everyone posting this morning describes the painkillers they are taking that are not working. This is very worrying. If they don't work what is the point of them?Even people taking morphine complain they are still in pain.
I really do advise if they aren't working to stop taking them as they are doing damage to your internal organs at the same time.
All very well to say " stop taking painkillers"- what are you offering instead?
Tolerance to painkillers is a problem for many people , and the real problem is in not having strategies to deal with this common difficulty.
Google it.!😢
Pain KILLERS don't exist. Pain relief does.
Pain management is exactly that...managing your pain with a variety of meds, therapies and changing your life style.
This is why people come to this forum. To find out from those with experience. To learn how they manage chronic pain. Don't knock them.
I have lived with David's pain for over 30 years yet still find advice from others here extremely helpful. Often I took this info to his GP or pain Consultant.
They are human after all and don't know everything. Many are willing o listen to suggestions if one usual pain meds doesn't work
x
If people achieve pain relief from pain meds then they should continue taking them but if like me and many others on this forum they don't make any difference all I am saying is there isn't much point taking them as they nearly always come with side effects.
There is no magic bullet unfortunately and some of us have found through trial and error that since nothing works we just have to live with the pain as best we can.
Great for those who do find pain relief from meds. I envy them.
Sorry Suzyhayes I came across bit shirty. I do know how hard it is to get relief for many.
I think back to all those years ago when David needed such low doses of pain meds. Now he has almost come to top of ladder. Either knock him out completely and be a pain free zombie or have a serious rethink.
For those starting here on that lower dose they next stronger med is still available when the time comes.
x
Thought and education is changing. We thought these strong opioids like morphine would banish the pain - but they don't, certainly not in the medium to long term. Sometimes they make the pain even worse.
If these drugs were so effective why do we have people on 100mg + morphine a day, still in pain and disabled. Apply this to any strong opioid like fentanyl and oxycodone.
However as part of a pain management plan they can be invaluable, taken under strict instruction of a consultant in pain medicine.
No need to say sorry Pat. Everyone has to do what's best for them. I just wish there was a quick fix but there isn't. I find a couple of glasses of red wine in the evening takes the edge off my pain for a short while.
How are you enjoying your new home. We are hoping our health cover will not be removed when Brexit comes into force.
We could never afford to pay for all the operations I have had in France now.
Wine sounds excellent especially where you live! David's was, still is, whiskey. Scotland!!
Part of me feels we have been here forever. Another says still on holiday!
Getting all the paper work sorted is taking its toll on David. He feeels tired and slept all day yesterday. GP says rest.
Regarding health care. Brexit has nothing to do with the arrangement UK has with European countries and further afield. It is just that. Within Europe it ias an arrangement made between UK and other participating countrie. UK pays our bills and Spain, France etc pays for their people in UK
And still the sun shines on!
x
Whisky certainly helps me to sleep along with my Zopiclone; even though I only get 5 or 6 hours. (I know some of you would give anything to sleep that long.)
Other than painkillers there are several things that can help with pain management. I recently bought a TENS machine which gives me a pain-free hour as long as I'm sitting down. A Biolamp can also help and there are many ways to keep the painful bits warm: a hot bath or shower, wheat or rice bags to heat in the microwave or on top of a radiator, and several electrically heated appliances for different parts of the body. I also use self-massage with essential oils on the painful bits I can reach.
I have morphine patches, Codydramol and Paracetamol and they are not dealing with the pain, but I have tried going without them. Really not advisable.
I am now considering acupuncture. Has anyone had any experience with this? It would be good to know if it has any helpful effect.
Have as good a day as you can, everyone. xx
Sadly my David broke his bak over 30 years ago. He has degenrated slowly - more quickly in recent years. We had 3 excellent pain clinics in England and then Scotland. Consulltants were ace. So...we are coming to the end of his road with pain meeds and all the alternatives.
He has had acupuncture though for many years and very successful too. Every 6 weeks through pain clinic. It doesn't work for everyone. They used to have a programme where you got as near to ten weeks between sessions before pain returned. As I said - he was 6 weeks. As we left Scotland the pain nurse who did it left too. No plans to replace her so yet anothe door slammed.
We have recently moved to the warmer climes of Tenerife to help give him some quality of life again. Pains still there in varying degrees but the sun shines instead of rain!
Pat x
Thank you for that info, Pat. I didn't realise that acupuncture was available through the pain clinic; I shall certainly try this.
I'm so sorry your David is in so much pain, and it must be unbearable for you too despite the sunshine.
Sending you both big, gentle hugs,
Anna xx
I came off all but the occasional ibuprofen/paracetamol about 15 years ago. I ran a support group for my condition when at the time I was about 20 years younger than everyone else. Each of them had got to the point where strong painkillers really didn't help. I was terrified of spending potentially 70 years with no pain relief at all and there being nothing available when I was desperate.
Interesting Post. Should get a lot of people thinking. I do not take pain killers. I engage in T'ai Chi, Alexander Technique, McTimoney Chiropractic, Meditation and Mindfulness. I study muscle behaviour, spinal reflexes and movement.
I believe that that there is a need for education of patients with a chronic health disability. The education is for teaching patients with a chronic health disability how to investigate there own condition. Medical trials give a result for a population of people. The medical trial shows that the population of people have differences in how they react to a treatment and the results can be plotted on a curve.
The issue is that no medical consultant investigates is: "where is the patient on the treatment curve?" The consultant issues everyone the same treatment despite the medical trial showing there is a variation in treatment results.
Any comments most welcome.
I always find your posts interesting johnsmith. I've just started an eight week Breathworks 'Mindfulness for Health' course having had some individual sessions with the teacher. I'm more and more convinced that it's a muscle problem. When I can relax properly my sciatica mostly vanishes. Using the breath to develop awareness is very helpful.
It's heartening you manage without painkillers. My use of co-codamol has dropped by more than 50% in the past two weeks. Wish I could say the same for the Pregablin and Duloxetine, but it's early days.
Best wishes to everyone
Need to stop increasing pain killers 
Pain killers
Leg Pain
Why does pain have to be such a pain in the ****
