Surgeon General Launches Anti-Opioid Campaign

Link 2016-08-282016-08-29 Miss Poison Chronic Pain, Fibromyalgia Articles, Chronic Pain, Doctors, Fibromyalgia, Opioids, Patients

http://www.painnewsnetwork.org/stories/2016/8/25/surgeon-general-launches-anti-opioid-campaign

When someone (a doctor, or someone who works for one) gets gravely injured or is killed because of this type of thought process, I will NOT be surprised. You’re telling pain patients that our quality of life does not matter. If that’s the case, then you have to factor in how in-human this is.

Find out if your doctor is a follower. Doctors go to medical school to save lives and help keep us healthy; they don’t go to school to learn how to destroy lives. The last thing any of us needs is a doctor attempting to destroy any of us over a prescription.

When used properly, this particular type of medication helps many of us. Because we know what we suffer from, we’re extremely cautious about taking “too much”, not that any doctor is giving us hundreds of pills a month, because that just isn’t the case. Even post-surgery, I don’t know anyone getting more than 30 pills at a time, IF THAT.

I find this entire thing extremely disturbing. It enrages me.

How To Get Your Doctor To Take Your Pain Seriously

Link 2016-03-01 Miss Poison Chronic Pain Chronic Pain, Doctors, Health

http://www.health.stfi.re/health/condition-article/0,,20188093,00.html?sf=ogxzow

Struggling

2015-11-262015-11-26 Miss Poison Honesty, Musings, Pieces Of Me, Poison In Lethal Doses, Writing Doctors, Honesty, Insomnia, Life, Migraines, Musings, Pain Management, Patient X, Pieces Of Me, Poison In Lethal Doses, Stress, Thanksgiving, Writing

It is the early morning hours of Thanksgiving Day here in the States. After spending hours preparing stuffing yesterday (which I highly suspect might suck today), I ended up with a highly stressful day which resulted in a migraine. That then turned into insomnia, which is the only reason I am awake at such an hour. Turns out, Patient X is not the only one in pain. 😦 Poor kid.

Lucky for him, he has a sister/maid who will go back to the hospital tomorrow to pick up a prescription and take it to the pharmacy on Black Friday, a day I avoid like the fucking plague because of the insanity that ensues, all because his doctor did not see fit to prescribe the appropriate amount of pain medication upon discharge. I thought it was an incredibly odd number seeing as how he’s supposed to take twelve pills a day until he’s healed enough to not be in such severe pain. He is healing, the swelling and bruising are almost fully gone, but he’s still in an incredible amount of pain. I couldn’t stand by as if it weren’t happened as the pills diminished.

I realize there are always pre-holiday emergencies, but it shouldn’t take a doctor’s office nearly twelve hours to return two phone calls where the words “pain management” are used. I find that unacceptable.

Moreover, not being able to call a prescription in to the pharmacy in an emergency simply because it is a controlled substance, even if it means faxing a hard copy from your office or sending the hard copy via FedEx, is a major time and energy drain on caregivers. I realize doctors and PAs are busy covering their own asses on this shit, that patients do NOT come first, but it makes me angry that my brother is in severe pain and that I, in my agony, have no choice but to schlep somewhere I don’t want to be in order to get the appropriate medication for him. It should have been done correctly the first time, except now, I am going to be fully present and since his voice still isn’t better, they’re going to have to put up with mine, and oh, how loud can I go?!

The physician’s assistant was the epitome of rude, dismissive, and unprofessional (I’d like to think she’s just stupid and/or had a stressful day that she would have preferred to be spending somewhere else with family, but I was then informed that she’s always like that, so I knew it wasn’t simply my perception.) and proceeded to lecture me on post-op appointment scheduling. Excuse me; I’m NOT his secretary. I was not handed the discharge papers, so outside of dispensing medication and doing a plethora of other things that contribute to my misery, I am also supposed to be a mind-reader. News flash: There’s no such thing as mind-readers. Also, the job of physician’s assistant to a surgeon is basically glorified prescription pad, especially when you don’t know how to communicate with people as if they’re human-beings. Instead of wasting time acquiring healthcare experience before entering the three year program, I strongly suggest going to medical school and then try giving me attitude. I get to say this because it’s the truth. If you happen to be a PA and you’re reading this, I can only hope you treat people the way you’d want to be treated and don’t hang up on people mid-sentence. When you work with the public in any form, it is crucial to be courteous and respectful. For the record, I said nothing to warrant the ‘tude. If anything, I was overly polite and respectful. I won’t make that mistake again.

