This is by Bill Whittle, the same guy that wrote the small town values thing that everyone liked so much(!), and also that sheep, wolves and sheepdogs thing of a year or two ago. I really like him even if you don't.
What interests me most about this, um, piece, is his visit to the emergency room. As some of you know, I spent a few years as an ER nurse. I've watched innumerable people bouncing off the stretcher while trying to tolerate the pain of a kidney stone ( the pain is as acute as pain can be). And there is nothing in the world more frustrating than going to such a person with a dose of 2mg of morphine or 25mg of demerol to relieve their pain, after trying to impress on the "prescriber" the degree of pain this patient was in. A kidney stone requires doses much larger than that. Yet, some, if not many, doctors and PAs and NPs feel it is their duty to dole out narcotics in tiny doses because, well, you can get addicted, ya know. Crap. Narcotics are made to control acute pain and should be given IMMEDIATELY in doses large enough to do so.
Anyway, the fact that he had to wait several hours for pain relief is a crime.
13 comments:
I agree. I know so many people who are extremely hesitant about just taking acetaminophen or ibuprofen and it boggles my mind. When I'm hurting I just want to get that stuff in and get the pain out ASAP. The even weirder thing is the sense of pride that a lot of these people show when they say, "Oh I'm not really into poppin' pills." Well, I'm not really into debilitating back pain that spreads through my entire body and my head and eyes so that I can't do anything but lay there and wince. Is there something wrong with me for not embracing that kind of thing? Bahh I need a MedX Lumbar Extension machine.
I love the painkillers. All about 'em.
However, I also like to be in pain once in a while. It's certainly not an aversion to popping pills, I just like to remember what it feels like, and to keep myself used to it. Is that weird?
Luke, that's some serious back pain. Ouch.
"However, I also like to be in pain once in a while. It's certainly not an aversion to popping pills, I just like to remember what it feels like, and to keep myself used to it. Is that weird?"
This is one of the many things I love about High-Intensity Training.
Really though, there is almost never a time for me where every body part of mine is pain-free. It's the worst though if I haven't lifted in a while.
"Luke, that's some serious back pain. Ouch."
It comes and goes pretty much cyclically. Every month or 2 I think. It starts as lower back pain, then it spreads into my upper back, my shoulders and arms. When it really gets bad is when it goes to my neck, and then I'm guaranteed to have tension headaches. Then my eyes swell up and itch and my teeth hurt and my legs and feet get sore. I think I inherited this from Dad?
I used to have a tough-it-out attitude about pain when I was younger. I'd even avoid aspirin. But eventually I discovered that the only reason I had been able to tough it out was that I had never encountered real pain. Once I did -- I, too, became all about pain-killers!
Luke, I'm sorry to hear about your back. Dad does have back troubles but they don't sound like yours. Itchy eyes??!?
Meant to add that I think I have a pretty high pain threshold, based on various comments made by medical people and others over the years. I don't think I feel it quite as quickly or react to it quite as intensely as some people do. That probably also helped with the pain-killer-avoidance while it lasted.
I've always felt the same way, Mom, and I think it's part of the reason I tend to try to live with mild pain when I can. I don't know if I've experienced real pain or not (childbirth?), but I'm in no hurry.
I definitely don't have that sort of intense back pain, ever. I do get very tense and painful shoulders and neck, but I think that's because of the strain of lifting my enormous head.
Ok, pain-killer lovers, there needs to be a caveat or two here. Ibuprofen can cause GI bleeds. It should be used as sparingly as possible. If 400 mg gives you relief, then only take that much. If you're using it every day, I would be wary.
Likewise, acetaminphen will rot your liver. People who take a handful of tylenol to end it all often end up alive but with a destroyed liver. Again, it's not something I would be comfortable taking on a daily basis. If I were taking it regularly, I'd want to have my doctor do LFTs(liver function tests).
But be thankful that you get relief from these drugs. They do nothing for me. The greatest thing that ever happened to me was the development of Imitrex injectable.
And don't ever give either one of them to cats.
Well my pill popping, like my back pain, is in cycles. So during the worst parts of it yeah I might be taking the max daily doses of both tylenol and ibuprofen for a few days in a row. Then I might not take any at all for a whole month. It does kind of seem like they aren't as effective as they used to be though.
Dad, is it possible for someone who doesn't get migraines to just randomly get them for about a week? I had some bad headaches a couple weeks ago that were accompanied with some weird vision things.
I have no aversion to pain meds, but I will often have a headache for a few hours before it occurs to me to take anything. I also know a few people who I think got the pain-pill aversion from their parents. When you ask them why they don't want any tylenol, they can never explain it. They get all shifty eyed and confused, cause they don't even know why they don't want it. They were just raised with mommy being like "Oh I don't want to give you aspirin!"
Luke, yes. You could go for months without any and then get them daily for a week. And "vision things" indicate migraines, thought I'm not convinced that there are migraines and "not" migraines. It's a headache anyway you look at it. The only "trigger" I am sure of in my case is to not have coffee early in the morning. i used to think that in-laws were a trigger, until I figured out that it was just the break in routine, and nothing in particular to them.
When I was at Bassett ER with a stuck kidney stone, two months after Lucy's birth, my personal doc met me there, and was eager to ask, "so which is more painful, childbith or kidney stones?"
A short time later when the diagnosis had been confirmed, she told me as she gave me morphine, "You're going to think I'm god" She was right.
Have dealt recently with several clients who have become addicted to Oxycotin and such, precribed for chronic back pain. One died of an accidental overdose . . . another's been through jail and rehab, but . . .my impression is those drugs are given out more freely by the more family practice type medical providers, based on their training to deal with most medical issues. Likewise with anti-depressants. This is all anecdotal, but would be interested in what others have seen or experienced.
Judi
Judi, what's the answer on the kidney stone vs. childbirth question?
Post a Comment