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I can still ask it. If insurance covered it, how many Americans would be willing to give up their opiate pain medications for massage, acupuncture, and Chinese herbs?
I’d do it even if insurance didn’t cover it and it worked. Sadly as others mentioned those modalities typically aren’t effective with nerve pain but trust me I have tried and am continuing to try them anyways. Acupuncture seems to show the most promise for me at the moment along with desensitization therapy (a special type of physical therapy used for CRPS and others). I honestly don’t think anyone in chronic, severe, debilitating pain wants to be on opiates if there’s another option that works just as well. I know I wait as long as possible before taking them but on days like today I cave and do it. I drove 7 hours today and my issue is in my right leg so it’s horrendous right now. I did not take my pain meds until I got home but I am so thankful to have them for nights like tonight where I’d otherwise be balled up in tears in severe pain.
I can still ask it. If insurance covered it, how many Americans would be willing to give up their opiate pain medications for massage, acupuncture, and Chinese herbs?
Personally, I have tried all of those. Along with omission diets, yoga, supplements.....
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Well, to be fair I wasn't discussing whatever health practices Japan offers - I was discussing general standards of practice in Europe. Of course they vary by country but one thing all European countries have in common is that their opiate prescriptions are FAR LOWER per capita (and so are their overdoses and illicit usages of opiates) than the US.
But that's interesting about Japan's medical practices - I wonder how many Americans would be willing to trade in some of their prescription pain meds for massage, acupuncture, and Chinese herbs?
Me! Back in the day when this pain all started my Kaiser doctor repeatedly told me "Western medicine can only do so much, would you be willing to try Eastern medicine, given it's been around for hundreds of years they may have something that may help".
I agreed and did everything available including Acupuncture, Kaiser had Acupuncture docs believe it or not.
Sadly all I got was a severe migraine out of it (Acupuncture) to which the doc said "this happens with some people, it won't work for you".
We have always been behind in those areas. They would help, but it depends on the reason for pain and how severe it is. I tried everything, I was into holistic things even before it got really bad. There was probably a 6 month period when the symptpms first started to the day I woke up unable to move without 10/10 pain. In that time I tried everything from inversion to massage to acupuncture to drinking my own anti-inflammatory cocktail a couple of times a day (chocolate vitamin/protein powder with lots of turmeric, ginger and cinnamon) and supplements.
But no amount of massage or Chinese herb was going to put the bulging disc back so it stopped pressing on my sciatic nerve. Only surgery did that, but the months and months and months they made me wait before then (and before that months and months just to get an MRI and a correct diagnosis).
Nerve pain is not like any other pain. Normal things that help ease pain don't work. If I hadn't had leftover meds from old surgeries/dental work, I'd not have made it through the many weeks until they (pain management) finally gave me strong enough meds to stay alive and be able to eat a bit and get to the bathroom.
Why is it that women seem to always get the short end of the stick when it comes to being treated for pain? My wife has severe sciatica and was/has basically been told over and over again "it's all in your head".
WHAT? They wouldn't DARE tell that to a man, at least not that I've ever heard of. Are women's bodies wired differently than mine or did I miss something?
Why is it that women seem to always get the short end of the stick when it comes to being treated for pain? My wife has severe sciatica and was/has basically been told over and over again "it's all in your head".
WHAT? They wouldn't DARE tell that to a man, at least not that I've ever heard of. Are women's bodies wired differently than mine or did I miss something?
Do not get me started on this.
My abdominal pain was ignored for 10 years, I was told all kinds of reason that amounted basically "it is all in your head", doctor eventually told me to see a shrink.
It was friggin' gallstones, by the time I was diagnosed I had one of the worst cases the doctor had seen.
Then pancreantitis, doctor told me you HAVE to be an alcoholic and I would be wasting time and money to get an ERCP. I insisted...... I had a blocked bile duct.
It makes you feel this >< small.
They make you feel like a hysterical woman, a drug seeker..... I really glad your wife has your support.
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My abdominal pain was ignored for 10 years, I was told all kinds of reason that amounted basically "it is all in your head", doctor eventually told me to see a shrink.
It was friggin' gallstones, by the time I was diagnosed I had one of the worst cases the doctor had seen.
Then pancreantitis, doctor told me you HAVE to be an alcoholic and I would be wasting time and money to get an ERCP. I insisted...... I had a blocked bile duct.
It makes you feel this >< small.
They make you feel like a hysterical woman, a drug seeker..... I really glad your wife has your support.
To the point where I almost punched out the last Doctor.
I guess the whole rest of the world is somehow missing the wonders of opiates and the citizens are writhing in pain.
People in other countries take them too. Maybe not as often, but they are prescribed. What happened in this country is that the pharmaceutical company flooded certain areas with the drug, and they did it with the DEA's permission.