Is it convenient that they only see patients on Tuesdays? No. Instead of being able to enjoy some semblance of a holiday weekend this snit tells me to “call on Friday to get him into the office on the 1st”. Because apparently, Lisa has no life of her own and can drop everything on Tuesday so as to miss her own doctor’s appointment. I would like to know precisely when I entered a life of servitude. I wonder if there’s a uniform…

At this point I can only assume I am over-tired, hungry, feeling the effects of the Full Moon (If anyone else saw it rise last night, was it uncharacteristically enormous?), and/or in desperate need of hitting something. It might very well be a combination of all of the above. I can deal with that because it’s honest.

However, to add insult to injury, Patient X is running a fever and might very well need to return to the hospital tomorrow to be certain he does not have another post-op infection. If he does have another infection (which would be lucky number three), I will be on the 10 o’clock news in the Philadelphia area demanding that this hospital be investigated.

I wish I were able to set aside real life and focus solely on fiction (it’s a far better world on paper, as is often the case), but sometimes a writer has to be supremely real and not gloss the serious shit over. I may not currently be writing about NaNoWriMo, WIP’s, my experience editing this or that, or spewing nonsense, but at the beginning and end, I’m going to be real. I’d rather be respected for that side of me than have someone fuss over something completely unimportant.

There’s no rest for the wicked. Only the good die young, so I’m going to be here forever!

Wishing everyone stateside & all members of our Armed Forces a Happy Thanksgiving. To everyone else in this world; have an amazing Thursday where your priorities in life supersede all the bullshit.

Medical Fat-Shaming

Link 2015-11-05 Miss Poison Fat-Shaming Articles, Doctors, Fat-Shaming, Health

http://www.prevention.com/health/medical-fat-shaming?cid=soc_facebook_allure_11-2&mbid=social_facebook

This is disgustingly real. There are doctors in many states that will refuse to treat you if you’re ten pounds “overweight”. They don’t treat you as a person, they treat you like a number on the scale that somehow makes them feel superior. It is unacceptable behavior. Don’t EVER be afraid to get a second, third, or even fourth opinion. You are your own best advocate for your health. If a doctor is disrespectful, find one who has their shit together. Don’t pay anyone who cannot treat you like a human-being.

Do You Know Why Doctors Refuse To Prescribe Narcotics To Fibromyalgia Patients?

Link 2015-10-12 Miss Poison Fibromyalgia Articles, Doctors, Fibromyalgia, Narcotic Painkillers

http://runnatural.info/do-you-really-know-why-doctors-refuses-to-prescribe-narcotics-to-fibromyalgia-patients/

This happened to one of my doctors after he wrote a patient a prescription for about five pills to get her through a move so that she’d have medication until she was able to see a new doctor. The DEA showed up at his office and threw a fit over it, claiming that it was a bizarre amount of medication, demanding to see his files, etc. You would have thought he’d written her a prescription for 500 pills the way they behaved! He was told that he could no longer prescribe anything outside what is considered “normal” for his practice. Since that day, he has been scared to write prescriptions for certain things unless he’s working at the hospital where things are scrutinized a little less and even then, it’s got to be a big deal for him to break out the different prescription pad. I find it incredibly sad that doctors are being told how to treat their patients instead of doing what they feel is in a patient’s best interest. Unfortunately, there will always be people who will abuse the medications that chronic pain sufferers so desperately need.

This article isn’t well written, but I thought I’d share it regardless.

I Hope To See A Cure

2015-09-292015-09-29 Miss Poison Migraines, Pieces Of Me, Writing Doctors, Emergency Rooms, Medication, Migraines, Nurses, Pink Himalayan Salt, Topamax, Writing

I’m sitting here plagued by a migraine I wouldn’t wish on a soul, except maybe Hitler, and he was probably soulless, so that puts that concept to rest. Please don’t tell me he was “good to his dogs”. I’ve known some horrible people who were good to a cat or good to their dogs; do NOT use that as a measuring stick by which to judge people as “good” or “bad: It’s inaccurate.

