I understand your wish to remain anon...I just wanted to say please don't be afraid of your upcoming surgery in regards to pain meds. I had a laparotomy 2 yrs ago, and I was on a morphine pump for one day, and then all I took was advil and tylenol together. A doctor that was on call for the surgical floor told me about it. She said it would help with the pain for a short term, and it did help a bit. I had an endometrial ablation last year - only naprosyn for a few days. I had a laparoscopy this March, and my surgeon didn't give me anything (which the nurse said she thought was cruel), so I used the same advil/tylenol for a day or two. I don't think this should be used for very long, and of course I'm no doctor.
I've had adhesion pain for over two years, and I don't take pain meds. There are days when I'd like to (and days where I would beg to) have something, but NSAIDS really don't work, and my doctors won't give me anything stronger. The crappy thing is, they won't give me an opiate because I quit drinking, but if I was a rip-roaring drunk, they'd be happy to prescribe them, because addiction probably wouldn't be on my file. So much for honesty...
May God be beside you before, during, and after your upcoming surgery. The journey that you have embarked on will only go forward, never back.
In friendship, Clare
At Thu, 2 May 2002, anonymous wrote:
>>Joanne
>
>I have chosen to remain anonymous for a reason pertaining to answering
>this message. I can perfectly understand why you have needed to be on
>Methadone for so long, regarding your pain. I feel for you, as I was on
>many different narcotics and opioids for 3 years myself, Methadone being
>one of them. I was never made to feel like I was a Heroin Addict ...but
>then again, I did become addicted to pain meds over the use and abuse of
>them. I too have suffered greatly from adhesions in the past and I know
>that to be in pain and suffer needlessly is horrible, however, for me, I
>didn't know the difference after my last surgery if I still had
>adhesions, or if I was truly in pain and in need of the meds. I did go
>to, as you called it "ONE OF THOSE DRUG REHABS" for alcoholics and drug
>addicts !! And you know what? It was the best thing I could have ever
>done in my life. I am now facing surgery again soon, and I do have all
>those fears of pain meds again, but I am ready to take the right steps
>and have the tools to handle my life differently. God Bless you and
>keep you...but a Drug or Alcohol Rehab isn't what people think it is! I
>was in one of the Nation's Top Rehabs, founded by a man who has 40 years
>of sobriety!
>
>Why don't you wish me well, and for that I do remain anonymous.
>>