of pain. My uncle is one of those who did rehab for a broken thigh bone from a motorcycle wreck with NO pain meds...I'm a wuss
I have a medical background (RN before addiction took that away), had PT when I ruptured a disk in my back..not nearly as serious as what YOU are going through, so I know a tiny bit of what you are going through. I just want you to get the most benefit from PT that you can. If you can handle it without the meds? Go for it!!! I'm VERY happy you're not dope sick!! You've got enough going on!
Hugs and prayers!
Amy
Have you discussed not taking the pain meds with your dr. and physical therapist? The reason I'm asking is, therapy often IS painful and the meds only take the "edge" off. Some people can't tolerate it without the meds.
I'm not trying to push the meds on you..believe me. Different people have different thresholds of pain. My uncle is one of those who did rehab for a broken thigh bone from a motorcycle wreck with NO pain meds...I'm a wuss
I have a medical background (RN before addiction took that away), had PT when I ruptured a disk in my back..not nearly as serious as what YOU are going through, so I know a tiny bit of what you are going through. I just want you to get the most benefit from PT that you can. If you can handle it without the meds? Go for it!!! I'm VERY happy you're not dope sick!! You've got enough going on!
Hugs and prayers!
Amy
Spiritual Being
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Louisville
Posts: 138
Impurrfect, yes, I am lucky to be alive. Fortunately the only injury that I suffered above the waist was two broken ribs and a collapsed lung. The collapsed lung was probably my least favorite injury as having a chest tube inserted to re-inflate the lung was mighty painful. And of course the resident doctor that inserted the chest tube made a mistake. So, they removed the first chest tube, made another hole in my chest, and inserted another chest tube which seemed to hurt even more. Let me reiterate, chest tubes are NOT fun.
I quit taking the pain meds not with the intention of never taking them again but, to quit taking them regularly and to lower my tolerance. I plan on only taking the oxycodone prior to my physical therapy sessions (three, one hour sessions a week) as well as when I'm doing my exercises here at home, should the pain inhibit my performance. The fentanyl patch things I plan to discontinue altogether since I don't think I really need them. Sure, I'm hurting most of the time but, on the 1-10 scale it's mostly just a 2 or 3, which I can tolerate.
As far as quitting my pain meds and letting my doctor know about it, I haven't and probably won't. I knew that if I told her that I was experiencing a great deal of pain as a result of the physical therapy she'd just bump up my dose of pain meds. She is all about giving me all the narcotics that I could ever need. When I see her, she's in the room with me for maybe five minutes, just long enough to chit chat for a second and write me prescriptions. I'll simply quit asking for prescriptions for the fentanyl patches and I'm confident that she won't even notice.
Amy and windysan, thanks for the well wishes.
-Trevor
Oh, and one more picture of the car. This one shows how much the front end of the car scrunched. Kind of amazing.
I quit taking the pain meds not with the intention of never taking them again but, to quit taking them regularly and to lower my tolerance. I plan on only taking the oxycodone prior to my physical therapy sessions (three, one hour sessions a week) as well as when I'm doing my exercises here at home, should the pain inhibit my performance. The fentanyl patch things I plan to discontinue altogether since I don't think I really need them. Sure, I'm hurting most of the time but, on the 1-10 scale it's mostly just a 2 or 3, which I can tolerate.
As far as quitting my pain meds and letting my doctor know about it, I haven't and probably won't. I knew that if I told her that I was experiencing a great deal of pain as a result of the physical therapy she'd just bump up my dose of pain meds. She is all about giving me all the narcotics that I could ever need. When I see her, she's in the room with me for maybe five minutes, just long enough to chit chat for a second and write me prescriptions. I'll simply quit asking for prescriptions for the fentanyl patches and I'm confident that she won't even notice.
Amy and windysan, thanks for the well wishes.
-Trevor
Oh, and one more picture of the car. This one shows how much the front end of the car scrunched. Kind of amazing.
Member
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Atlanta
Posts: 31,179
((Trevor)) - okay, I feel better about your plan for taking the pain meds with PT and exercising, now Sounds VERY reasonable and smart to me!
BTW, when I was a nurse, I had a "list" of things I absolutely did NOT want, the list was long, but chest tubes was the TOP!!
Looks like a pretty horrific crash...glad you're still here with us!
Hugs and prayers!
Amy
Sounds VERY reasonable and smart to me!BTW, when I was a nurse, I had a "list" of things I absolutely did NOT want, the list was long, but chest tubes was the TOP!!
Looks like a pretty horrific crash...glad you're still here with us!
Hugs and prayers!
Amy
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