This migraine has been going on for nearly 24 hours and two rounds of medication. Every time I thought it would get better, it managed to get worse. The problem with this type of migraine is that it’s difficult to keep it hydrated, because you know you won’t be able to keep fluids down for long. The pain isn’t just in your head any more either, you can feel it in your entire body. Not because it’s a different type of migraine, but because you’ve been afraid to move around too much since it started. The pain is so sickening, you’d rip your head off your own shoulders to make it stop. You learn from experience that as you go through the process of a lengthy migraine, the less you do, the better off you will be. The fact that it has eaten up nearly a day and a half of my life is not making me happy though. 😦 It plagued me before it even began.

Someone asked me yesterday if I’d go to the emergency room with a headache like this. I’d love to say “I’m going to take a quick shower and go now.”, because it’s THAT bad and I know I need an abortive, but I also know I will sit in a brightly lit ER for 3-6 hours, if not longer, in sunglasses, and that it’s far from quiet there. From the time I go into triage until they discharge me, my blood pressure will go from normal to “If you don’t medicate me right this minute, I will strange you to death with a cord.” That seems dramatic, but if you multiply the worst pain you’ve ever been in times 1000, you’ll be experiencing this particular migraine.

It is hospital policy to check your BP every hour, and when I’m in pain, like many of us, mine shoots up because being around low IQ’s and stupid questions pisses me off. The last two times I had to go to the ER for non-migraine related issues, I was given blood pressure medication and made to sit there until my blood pressure normalized. If the doctor hadn’t agitated me with a false diagnosis before she ran a single test, blood pressure meds wouldn’t have been necessary. I don’t have high blood pressure, thank God, but I do have incredibly low tolerance for bullshit.

The first time I went in this “doctor” ran up a nearly $6800 bill, most of which was for lab work that I’m not even 100% certain I had. The only major thing she did was a chest x-ray. And despite the fact that I could not stop coughing my brains out, she actually hesitated when I asked her to give me something for that cough, as if she wanted to suggest Robitussin. I know people who walk in with coughs far less severe than mine and they’re given cough syrup that helps them fall asleep and suppresses the cough, etc. I was given a prescription for cough perles which I suspect are the equivalent of something slightly stronger than a Ricola. She acted like she was doing me an immense favor. That attitude, when I have a migraine, is not conducive to my getting proper treatment. I do have the choice to go to a different hospital, but it’s five times larger and I shudder to think what that experience may or may not be like. I’m too sick to put myself through it.

Unless an emergency room is trained to handle migraines, you’re not going to be taken seriously. An ER that is prepared has a dark, quiet room that is secluded and they will make sure to follow your doctor’s instructions to the letter. I went in with one years ago. My neurologist specifically stated that he wanted them to give me a shot of Demerol and send me home to rest, that I’d already had a migraine for three days. He’s an on-staff physician there and he spoke with them himself, he verified my treatment plan, one I’d never had to use. Three nurses and a “doctor” were whispering off in a corner that they wouldn’t do it because I was “probably just a junkie looking for a fix”. I was there for genuine medical care and to be treated like that outraged me, thus making the migraine worse. I left without any treatment at all, and I never went back because I felt that what they did was irresponsible.

But back to this migraine: I hope that at some point in my lifetime, I live to see a cure. People love to talk about what works for them, but we’re all individuals and what works for you may not work for me, and vice versa. I’d never denounce a migraine because I know what it’s like to live with them.

Last week someone mentioned Pink Himalayan Salt as a treatment method. They said they put 2-3 granules under their tongue three times a day and have been migraine free because of that. They said that if they felt a migraine coming on, they used a little more salt and drank a full glass of water, but that it “cured” them of the need for preventive medicine and abortive medicine. I found this an extremely odd “treatment method”, but apparently it is a complete salt, full of minerals, elements, and electrolytes. Using it for migraine treatment requires two teaspoons in a glass of water along with half a cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice. This is supposed to stop the migraine in its tracks within ten minutes. I completely forgot to grab this particular item when I shopped last week, but apparently the higher quality the salt, the better the results.

I am going to try it and see if it holds dishwater. In the meantime, I am taking my third round of medication and praying that tomorrow is a healthy, pain-free, productive day. Not just for myself, but for anyone that suffers from an invisible illness and has been mistreated because of it.

P.S. How do I type through a migraine this bad? Slowly. In the dark. In complete silence. The fact that it has rained and will continue to rain helps. There’s a method to my madness.