In the grand scheme of things the vast majority of people who are prescribed opiates for short term pain care do not become addicted. Some people have to take them for chronic pain and without them their lives would be unbearable.
Now we have doctors who's hands are becoming tied as to what they can prescribe and pharmacies that will no longer carry these drugs. That is a nightmare for people who are in pain.
Dear txbullsfan;
You had me at your title. Yes, chronic pain sufferers are under attack from our federal government, state government, and citizens who love to ride a bandwagon.
I am a chronic pain sufferer via DDD. I've had pain I can remember since 2005, but wasn't diagnosed until 2013. I misdiagnosed myself with sciatica. My online look-ups resulted with corrective surgery being classified as elective, so why bother? Asking for pain medicine didn't even occur to me.
The pain got worse and expanded to new areas. Finally went for x-rays Nov. 2013, got my diagnosis, was given an appt with a physical therapist. She had a thick German accent and threw my pain diagram on the floor. What a *****! I'm thinking. Already I see contempt for me from her. She told me getting down on my knees on all fours and arching my back would relieve 60% of my pain. I couldn't stomach any more drivel. I shook my head and left. The medical community was either doddy and deluded, or deliberately diminishing people's pain.
It has been five years since my diagnosis. I am getting worse, so bad I'm scared of what's next. I was told by a nurse back in 2013 I would be in a wheelchair within five years. I was told to keep moving, be active. I have done this. I've done w/out pain relief. I came across some Vics last week, took two a day, and thought I had broken through the pain barrier. You know what that is right? This place where you push yourself so hard you feel you're going to die, but you're pain is lessened from that point forward. I had not broken through the pain barrier. It was the pain medicine. The difference between normal functioning and functioning with pain relief is so stark it makes me cry. I can't do it anymore by myself. I'm trying to stay out of a wheelchair. I'll be damned if I'm going to be met with resistance to this objective.
I've tried CBD oil. Big whoop. Yes, there is a lessening of pain. You have to take more about every two hours.
My daughters father died from liver complications. He had DDD too. He took NSAIDS for two years before he received a scrip for narcotics.The NSAIDS corroded his liver. Where's the public outcry about people dying from NSAID's when they should have prescriptions?
DDD is in your vertebrae, it's a bone disease. I have come to find out that anything involving one's skeletal system is a mother...... as far as pain goes. I have a new pain in the back of my neck, and it makes a sickening 'crack' noise when I turn my head, like my neck is being broken.
I'm not going to let myself be handled anymore. I'm fighting for what I need.
People in other countries take them too. Maybe not as often, but they are prescribed. What happened in this country is that the pharmaceutical company flooded certain areas with the drug, and they did it with the DEA's permission.
In the grand scheme of things the vast majority of people who are prescribed opiates for short term pain care do not become addicted. Some people have to take them for chronic pain and without them their lives would be unbearable.
Now we have doctors who's hands are becoming tied as to what they can prescribe and pharmacies that will no longer carry these drugs. That is a nightmare for people who are in pain.
I understand how it happened here and personally I am glad that Big Pharma got slapped with law suits and found liable regarding pushing opiates and misleading doctors on the dangers of addiction.
My point though is that other countries - other civilized first world countries - do not have the opiate addiction levels that we have BECAUSE those drugs are not prescribed as often there as they are here. We need to find out what they are doing right because we're doing something wrong.
And I haven't even addressed the phenomenon of opioid-induced hyperalgesia. In a nutshell -
Quote:
In addition, recent studies have made it clear that continued exposure to opioids induces more than tolerance. It also induces a degree of hyperalgesia. Whereas, in principle, tolerance can be overcome by increasing opioid dose, hyperalgesia is made worse in the long run by increasing the opioid administration.
Great - that's all someone with chronic pain needs. And yet, this is a very real risk doctors and patients face when prescribing or taking opiates for pain relief.
Also, 49 percent - forty nine percent! - of patients with chronic pain continue to report severe pain while taking opiates.
Quote:
One of the challenges in pain management is what to do with patients who are taking opioids but continue to report significant pain. Once progression of the disease has been ruled out, the clinician is faced with a differential diagnosis that includes (1) pain disorders that are potentially resistant to opioid therapy (eg, fibromyalgia and conditions with a similar pathophysiology),8,9 (2) opioid tolerance,11 (3) opioid-induced hyperalgesia,11 or (4) a combination of issues. Distinguishing between these processes can be difficult because all encompass the common feature of a patient taking opioids who continues to report persistently high pain. Altered central pain processing is thought to be less responsive to opioid therapy and, of potentially greater concern, opioid therapy may potentially worsen pain symptoms in some individuals.
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