RE:Rheumy doesn;t want to prescribe pain pills

[Guest guest]

I may be a slightly different case but I have been on pain pills since 2002. I

was originally on NSAIDs for many years and developed intolerable side effects

(esophageal spasms that feel just like a heart attack and need nitroglycerin

pills to resolve). My then rheumy prescribed narcotic pain pills. From 2002 to

2004, I took them irregularly. Then in 2004, my doctor said I had to take them

round the clock. ANother rheumy in another country said the same thing in 2006.

I have had two more rheumy's since then (we move or they move) and all have

continued prescribing me the pills. Since I have been on the same dose for 7

years, I don't think any doctor in his right mind would think I am shopping for

drugs. None of the many rheumys,nor other many doctors I have seen have

expressed any concern at all. I probably wouldn't be on these pills if NSAIDs

were okay for me. They aren't and I am. I know they don't provide more pain

relief than aspirins or

ibuprofens did when I could take those. BUt they help since the dmards aren't

doing the complete job. If, at some point, the pain goes away, I will not take

them anymore.

in Northern VA woods