Zombie Lisa

2015-09-042015-09-04 Miss Poison Fibromyalgia, Men, Migraines, Musings, Pieces Of Me, Poison In Lethal Doses, Writing Doctors, Headaches, Insomnia, Medical Treatment, Men, Migraines, Musings, Pieces Of Me, Poison In Lethal Doses, Topamax, Treatment Plans, Writing

I had something great planned, and then insomnia bit and there’s no way I will be able to put the finishing touches on it this morning. Perhaps later or tomorrow. At the moment, I am in desperate need of serious sleep. I am so tired, I’m shaking. 😦

I’ve had four migraines and a couple of minor headaches since going back on Topamax. I increased the dose to 50 mgs a few days ago accidentally. I went to have breakfast one morning and I was running late. I misplaced the pill I’d set aside, and ended up taking two without realizing it. However, once I’d done it I decided it was probably safe to keep doing, though I’m afraid to move to 75 mgs any time soon. I am not 1000% certain it’s the medication because this has never happened to me before. It could be any number of things, but I highly suspect this medication is turning me into a crazy bitch. I don’t say this lightly and if anyone else ever said it I’d knock their teeth out because there’s nothing funny about it. (I have since added three different apps to my phone because these pills are tiny and you never know when you’re going to need a reminder. It takes a split second to drop one and think you’ve taken it.)

It could be stress, hormones, not sleeping well, a combination of all three, or it could be a side effect of the medication. It DOES make me really sick if I go past 125 mgs, so I just asked Case Study One if I’ve been crazier/bitchier than usual. I’m pretty sure he told me to wash my face, brush my teeth, and go the fuck to bed. Truth is, I know he was avoiding answering the question. I’m not sure why men think valid health questions are “tricks”.

The physical pain is still a constant. I have my good days and my bad days. This will always be true. I spent several hours researching some new pain treatments yesterday and I will be going over them with the next doctor I see, which will hopefully be soon. When I actually look forward to seeing a doctor, it’s safe to say that hell has frozen over and become a ski resort. Take blood, run tests, and write me out all the necessary prescriptions. All I care about is feeling better.

All bets are off if the doctor says one insulting, mean-spirited, unnecessary word. I have Fibromyalgia, I’m not in your office for heroin.

Out Of The Ashes

2014-08-082014-08-17 Miss Poison Chronic Pain, Fibromyalgia, Health, Pieces Of Me, Writing Chronic Pain, Doctors, Drug Addiction, Fibromyalgia, Health, Medicine, Painkillers, Writing

Out Of The Ashes

One of the first PILD pieces I ever wrote was about drug addiction. It was an incredibly poignant piece of prose, but the basic theme was this: Anyone can become addicted to prescription pain medicine. This is a simple fact.

This is a new blog, and since many of the readers may not know me from “…..And The Moon Sees All”, let me clarify why I am writing about this particular subject.

In 2003, I believe, after years of bizarre pain and recurring injuries that I could not explain, a doctor sat me down and said “All of your tests have come back negative. Your blood work is good, everything’s negative. Your MRI is clear. Your x-rays only show the spinal issues that the MRI showed 4 years ago. Have you ever heard of Fibromyalgia?” I had only heard about it in passing, I did not know a lot about it. Not much was known about it on a whole, but in all honesty, I was a little too distracted, because knowing that what I had was not Lupus was much more prevalent in my mind.

My world changed that afternoon, and has continued to change every day since then. I finally had answers for what was plaguing me. Unfortunately, I did not know just how much the disease itself would plague my life, what it would take away, the time it would rob me of, and I still have no idea what it will do to me in the future.

When all of the pain began, I was put on several different types of pain medication and a muscle relaxer as the standard operating procedure. Coming from a background where I had worked for a professional athlete who’d had his demons with pain medication, I was not a fan of what this entailed. I was not going to become a person that lived her life based on her next dose, nor was I going to become this person that abused what she was given. To this day, I am still one of the most responsible users of medication that I know.

As the years have come and gone, I’ve pretty much adhered to a 2-3 times a day policy, even on my worst days. Technically I am allowed 8-10 pills per day. Many years ago, when the medication simply wasn’t strong enough because I’d been on it for so long, I was taking the maximum allowed dose every single day. Eventually, it all stopped working and I lost my patience. I then weaned myself off of it and now, on the absolute worst days, I will only take something at night. During the day I will take Tylenol or Aleve, but at night, I allow myself the prescription. On days when I cannot move a muscle or get out of bed, I might allow myself a morning pill, but I’ll definitely chastise myself over it.

