PAIN!!!

[frozenborderline]

ot great advice. To some degree, they work at cross-purposes, and taken together they're harder on your system than anyone probably needs. So, no.

Is aleve an nsaid?

 

[frozenborderline]

Is there anyone here who has pain that is unrelenting and can get no help for it? I understand docs are at the mercy of the government, but personally, I am suffering! I see no help coming soon, and am scared for the many years ahead of living with no relief!

Grow poppies. I cant recommend enough the book Opium for the Masses--Growing and Harvesting nature's best pain medicine , by Jim Hogshire

 

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

That's quite a high dose.

Yeah, it was.

I was teetering on the edge after 2-plus years of lugging around an undiagnosed cancer to 5 different Drs, for 6 different wrong diagnoses. By the time an ER PA diagnosed me, I was in seriously bad shape, and in indescribable pain.

 

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

Is aleve an nsaid?

Aleve is Naproxen, an NSAID, specific for chronic pain, and pretty long lasting.

Advil is Ibupropen, also an NSAID. Both can be hard on the liver at high doses, and the two combined, taken at the same exact time, can be troublesome. Both drugs target COX enzymes, and taking them together confers zero benefit and greatly increases the risk of side effects ....

 

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

Grow poppies.

Growing them is the easy part, depending on which climate zone you live in.

Lemme know how the actual processing of the opium gum goes, yes?

 

[frozenborderline]

Yeah, it was.

I was teetering on the edge after 2-plus years of lugging around an undiagnosed cancer to 5 different Drs, for 6 different wrong diagnoses. By the time an ER PA diagnosed me, I was in seriously bad shape, and in indescribable pain.

Def not saying it was too high... I believe you needed it. When I was in the hospital I was on something like that... about that much daily oxycodone but then iv dilaudid pushes as needed, and lots of muscle relaxants. They said I was on as high a dose of pain meds as they could do , and there was no such thing as a higher dose ... when I had bad pain episodes even on that dose they said that. Hence why I was like wow... at that dose. Bc they told me literally it was as high as they could go --not that I necessarily believe that as a concept. I'm sure if my oxygen was okay they could give me a higher dose idk. But at that point your tolerance starts just going up up up. When I was first in the hospital the iv dilaudid pushes obliterated my pain. After weeks , they only brought it down a tiny bit.

 

[frozenborderline]

Growing them is the easy part, depending on which climate zone you live in.

Lemme know how the actual processing of the opium gum goes, yes?

Processing is the easy part , compared to growing , I believe. Having done both, and also read about it.

They're not the hardest plant to grow, but they can be a little bit finicky. I'm fairly sure I've planted thousands of seeds only to get a crop of 10 to 20 small pods. Whereas, there are two ways to process them for opium latex and both are simple enough for a child to do it. One is to cut them, and let the sap come out and dry. Then collect it . Its that simple. That's opium. The other one , which aims at less waste and is what Bayer and other companies use when processing opiumbpoppies , is to crush up the dried pods and stems into "poppy straw", and then make strong tea with it that you then strain and boil down into opium latex. Both of those work fairly simple.
At this point I would say growing enough of them is still the hard part. I envy anyone who has big patches growing near them wild. Those do exist all over the country. But apparently especially in the Pacific northwest.

 

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

Bc they told me literally it was as high as they could go

Yeah.

And it's all in our heads.

They'd never lie, right?

 

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

At this point I would say growing enough of them is still the hard part.

They are cranky little blooms. And harvesting the raw sap, while simple, leaves the problem of learning the proper dosage without depressing your respiratory system to the point of OD'g.

Plus, natural or not, it's still highly addictive, so, yeah, you better have a really really LARGE plot, someplace where the Feds wont find it ...

I'll stick with Aleve, short of another serious emergency like terminal cancer ...

 

[frozenborderline]

Yeah.

And it's all in our heads.

They'd never lie, right?

