Painkillers

[Squatchit]

I have a love/hate relationship with painkillers.

Ordinarily, I hate them because I believe they mask what's really going on.

Practically I love them because they take away the immediate pain.

I spent most of today in sharp pain until I took strong painkillers. I now feel relaxed, mellow and normal.

What's your views about painkillers?

[Spiritlite]

Same as you a love hate relationship. I just don't like the high they give me so I avoid them as much as possible and thank god I have a doc that hates prescribing them. I do natural stuff, like Ginger root I drink either a tea of real gingner I make or juice ginger at a local store everyday and that takes aches and pains away. However I don't have chronic bad pain so who am I to say "go take ginger instead of a vicodin". I know people who cannot move without their pain meds and are not mentally addicted in that they aren't abusing or taking more than prescribed.
Love hate for me too
Spiritlite.

[norseman]

Depends on the pain. Pain is a warning that something is amiss. If you know what's amiss, then you don't need the pain. So, it has served it's purpose. Kill it !
After I had the heart by-pass, I took Di-hydrocodeine and was pain free during healing. However, painkillers which actually work have an addiction problem, so it's not like eating Smarties.
I worked in pharmaceuticals for almost ten years and did a lot of work on painkillers, mostly the ones containing codeine.

I am in continual pain from a number of things, without painkillers I become very cranky and hard to be around, so for me they're a boon. Or as I say "Hydrocodone is my friend."

eh ive had so many surgeries and major injuries and hospital visits i have no issues taking them warranted, hate any use of them recreationally, and having overcome issues with misusing them in the past, have no fears of them. when i need them sure. when i don't, nope. by need i mean run over by a horse, shattered leg, yet another knee surgery, things like that. had a bad day does not = need imo lol. i'm very frugal about taking them though bc of the number of surgeries i've had my tolerance is retarded - so the more i take them like anything the less it works. soooo i prefer not to take them unless absolutely necessary. psychically they are **** too so i also avoid them for that reason as well.

[Spiritlite]

I love this thread it really is an eye opener.
Spiritlite.

[Silver]

I think it's bad to make people who have pain feel guilty for taking them or make them worry that they might become addicted or 'habituated' to them. And I feel there are always some sort of 'exercises' that a person can do to lessen their pains, one just has to experiment or do research about that.

Originally Posted by Silvergirl

I think it's bad to make people who have pain feel guilty for taking them or make them worry that they might become addicted or 'habituated' to them. And I feel there are always some sort of 'exercises' that a person can do to lessen their pains, one just has to experiment or do research about that.

What bothers me more is when you go to the doctor's officer (or the ER) and ask for something to ease the pain and you feel like you are being looked at (or judged) as a potential junkie trying to get a fix. There have been times I dreaded that LOOK more than the pain so just suffered with it as long as I could, or got the person with me (Never go to the ER alone) to ask on my behalf.

[Silver]

Originally Posted by Scibat

What bothers me more is when you go to the doctor's officer (or the ER) and ask for something to ease the pain and you feel like you are being looked at (or judged) as a potential junkie trying to get a fix. There have been times I dreaded that LOOK more than the pain so just suffered with it as long as I could, or got the person with me (Never go to the ER alone) to ask on my behalf.

Sigh, ER's are not the most compassionate places I hear. I could tell you a story or two about people I know that got treated not so nice for no good reason. That is a crying shame.

Originally Posted by Silvergirl

Sigh, ER's are not the most compassionate places I hear. I could tell you a story or two about people I know that got treated not so nice for no good reason. That is a crying shame.

The ER is usually ok, they tend to just go ahead and give me something. Its the admission/hospitalists that get assinine about pain relief. Last time I was in, the day I was to be discharged they refused me anything saying that since I would be going home they didn't want me on narcotics. The problem is "going home" takes no less than 4 hours from the time the doctor decides to discharge me, so if she had given me something when she saw me to tell me this, it would have been out of my system before I walked out the door.