I pray that you have success with your nerve blocks. Kelly
>----- Original Message -----
From: IAS Admin (Tracy) To: Multiple recipients of list ADHESIONS
Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 11:55 AM
Subject: Pain Medication
From: flyte <boss@flyte.org>
Subject: Re: Pain Medication
Nerve blocks are doing wonders for me. I had my entire large intestine removed 2 years ago (also had a temporary ileostomy so I understand what folks are talking about with the pain meds slowing everything down..) and have been battling adhesions ever since, Just had two more Laparoscopic surgeries for adhesions within the past 3 months. Have had 7 surgeries in total. I'm a 28 year old female, btw.
I just got home from a 3 week hospital stay, last week, JUST to get my pain meds to where I was able to breathe and move without excruciating pain. I came home on one 75 mg fentanyl patch, time released morphine 30mgs 3 times a day and percoset for breakthrough pain.
I have been having nerve blocks and trigger point injections done on the right side of my back. Pain could have been started by nerve damage from my severe scoliosis but we aren't sure. One thing we know for sure is that the months of being blocked up over and over from adhesions (like 7 months with a very bad kink in one section of my small intestine) made me have to bare down very hard to pass stool. Baring down always makes the pain worse. Also, the pain and the stress and the lack of proper movement all helped my muscle to get to the point where it stayed tensed up. My new pain management doctor, who is also an anesthesiologist and the most wonderful doctor I have ever had, says it's as though the muscle has simply forgotten how to calm down.
I was having unbearable pain in the gallbladder area. I already had my gallbladder removed so it wasn't that. They did ct scans, mri's, every test known to man and I finally got them to try an ERCP as well just to see if it was my bile duct. Of course I got pancreatitis from that which was lovely.
My pain: It hurt in the back, on the side and in the front under my right breast. In the front it felt as though the pain was deep but in the back I could not even tolerate someone very gently touching the painful areas with one finger. I also got spasms frequently. They started out lasting a few minutes and got to the point where they lasted hours. I would have the normal constant pain accompanied by sharp stabbing pains. I was in very bad shape and unable to old down any food for a few weeks due to the pain and the nausea it created. Once I was able to eat, it was a VERY difficult battle to manage my shortened digestive system with so many narcotics.
When they do my injections/nerve blocks, They stick a needle into the muscle into the most painful areas and inject the anesthesia. Hurts, lol, but the pain only lasts while they are injecting the fluid and then it goes numb. They have even been sedating me slightly, just to calm me down, before doing it. I don;t think I'll need them to do that for much longer, I'm getting braver..lol. The full numbness from the injections only lasts maybe 12-16 hours but the hope is that it will teach that muscle area how to calm down by itself. So far it's helping.
I have had the injection procedure only 5 times now and I am happy to say I now only require the morphine pills and occasional Valium to calm the muscles down. My pain is so much better, I don't even need the constant heat I used to need. I am still basically on bed rest.. but am slowly becoming more active. I'm sure pain will increase as I do more and my doctor has told me that eventually I may need to kill the nerve entirely.
Came home to read lots and lots of messages about everyone else's suffering when I came home. I really hope that you all are able to find a way to feel better soon. Everyone here is in pain, anxious and a little bit crazy like me.. I hope that we can all use this wonderful forum to learn from each others procedures/experiences and not get too crazy with each other. We are all going through the same thing, remember! :)
- Sarah