Millions of people suffer from Fibromyalgia and Chronic Pain. There are a laundry list of side effects from each and the truth is, to this day, I still don’t know for sure if I have one or the other, or a combination thereof. My doctors have been lax. They have found it easier to refill prescriptions and try to refer me elsewhere because what I am going through is truly out of their wheelhouse.

I took very high doses of Cymbalta for 8 years and it did give me aspects of my life back. I almost felt like a regular person again. However, once it stopped working, I could no longer go back on it. I have tried multiple times at the 20 mg level (the lowest dose possible) and even that is too high a dose for my body now. I have tried Lyrica and while I know it helps some people, for me personally, I think it is a seriously awful drug. It was like being 100% aware in a coma. In turn, I’m not touching Savella with a ten foot pole.

My first referral was to a pain management center where they spend the entire day performing epidurals and nerve blocks. Strictly speaking, unless you are done having kids (which I am NOT, and obviously this only applies to women), you shouldn’t be using this as a form of pain relief unless you’ve chosen not to have kids. The risk of an epidural wearing off for me in the future in the middle of childbirth is a risk I am not willing to take. I spoke with my doctor about it and he was mortified that this was the only option being made available to me. He agreed with my perspective and said that if I went through with it, I would absolutely have one fail during childbirth. At that point, I was left without options.

I have tried experimental medications, some of which have only recently been approved for the treatment of Chronic Pain. One in particular robbed me of a week of my life, I will never take it again. I have done several courses of Eastern Medicine and while some of it worked well, others were so temporary that I don’t feel like two hours of pain relief is worth spending a week in bed. Herbs are not addictive, but you do continue to seek pain relief from them if they work. It becomes a different type of pattern, albeit a natural one that isn’t habit-forming.

My next step in this lengthy, exhausting process is a Fibromyalgia specialist. Yes, they do exist, but they’re hard to find and it’s not easy to get on a waiting list to see one. Many of them do not take any form of insurance, except Medicare, so they definitely don’t make it easy for you to seek out pain relief and the proper treatment method for your body. However, I am determined to get in to see the one in my area, even if that means a 6+ month wait, or longer.

I did nothing to cause the Fibromyalgia from creeping into my body and systematically trying to take over. There is a widespread belief that it is caused by physical and/or emotional trauma in your life, and the on-set is different for everyone. It is widely speculated that mine was caused due to a gymnastics injury that lingers to this day, but the truth is, my doctor was simply going over my history and looking for a particular physically traumatic event to try to help me find some closure as to how it may have happened. We will never truly know with any certainty.

Some people have Fibromyalgia or Chronic Pain so mildly, that their flare-ups are just a few days per month. Others are experiencing pain so severe that they cannot function or take care of themselves, their lives change in the blink of an eye. None of us WANT to end up in wheelchairs, but I keep hearing about it and that is incredibly scary to me.

This disease is like many, it is a predator. It targets anyone, it does not discriminate. It can, and it does, happen to anyone.

So, the next time someone tells you they have Fibromyalgia, do not tell them they “don’t look sick”. I can’t tell you how often I get told that I “look great”. Yes, and it takes me 5 hours to look that way.

Don’t judge someone with any form of Chronic Pain or Fibromyalgia. Do some research and do what you can to lighten their load, even if it means cleaning a room for them when you can, taking them to doctors appointments when you are able, or cooking for them so that they don’t have to struggle in their attempts to put a meal together for themselves and/or their family. Be a supportive ear, and don’t take it personally when they inevitably have to cancel plans with you constantly because the pain is too much. They aren’t doing it on purpose, they don’t hate or dislike you, but they DO hate their pain. Do what you can to put their mind at ease. Be kind, be courteous, and above all, treat them the way you’d want to be treated if you found yourself in the same position tomorrow. If they weren’t able to go with you to see that movie, bring it to them when it comes out on DVD and provide them with a fun movie night at home. Make them comfortable. Show them that you care. Take their pain seriously and they will respect you for that. If you walk away from them thinking that they’re faking it or that it’s “all in their head”, pause for a second and factor in the simplicity of karma.