Ha. Well in this case I really think they did push pretty high. I could've had worse treatment. I just happened to have a more painful than average recovery to a more painful than average (fusion ) surgery. It taught me a new pain scale. What I assumed they meant by couldn't go higher is that they'd start worrying about me not breathing if we went higher z especially combined with the muscle relaxants I was on and stuff.

 

[Likaloha]

Thanks for all the advice! I have been unable to find any doctor for pain and am taking a break from trying to find someone because I need to go to PT twice a week so my insurance will cover me seeing a doctor to do an epidural for my neck...

 

[BeautifulDay]

@Likaloha
Pain relief depends on the location of the pain and the cause of the pain. My pain from gastroparesis requires a different strategy than migraine pain. All are related to my mitochondrial disease and ME.

3 weeks ago I developed severe pain in my left shoulder, left pec, left trap, and running down my arm. Pain relief initially while the doctors were trying to figure it out that worked best for me was 2 heating pads. One in front and one in back of left shoulder and my not moving once I found a position where I wasn't screaming in pain. A combination of advil and tylenol helped a little in high doses.

One doctor prescribed a course of prednisone for a week that made the cysts in my body (fibrocystic breasts, lipedema legs, etc... swell making the pain even worse.

3 weeks into this, the doctors now believe its dystonia and spasticity that feels like multiple charlie horses. At times I can feel involuntary muscles pulsating on the back of my left arm, back of my shoulder, left pec near my underarm. From the involuntary muscle movements that are visible, you'd think I was using a TEMS machine.

Right now I can sleep for 3 hours at a time, am still using heat, and have cut the advil/tylenol combo to 3/4 of what it was. So some improvement. But still lots of pain.

This last week I started massage and chiropractor adjustments. Its helped some. Yesterday was my best day yet.

My appointment with my dystonia doctor is in January. He is booked up until then. Botox is supposed to help most, but hopefully this pain is gone soon. Not in January. When I've had dystonia in calves and also in my thighs over months, the pain was never as bad or as all consuming as this left shoulder pain.

Some studies say muscle spasms due to dystonia can have nerve/muscle relief/relaxation due to heat, massage, or pressure points taking over the nerve messaging. Some get temporary relief from this, while others can have such cause reduced strength of contractions and length of contraction.

My massage therapist in my chiropractors office on Friday found my muscles/myofacia to be ropey with many many knots. She worked on them and I did feel much relief the rest of the day. Best sleep last night. Today its tightened up again some, but hoping continued relief over the long term with massage. My next appointment is Monday. Today I rolled the area with a tennis ball.

At it's worse, I also use a massage wand, ask my husband put pressure on points that help, try to get lost in Netflix binge watching, and visualize/meditate that I'm a big beautiful tree without nerves and therefore don't experience pain. Whatever works in the moment.

For me it's about
1) Where is the pain in my body?
2) What is the cause of the pain?
3) What is the recognized treatment for such an issue?
4) Stick with whatever pain relief is working.
5) Read up on the issue/studies.
6) Don't take unnecessary meds. Reduce meds as appropriate.
7) Remember I'm not alone.
8) Remind myself that this too will pass. I've had lots of pain over time, but nothing that has been permanent over years. Even my back pain from disc issues was resolved through special weight lifting that made my posture better and elongated my spine and allowed my discs to go back.

I hope this helps!

 

[Likaloha]

Thanks for the reply! I have used massage, trigger point injections, acupuncture,heating pads, ice, aspirin, advil, tylenol, etc etc, to no avail. I have also had facet injections in my lower back for disc degeneration, and am trying to get through my insurer's mandated two times per week for six weeks physical therapy to get(maybe) epidural for my neck disc issues. I appreciate all help! Thanks again!

 

[BeautifulDay]

@Likaloha
If it's cervical dystonia, I've heard of great pain relief with botox, but only by the top university hospitals. Mayo, Penn, John's Hopkins.... It generally requires new botox shots every 3 to 4 months, but is supposed to make a huge difference in quality of life.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/cervical-dystonia/symptoms-causes/syc-20354123

 

[BeautifulDay]

https://www.med.upenn.edu/pdmdc/dystonia.html