to Karyn , RN

[Guest guest]

Karyn,

I went to that web page and read and re-read it. Very informative! Thank you.

http://www.theacpa.org/documents/ACPA%20Meds%202005%20SDSF.pdf

It said something that I agree with and have been practicing myself for years.

It states that with chronic pain, going for total relief is probably

unreasonable and getting relief to the point where you can still function in a

daily capacity is a more reasonable expectation. Thats where I have been with

this whole disease so far. Guess I have been doing things right so far. :-)

It's just that lately (the last few months) I have had MORE pain and had to

take more Darvocet and Percocet and it gets old. I am still functioning in a

daily routine with the increased pain so I guess I shouldn't be complaining

about it. It could be WAY worse. I was hoping there was a stronger pain pill

out there I could take and make the pain feel less again like before. But as

this is a progressive disease, I must also progress with it and learn to adapt

to it's changes. I think this disease and I got into a comfortable routine for a

few years and now my pancreas has decided to change the rules on me and I am

having a hard time with the change.

As long as I can function and keep the pain to the point where I can still live

a " normal " daily life, I think I will stick to the Darvocet and just learn to

take the percocet more often when I need to. At night the pain is worse. And

the darvocet isn't helping anymore to the point where it used too. Percocet

being a stronger opiad, that should help. Not take it all away, but get it to a

point where I can breathe, focus and relax to fall asleep naturally. And then I

have it for the daytime use when needed as well because my Zanax was upped from

30 a month to 60 a month to allow for more percocet use. The percocet makes me

TOTALLY wired and thats not a good thing, even during the day.

I think for me this decision makes sense. I just get so tired, lieterally, from

the pain all day I was hoping that something stronger might take it away or make

it less painfull so often. But living with pain in your life is a lifelong

trial. My specialist once said to me, " It's exhausting being this sick " and boy

he actually nailed that right on the head!

Thanks Karyn. I am going to tell my FNP on tuesday when she calls that we will

just leave my meds alone for the time being and I will probably be using more

percocet than I have in the past. I do not have an addictive personality and

only take the pills when I have too, so I am not worried about becoming addicted

to them especially after reading that paper and taking the quiz to see if you

have an addictive personality to pain meds. I take them when I have to and

probably wait longer than I should to take them.

I know if I were to take them at the first sign of pain, pain meds work better.

But I always hope I can use Lamaxe breathing to make it go away. So when I take

a pain pill it's already getting pretty bad. But to me, if I have to take the

percocet more often it's like giving into this disease so it wins and I lose. I

have to get out of that mind set and into a different one about using the meds.

Thanks again,

Sandy in Ca