Good pain appointment

[SandyRN]

I walked out with a new rx for 4mg dilaudid for my breakthru medication. He is also going through my insurance company to get me a tens unit. I can't wait for that thing to come in. I had one years ago and it broke. I've missed it ever since! I should have it in less than a week.

He didn't want to try the baclofen yet because he wanted to try one new medication at a time and I agree with that.

He wanted to give me a shot of phenol and a corticosteroid in my back but I refused for now only because I can't be laid up anymore than I already am because Tom is having his surgery next week, and my kids start school on Monday. Everyone is relying on me and I have to be able to function.

I told him I thought my body was just DONE with oxycodone all together and he actually agreed with me. He said after 5 years of taking it in one form or another it's not surprising that it doesn't work for me now.

So, all in all a good appointment. Had to pee in a cup for my pain contract, but that is all good as well because I've got nothing to hide from him.

He didn't diagnose my back but said it is probably a combo of the disc disease and sciatic nerve problems.....and that the disc disease can be progressive and soon I'll need to see someone else about it. For now I'm just hoping the TENS unit and the dilaudid will give me some of my life back.

He was shocked when he saw the bruises on me. When I explained all that had happened to me this weekend he told me to wear a sign around my neck that says, "FRAGILE, Handle with Care!" LOL

[GriffsMommy]

Sandy,
I'm glad your appointment went so well. Hopefully now you'll start to feel some relief. I can only imagine how much pain you're in. It's so hard to be in pain and still have to take care of everyone isn't it? Sometimes I'm dead by the time dinner is done. Hoping you a more painfree day. :grouphug:

[Claredale]

Sandy, I am so glad to hear that you had a good appointment!!!

I bruise so easy myself. Do you think it could be from the meds? I know being hit by a door isn't an "easy" hit, but to bruise so fast and so colorful that fast is unusual! I always have some sort of bruise on me. There are even times (in the middle of the night) that I will write down what I did, so I would remember. I was sitting next to my hubby the other day and he got up and his cell phone case went up my right arm. Within that day, I had a huge striped bruise up my arm. It didn't even seem to hurt that bad when he did it, but it sure looks like he got me good!

[leelee88]

Sandy,
So glad it all went well you deserve some relief...:angel:

[humpieumpumkin]

I'm so glad it went well. Dilaudid is what I took after my interstim implant and trial and it worked fantastic. It took the pain away but didn't make me groggy or feel out of it, it just plain worked. Hopefully this is the right pain med for you too.

Erika:hi:

[dancemomof2]

:woohoo:

[Briza]

Hey Sandy that's great! I'm also taking dilaudid 4mg as needed and I am happy to to not be taking so much T3, which DOES work great for me, but I need more doses of T3 than I do of dilaudid, and I worry about the acetmenophin/liver dangers. I have pain dr appt on Tuesday...going to ask if I should just stick with the dilaudid...but only one problem is that 4mg doesn't seem to last for more than 4 hours....so don't know if I need to take it more often or have a stronger dose. I really like dilaudid....no nausea or any other side effects. Best wishes. Hope it helps you as well as it helps me.:)

[Trishann]

Sandy that is great that your doctor is working with you and giving you things to see if you can get relief from it. Sorry to hear about her husband having surgery, I know this must be causing more stress on you. Hope you and your husband get well soon. :pray:

Sending hugs, Trishann

[Bessie]

Hey Sandy,
So glad to hear you had a great appointment. It is great that your doctor is so caring and is willing to work with you and try different things. I also have a wonderful pain doctor. I don't know what I would do without him.

What kind of surgery is Tom having next week? Tell him we will all be praying for him and I hope he has a fast and smooth recovery:pray:

Take care of yourself and no more falling :smile tee We are going to have to buy you some of that yellow caution tape to wear :bonk:

[RuthP]

My Doctor for the past year called me on friday afternoon and drop me as her patient. She says she can't help it blah blah blah. Now I have to find a new doc imediately. Please if any one out there knows of a doc in my area who is good with IC patients pls either emial me

Thank You
Ruth:woohoo: :help:

[Angeles]

Is dilaudid tuagh on the stomach? how is it administered? orally? I'm not able to tolerate Darvocet..I'm trying to find out what else I can take that could do the job and not make me puke.

[humpieumpumkin]

I had very few, if any side effects with Dilaudid. Darvocet makes me puke too. The dilaudid I took on an empty stomach. It is a very small tablet, a little bigger than a birth control pill.

Erika:hi:

[HillaryD]

:woohoo:
Yay Sandy!
It's so good to hear stories like yours. I hope you continue to have good luck!
BTW, what is Dilaudid? I've never heard of that before.

