Question about pain relief, and a rant

[Guest guest]

Hello, everyone...

I was diagnosed with RA several years ago, in particular, a form that

manifests itself in a rare, painful type of glaumcoma that affects one eye. The

glaucoma has been the worst symptom of RA for me until recently.

I've always had joint pain that was particularly bad in the morning, but I

dealt with it via nuprin and other OTC NSAIDs. The pain in the last few months

has gotten a lot worse. I went back to the RA dr. who prescribed celebrex again

(I had a bad experience w/celebrex the first time he prescribed it; his

solution was to double the dose...!)

The RA dr. said to call him if the celebrex doesn't work, and he'll prescribe

" something else. " I'm a little on the paranoid side about strokes (a

possibility w/celebrex), so can anyone who has been in this position tell me

what the

next step might be when celebrex doesn't work?

The other question I have is one I experienced with the opthamologist who is

treating my glaucoma. As I said, it can be extremely painful (like someone

drove a spike through your temple.) I see this dr. a lot to monitor my eye

pressure. One day, I asked him if he could prescribe a pain reliever. I got this

big

lecture about how the pain would go away once the pressure was reduced; well,

I've been going to him for over a year, trying every type of drop and pill

possible to reduce the pressure, and still the pain comes back. I guess I was

just in a really bad mood, the way you get when you're in pain, and I said, " So

what's your solution? That meanwhile, while you play around with drugs and

drops, I should suffer? When you could do something to stop this pain, you

don't?

What kind of doctor are you? Do you get off on watching people in pain? "

I got a prescription for tramadol. Unfortunately, or maybe because of all the

other freaking drugs he has me on, I broke out in a rash when I took it, so I

had to discontinue it after one pill.

The appointment with the RA dr. was a few days after this. I asked him what

he does for pain relief. He told me to take Tylenol. I said, you went to

medical school for that? He said he does not prescribe pain medications for RA

patients, no matter how bad it is. He said you can learn to live with pain. I

said,

and why should you? He hissed, you could become ADDICTED! I said, and that's

bad for what reason again? If the medicine relieves pain and gives you a life

again, isn't there a way to manage taking it?

I swear he broke out in a cold sweat.

I had also mentioned to this dr. that the pain in my joints made sleeping

difficult if not impossible. He slyly said, well, you know, there are sleeping

pills.... I said, I don't want sleeping pills. I could sleep if this didn't

hurt. He laughed and said, so there are some drugs you don't want!

I could've slapped him.

Maybe I'm just pissed off about being in pain so much, but I've been trying

to do research about why pain killers are so bad, and the reasons I get are

just BS. I wonder how many people are SUFFERING needlessly because drs. are

afraid to write prescriptions for painkillers. And I wonder why there's some

kind

of onus put on people in pain, as if they had weak characters or something, for

wanting relief from pain.

I know many of you are in much worse shape than I re: RA, but I'm also sure

you've been through the pain killer route. I guess I'm angry at the RA dr's

snide attitude (i.e., he blew off my concerns about the stroke implications of

celebrex, and seemed to think I was some kind of drug addict for having the

nerve to even ask about pain relievers.)

I do need to know what the next step up is from celebrex when celebrex

doesn't work. But I'd also like to hear some opinions about pain relief and pain

management.

TIA for any help.

Debby