pain medication experiences [Amputee]

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From: jim chivers on 19 Apr 2005 21:35

Some of you guys tell me about your experience with pain med's. I am finding
that they don't do much good, and am doing a balancing act to keep the
addiction at a manageable level. Have had confrontations with the doctor,
over prescriptions and procedure's, how long before it gets better?
Jim

From: MrBill on 19 Apr 2005 23:35

From: jackK on 20 Apr 2005 00:57

jim chivers wrote:
> Some of you guys tell me about your experience with pain med's. I am finding
> that they don't do much good, and am doing a balancing act to keep the
> addiction at a manageable level. Have had confrontations with the doctor,
> over prescriptions and procedure's, how long before it gets better?
> Jim
>
>

Most doctors think that after they are done with the operation......
that you shouldn't have that much pain.... at least that's what my doc
thinks...... I'm sure he has never had a severe injury........ He would
say, your too young to be dependent on meds.... blaaa blaaa blaaa

You could go see a pain specialist doctor........ I'm planning on making
an appointment to see one myself. A friend of mine (yes I have one) has
been going to one and gets better care and advice (so he says).

I have alot of numb pain lately, but I'm sure it's due to my socket
being real loose. Phantom pains seem to come more when I'm thinking
about it (like now) or when I flex the muscles in my calf or numb
muscles (what's left of them).

I could go on about the pain in my other leg which wasn't amputated, but
wish it had been.

I gotten some hobbies to take my mind off the pain or use herbal
(natural) pain and depressent substances..... Now if the goverment would
put it on the list of approved drugs.... That's a whole different RANT
though.

Jack

From: PF on 20 Apr 2005 13:26

Unfortunately it's been such a long time since I tried any medication that I
can't remember the precise name of the drug my doctor recommended but it was
something like amitryptolene. Anyway, it didn't do much good for me. I also
tried a TENS machine to no avail. Some people say that phantom pain goes
after time but it has never left me and I don't think it ever will. I feel
the best way to deal with it is through attitude which I appreciate is hard
to develop but living with it and getting on with life seems to be the best
approach and I suspect most amputees would say the same thing.

Some people have tried psychological treatment involving a mirror which
aparently fools the brain into thinking you have two legs and some success
has been reported. You should look into the possible treatments if your pain
is too much rather than defaulting to addictive drugs. There must be loads
of options, acupuncture and other alternative treatments that you could look
at.

"jim chivers" <jimchivers(a)mchsi.com> wrote in message
news:Tli9e.2677$WI3.1703(a)attbi_s71...
> Some of you guys tell me about your experience with pain med's. I am
> finding that they don't do much good, and am doing a balancing act to keep
> the addiction at a manageable level. Have had confrontations with the
> doctor, over prescriptions and procedure's, how long before it gets
> better?
> Jim
>

From: fxstd on 20 Apr 2005 22:11

Since my amputation, all of my doctors have recommended Neurontin for
phantom pains. I really haven't had any severe pain as a result.
This could be psychological on my part since all of the doctors were
so convincing when they talked to me about it. Someone in a recent
post classified phantom pains in 2 categories - constant buzzing and
1-2 second bursts of shooting pain. That is an excellent description
of my experience with them. The buzzing pain is always there to some
degree while the shooting pain varies. This is where the Neurontin
comes in (for me). If I miss a dose, then I feel the shooting pains
much more intensely and frequently. The Neurontin really seems to
prevent the short bursts of pain. Unfortunately, it is prescribed 4
times a day and it is easy to forget a dose.

I was on Oxycontin for several months prior to and after the
amputation surgery. That is some wickedly powerful pain medication.
I would classify it in the extremely addicting category. It took
about 6 weeks to completely get off of it. It did not make the
phantom pains any less severe either. Quitting the oxy cold turkey
really was not an option for me. I would have probably gone crazy
with insatiable cravings. It was almost like quitting smoking.

Ken

On Wed, 20 Apr 2005 17:26:11 +0000 (UTC), "PF" <me(a)here.com> wrote:

>Unfortunately it's been such a long time since I tried any medication that I
>can't remember the precise name of the drug my doctor recommended but it was
>something like amitryptolene. Anyway, it didn't do much good for me. I also
>tried a TENS machine to no avail. Some people say that phantom pain goes
>after time but it has never left me and I don't think it ever will. I feel
>the best way to deal with it is through attitude which I appreciate is hard
>to develop but living with it and getting on with life seems to be the best
>approach and I suspect most amputees would say the same thing.
>
>Some people have tried psychological treatment involving a mirror which
>aparently fools the brain into thinking you have two legs and some success
>has been reported. You should look into the possible treatments if your pain
>is too much rather than defaulting to addictive drugs. There must be loads
>of options, acupuncture and other alternative treatments that you could look
>at.
>
>"jim chivers" <jimchivers(a)mchsi.com> wrote in message
>news:Tli9e.2677$WI3.1703(a)attbi_s71...
>> Some of you guys tell me about your experience with pain med's. I am
>> finding that they don't do much good, and am doing a balancing act to keep
>> the addiction at a manageable level. Have had confrontations with the
>> doctor, over prescriptions and procedure's, how long before it gets
>> better?
>> Jim
>>
>

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