Originally Posted by Hopeless (Post 1043656)

I find myself a lot less tolerant and less patient due to pain. It is like I have become a different person that I do not even recognize. Things that normally would have annoyed me now make me so angry I could scream.

I no longer "bite my tongue" and I now "speak my mind" even when it may not be the proper thing to do. What happened to the person I used to be?

Did I get "lost" in pain? Anyone else see changes in your own personality as a result of your pain?

Originally Posted by PamelaJune (Post 1044019)

Hi dr smith, we have tried, I used to live in the UK for 15 years and took dyhdracodeine or df118 as it's also known. I took 20mg a day and for 15 years had no problems whatsoever, now bowel blockages, no personality issues etc. Then I had the head on car accident that changed my life (not my fault) and came home to Australia. Aus don't do df118. They stopped it in 2002 and we moved back in 2005. So we began a trial of what works etc, the long and the short of a number of drugs, so many I can't recall but here's a few, tramadol makes me vomit violently, durogesic patches I'm allergic to the adhesive, and a number of non opioids that didn't do anything. I used to have rhyzotomies every 6 months from 2006 but they stopped once I had the seizure. So now I have the stim implant and I just use the slow release oxy, which, doesn't give me the short temper, it's the endone and oxy norm fast acting for break through pain that do. We have also tried endep 25mg and 10mg but I have bad side effects that result in tremors and since the seizure, also a no go. tried Valium which made me feel sleepy and given I was working at the time I needed my brain switched on so had to stop, then they put me on Xanax but I heard such horror stories I stopped and went through 4 days of withdrawals and given I was only taking .5mg I'm never putting myself through that again. The sad thing is they really helped considerably. So, I'm really hoping they can get this stim sorted and I can get my life back med free. Yay, I'm seeing the rep and PM on Wednesday 22 and believe they will discuss the paddle implant. Any things you can suggest?

Originally Posted by ger715 (Post 1048573)

While I am on a very high dose of Oxycontin (60mgs every 6 hrs); the Percocet for breakthru pain is when I take my Vallium. When I had my spine fusion 8 years ago; while in the hospital, the nurse was giving me the Vallium and Percocet at the same time. I asked her why she was doing these two together. She told me the Percocet works so much better when taking the Vallium together.

Originally Posted by Dr. Smith (Post 1048606)

As Percocet contains both oxycodone and acetaminophen, it's really like taking three medications together. This is one of the interactions I was thinking of when I wrote...


Any medication interaction site will verify this. In fact, these were two of the medications found in Heath Ledger's system (along with several others).

Medical professionals are in a better position (knowledge, experience) to make medical judgment calls on things like this because they are (or should be) familiar with a patient's medical history, medication tolerance(s), and other factors.







Doc

Originally Posted by ger715 (Post 1048573)

Pam,

While I am on a very high dose of Oxycontin (60mgs every 6 hrs); the Percocet for breakthru pain is when I take my Vallium. When I had my spine fusion 8 years ago; while in the hospital, the nurse was giving me the Vallium and Percocet at the same time. I asked her why she was doing these two together. She told me the Percocet works so much better when taking the Vallium together.

Just wondering, since you say, the problem seems worse with your other med and Xanax just maybe the Vallium would not make you as sleepy when taking with something like Percocet (Oxycodone; generic) for breakthru. It really helps me with the sleepy problem and the anger issues due to meds.

Now....awful pain is another story. Really hard not to have some nasty issues.









Gerry

Originally Posted by Hopeless (Post 1043656)

I find myself a lot less tolerant and less patient due to pain. It is like I have become a different person that I do not even recognize. Things that normally would have annoyed me now make me so angry I could scream.

I no longer "bite my tongue" and I now "speak my mind" even when it may not be the proper thing to do. What happened to the person I used to be?

Did I get "lost" in pain? Anyone else see changes in your own personality as a result of your pain?

Originally Posted by evandtwins (Post 1055333)

That's the worst part of pain - that it changes who you are and it is a constant struggle to prevent that. One day, your pain may be managed, and you are confident and self-assured. Another (like today for me), you are suffering and it calls everything in question. I can make it through next week, but how do I continue working like this, suffering from neuropathy, for the next 15 years? How do I provide for my children and wife? The pain causes me to always be waiting for the other shoe to drop. I cannot relex and take a nice vacation. Instead, I should be saving the money for when I may not be able to work in the future. It is easy to think heroicly and say that you "won't let the pain stop you", but in the real world few of us have that intestinal fortitude. Most of us are mere mortals. The pain grinds on us and wears us down. Like I am prone to say, it does not give you the weekend off or take any vacations. It is unrelenting in its demand for attention. And when it gets to a certain level, you simply cannot block it out.

I wish you all well!