Morphine is also less damaging to your organs than NSAIDs.

You may feel some strong side effects (dopiness, slight nausea) at first, but that usually resolves within a week or so.

If your concern is becoming addicted, there's a very low chance (less than 3% if you have no previous history of substance abuse or psychological issues). I'm actually more concerned (and curious) that they've got you on TWO benzodiazepines. Please be careful when using with morphine! In fact, my hope would be that you remind your doctor of this, and ask if you should decrease/stop one or both of the benzos—at least until you're acclimated to the morphine.

Doc

Thanks Doc, I know the benzos are addictive too. I've never had a dependence on anything but I have a family history of alcoholism and I worry there is a genetic link. My brother is alcoholic, a few cousins are alcoholic and two uncles died from alcohol related diseases. I just like to be careful.

I love my brother very much and his alcoholism doesn't affect his life at all. He's always held down his job as a teacher, he's never missed work, he also successfully ran two farms and a property development company, he's never had a DUI, he has supported and nurtured two wonderful children (now adults) and been the carer for his mentally ill wife. I know he has used alcohol as his coping mechanism but I worry for his health. I would be devastated if anything happened to him.

I'll have to make another appointment to see the GP tomorrow, that's twice in a week. I know he says he likes to see me but twice in one week is a bit much :D

Bye

Hi Myleogirl,
It sounds like you have a good relationship with your GP and your family. We were just assigned a new GP whom I have yet to meet. I will be thinking about you on the 16th and wish you the best.
Redcat

Thanks Redcat.

I'm very surprised that I have a GP that tells me he likes me! He smiles and jokes and tells me stories about his life and he is very open and friendly.

Then I get feedback from everyone else in the clinic that he is a loner, very shy, doesn't talk, doesn't have his meal breaks with them and never smiles!

I really don't understand why he's so different with me. Maybe it's because I addressed the issue of his religion with him up front on the first visit to see him. I looked him up on Google and found out that he had been assaulted by another doctor, that he had reported that other doctor for malpractice (and he was stripped of his medical registration as a result), that he was a devout Muslim and a member of an Islamic doctors association, that he had agitated for proper medical care to be provided to Guantanamo inmates and he did volunteer work in isolated and poor villages in Yemen. He had left his previous country to start a new life. I discussed all of this with him. Personally, I'm an Atheist but I respect everyone's right to their own belief and I admire commitment to that belief. I don't like hypocrisy. He's certainly not a hypocrite.

Did you mean addictive or dependence-producing?

Sorry, it's a 'button'/'trigger' with me—I think because there is so much confusion, misinformation, and disinformation about those two terms. They are commonly used interchangeably, yet they are quite different in meaning, and that confusion is the source of much of the stigmatism of people in chronic pain.

Doc

Dear Doc,

You are always imparting your fabulous wisdom and I appreciate it. I do not know anything about drugs except the ones I have been prescribed. I do not have a clue about the "classes" of drugs, about what is addictive, dependency, or differences in various types of analgesics. All of my drugs are for cardiac and diabetic conditions. I can't tolerate pain meds, at least none of the ones I have ever taken, so I have to rely upon pain patches and injections for chronic pain relief. I have taken some pain meds for severe acute conditions but must take them usually with an anti-emetic.

Do you have a basic primer for someone like me? A link to some basics? I have attempted some internet research but most of it is over my head for understanding.

Thanks for sharing your wisdom with us.

Hi Doc, I think I probably mean addictive, dependence producing and increasing tolerance all at once.

If you take a drug that is likely to produce very nasty withdrawals if you cease taking it, isn't that an addiction? Dependence, well, that's okay, because if it's doing it's job and we depend on it for pain relief then we cease it and the pain returns that's a different thing entirely. Developing a tolerance where you have to have increasing amounts of the same drug to have the same effect is another problem as well.

I think I'm probably a little concerned about each of the above but I just have to learn to trust the professionals to guide me in the right direction.

As I've said earlier, I have a brother who is alcoholic and I'm definitely not judgmental about the choices people make. I just dOnt want it for me.

Right, now I'm off the Voltaren and on Oxycodone. I complained about feeling stoned on the Alprazolam so I've been told to reduce it to 0.25mgs twice a day. I'll see if that helps.

Oh well, I tried to avoid narcotics but it seems they are the lesser of two evils.

Sort of. I've posted some things in the Useful Sites Sticky thread on the Medications & Treatments forum from time to time....

Pain Management

The Truth About Opioid Pain Medications


...and in the Useful Sites & Resources Sticky thread on the Chronic Pain forum.

Adult Pain Management Patient Guides

Hormones and Chronic/Intractable Pain


As it's been a while, some of the links may have changed/expired. The articles might be located by goggling their titles. If not, lemme know and I'll try to find them or something equivalent, but I may not get to it until after the long weekend... :p (Mmmm.... Dead Bird!)

Doc

PS: In composing the following response to Myelogirl, I came across the replacement of one of the expired links:

Definitions Related to the Use of Opioids for the Treatment of Pain: Consensus Statement of the American Academy of Pain Medicine, the American Pain Society, and the American Society of Addiction Medicine

No, that's dependence. It can get confusing because a person can be both addicted to, and dependent on, a medication.

It may help to think of it this way: Dependence is physical—the body becomes chemically acclimated/accustomed to a medication such that abrupt reduction/cessation causes physical withdrawal; Addiction is psychological—evidenced by cravings, continued ab/use despite harm to onesself/others (usually family members).

Definitions Related to the Use of Opioids for the Treatment of Pain: Consensus Statement of the American Academy of Pain Medicine, the American Pain Society, and the American Society of Addiction Medicine

Doc