Quote:
Originally Posted by keep smilin
Loretta..once again you werea hit!! Thank you for your post...
Pain does some pretty crazy things to us...I half believe we should be entitled to become unraveled once in a while... This illness sure does test our strength and will and ability to move forward everyday... Sometimes I wonder how would I handle this if it were not me but one of my loved ones?? Very quickly I revert back to ... it has to be me..as no way would I want to share one iotta of this killer pain with anyone!! ( I am so sorry you all have it also)....But in return our loved ones close to us.. must realize that we are in a constant turmoil with juggling pain and all of the "riches" that go along with it..just the otherday I admitted that I would not mind taking a " long" nap..... knowing that if I did not wake up from it..I have zero regrets as my life has been amazing..just the way it was! No regrest!!! None!!
Love, Kathy  |
Dear Kathy -
Pain can indeed do some pretty crazy things to us. And it can be induced in some pretty crazy fashions, "
opioid-induced hyperalgesia" being one of them, where we can be on large enough doses of opioids that they not only become essentially useless but they ultimately reinforce and strengthen what is already CNS generated pain. For the quick treatment on Wikipedia, see,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opioid-...d_hyperalgesia
I just put up a long post on this in another thread,
which path will you choose?
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/sh...d=1#post620879 (post no. 8.)
The post covers of few points, first, that at too high a level, opioids can actually cause more pain than they cure. Thus, before one ever assumes that the pain is as manageable is it’s going to get, you MUST have a conversation with a good pain dr. about the possibility of so-called opioid-induced hyperalgesia, it's causes and remedies: assuming of course you have been taking ant opioid at all.
The good news is that there are a number of fixes for the problem, including not only that old favorite, opioid rotation, but adding to the opioid another compound, whether it’s a so-called “NMDA receptor antagonist,” which could be as simple as the over-the-counter cough suppressant dextromethorphan in order to block pain processing from the spinal column to the brain, or the most minute amount (in millionths of a gram) of an opioid blocker which has the paradoxical effect of increasing the analgesic qualities of the narcotic while reducing the total amount taken, and therefore their side effects.
The bottom line is that no one should be resigning themselves to a life of absolutely intolerable pain, unless and until you’ve fully explored these issues and options with a good pain physician.
Mike