The other form of treatment I've been working on is psychotherapy. The same centres of the brain control memory and pain. It's how we learn what is safe, and what is unsafe. You touch a hot thing and remember the pain so you won't do it again. Unfortunately it also means that memories could potentially be the stimulus for your pain.
If, like me, you have suffered traumas in the past, those memories can be expressed through the remembered pain of the events. Through as system known as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) my therapist and I have been going through my memories of the trauma in a manner that allows me to finally rid myself of reliving them as flashbacks. So far it has had no direct affect on the pain, but has helped me significantly in other ways.
So that leaves me still dependant on morphine to even get out of bed and do the things I'm able to do. The gratitude I have for this drug knows no bounds. Although I'm unable to work at a job, I'm able to write on a daily basis, with something close to coherency. I can take short walks, and enjoy my life to a certain degree. Of course it's still severely limited but much better than any alternative.
This last point was driven home quite forcibly in the last week. My family doctor closed her practice in October of 2005 to go into teaching. Kingston is experiencing a chronic shortage of family doctors so my wife and I considered ourselves lucky that we were able to hook up with a family practice clinic.
But from the get go there were warning signs this was not going to be the right place for us. Mysteriously my medical files were never forwarded, while my wife's were. I phoned them in the third week of November to book an appointment to renew my prescriptions only to be told that I couldn't be seen until January 6th. Fortunately, my pain doctor did me the great favour of renewing what I needed over the phone.
Then on the morning of January 6th, the clinic phoned to cancel my appointment and rescheduled it for the following Tuesday. That too was than cancelled until the next Friday. What this meant to me was that I would miss two days of medication. By the time Friday rolled around I was bedridden, and unable to move because the pain had begun to get out of control.
Article comments
1 - alpha
I am sorry to hear of your pain, Gypsyman. Although sometimes it is an old friend that reminds you of your mortality, it is the job of physicians to alleviate it. In the U.S. that job has been hindered to a ridiculous extent by bureaucrat-cops under the powers of the D.E.A. and by the meek fear of the medical profession. They do not suffer. Patients suffer needlessly.
Luckily my pain is mostly chest pain alleviated by nitrates which are still legal and oxygen which actually needs a Rx in the U.S. if not here. Who would guess that you need to get a prescription to breathe?
Visit my early post, "Painful Medicine" here on Blogriticsfor my visit to the same subject -- personal as it is.
2 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Gypsyman,
A friend of mine had a boyfriend who suffered from chronic bsack pain. Being of American Indian descent, he was very stoic about it - stiff upper lip doesn't even come close. But he needed therapy.
He was taught visualization. I do not knopw all of the details of the treatment, but it is not too far over the border in Minnesota (I think),
Being in somewhat bad straits myself (living on the streets), I tried this visualization thing. I visualized being successful, living in a brick house with a wife and kids and cancelled every thought that went against the vision. Ten years later(1993), I had the the whole ball of wax - except that the house was made of cinder, not brick.
3 - Shelly
I can certainly relate to your pain and the experience you went through finding a new doctor. I took a new job that meant a promotion and moved from a location where I had been treated at a pain clinic for over 5 years, with Staydol patches, for my chronic pain, and break-through pain medication.
Prior to a doctor finally realizing I was not crazy, I was ready to medically retire from work (I was only working 24 hrs a week due to the chronic pain). Then I found a physician who believed I should not have to suffer and put me on pain medication. From thrtr, I finally started living life. I received 2 promotions and began working in Research Administration. I went back to school and received my MBA with a 3.97 GPA. That is what led to another huge promotion--and a move.
I was more afraid of the move due to being able to still control my pain than anything else. My fear proved to be justified. Since my move I have learned that not all parts of the US have nice pain clinics like the area I came from. I have not been able to find one here. The most I can get for pain is vicodin. Anyone who has been on morophine or Staydol knows that once you are on those medications to control your pain--and then are lowered to vicodin, it's like taking plain tylenol for a gunshot wound to the gut--and two crushed legs.
I am now barely able to get up in the morning due to the pain. I wonder how much longer I am going to be able to continue without adequate pain management. I honestly don't know what to do. I just started seeing a new pain doctor, and he too, prescribed me vicodin, and I can't even take it daily.
The people who have abused drugs just haven't hurt themselves and their families--they have made it totally miserable for those of us who really need pain medications and who follow the rules.
Shelly
4 - Jamie
I was told by an MD that getting off the timed release morophine would be easy. Unfortuantely, my body chemistry must be different. I had omitted one pill per 24 hr. period (one 30mg of 2 pills per day) and found within hours that the withdrawl symptoms were unmanageable particularily with my high pace professional career. Some of us need to wean off of it at a slower pace than others... what a fright for me and my husband.