[SandyRN]

Dilaudid is hydromorphone and it's a semi-synthetic form of morphine. I don't really know how to describe it but it works like morphine does with less side effects in most people. I do take it orally...its a very tiny little pill. Darvocet made me sick too, and so did Ultram....I get no nausea at all from the meds I take now. I do have stomach problems and I get nauseated but it's from severe GERD and taking so many NSAIDS in my adult life trying to get rid of pain!

octoberfarm, Tom is having a hernia surgery done on the 30th. It's supposed to be a relatively simple operation, but its a big hernia and can't be done on an outpatient basis like most other hernias. So he's going to have to stay at least one night, maybe two for pain control. I'm so worried because we had a very long ordeal last summer when he had his bowel resection and what was supposed to be 10 weeks out of work was closer to 16 weeks out of work, home health nurses, machines and pumps at home, infections, and all sorts of fun stuff that about killed me and worried me silly.

Ruth, I took your phone number out of your post....I wouldn't post any personal information on the board like this as it is public and anyone can see it and call you....you may get phone calls you weren't expecting to get. I'm sorry your doctor dropped you. Can you tell us where you live and that way we may be able to help you out.

[Briza]

Hi Sandy,
I bit the bullet and made friends again with my pain dr. Dilaudid is fantastic..I only take it as needed, 4mg and he approved me to take another 4 mg 4-6 hrs later if wears off. He had rxd originally for every 8 hours. No side effects, pure pain relief within half an hour. I've never had to take more than two tabs a day. I also have tylenol 3 for minor-mod pain, and it does work very well for me, but since I've been taking the dilaudid more than the T3 now, I can tell that dilaudid is much easier on my tummy and what I thought was IBS-D I think now was the T3 messing with my digestive tract. Dilaudid DOES have a rep for being one of the more dependent causing meds, but since I don't take it every day, sparingly, and only as needed, my pain dr says I should be ok. He also prefers me to take it rather than the T3, I can split a dilaudid pill to 2mgs for minor pain. He says it's much kinder to the body and doesn't have the toxicity levels like other short acting meds which most of them contain tylenol.
Hope you continue to feel better!
B

[SandyRN]

It really is a wonder drug isn't it Briza? I'm doing much better between the tens unit and the dilaudid. I've got a high school orientation and a middle school orientation I have to go to in less than an hour and I'm real worried about all the walking. This is the REAL test for me and I really don't want to go all hooked up to the tens unit because I'm not good at hiding it yet. My daughter will be mortified! So, I took 4 mg and a Soma and am hoping for the best.

I can't wait for school to get started because all this prep is killing me!

[Angeles]

I'm glad to know there's something out there other than Darvocet and T3 (which both are very rough on my tummy). I;ve never heard of Dilaudid.
And I wonder why uros don't mention Dilaudid. Well I guess I know, they don't want to be too involved taking care of the pain control part on an ongoing basis, filling pain meds refill, etc. Urologists are also surgeons and rather dedicate more time to those patients so they refer us to pain doctors.
I'm glad I read this post. I take pain meds ONLY when needed b/c I don't want my body to keep building tolerance.
I'll ask my GP about Dilaudid. Glad I read this post. Hugs to all.

[Bessie]

Sandy,
Are they going to use the mesh on Tom when they repair his hernia? My husband has a double hernia in 2000 and they used the mesh and he did really well. No problems during the surgery or after other than the fact that he told them he went pee after surgery and it wasn't really enough so I had to take him to the urologist to get the pee out. He has done really well since the surgery. I hope it all goes well for Tom and I will keep him in my prayers :pray: :pray:

[SandyRN]

octoberfarm---apparently this hernia is a big one, which is why I'm so nervous. It's near his belly button, where the incision is from his bowel resection last summer. So it's a different kind of hernia than your hubby had. The surgeon told us it's so big he's got to do it with the lap and cut him! It's supposed to be outpatient, but of course for us he's got to stay the night, at least one, maybe two depending on how he feels. He's got lots of problems with nausea and vomiting after anesthesia and I just can NOT imagine throwing up with an abdominal incision!! Yeah, they are using the mesh. I'm very hopeful he will REALLY go back to work in 3 weeks because I'm gonna have to shoot him if he doesn't! LOL Last summer's ordeal went on for months and months because he just would NOT heal!

SMR--Uro's don't mention Dilaudid because it's a strong, powerful drug. It doesn't take much at all to get pain relief and I guess it just scares uro's to RX it. I've been with my pain doc for about 5 years and he NEVER mentioned Dilaudid to me til the other day....5 years!!! I hope you can get it because it really does work well and I dont have a bunch of icky side effects either, which is fantastic!