Pain meds

[Guest guest]

Hi Everyone,

I had my stents removed on Friday Oct. 29, 2004. For the first time since last

Dec. I am starting to feel normal again. I get up without pain but I am still

on Oxycontin 20mg bid. I called my Gi to see about being weened off to

something prn but she said that I have been on the Oxycontin for so long that it

will be difficult and take a while. What I want to know is how long does it

take? She is referring me to a pain clinic since I won't be seing the doctor

now except for check-ups. I want to be off it as soon as possible. I'm so

tired of taking the pain meds. I take the Lortab 7.5 for breakthrough and don't

take it everyday. But I guess that just means the Oxycontin is working.

What kind of treatment do the pain clinics offer? I have never been to one so I

wondered if anyone has insight as what to expect. When I hear the word pain

clinic I think of some " druggie " who needs to get cleaned up. Ha!Ha!

Sincerly,

Patty Duley,

Office Coordinator

L. Doering, MD

Louisville Oncology

3991 Dutchmans Lane, Suite 405

Louisville, KY 40207

(502)899-3366 ext. 142

.jensen@...

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[Guest guest]

Hi Patty,

Pain clinics are awesome, if you get in to the right one. My pain

doc is the only one that I see for my management of CP.

Basically they do an initial assessment so they get an idea of

what is going on then offer you options that best fit your lifestyle

and wishes. The main goal is to get you living as pain free as

possible with as little pain meds as needed. They will also offer

you non-narcotic options such as PT, TENS units, trigger point

injections, scar release, nerve blocks and counselling if the

patient wishes it. In my situation I introduced myself with a letter

outlining briefly my medical history and what brought me to the

pain clinic and what my goals and expectations were by going

there. She adjusted my medication at first to just get to the point

of being able to get out of bed and eat and go to work. This took

a few months....once I was stable and felt like I had my life back

again, we started trying other options....like the trigger point

injections, the scar release injections and PT - which was

basically a very light surface massage techniques. We also tried

muscle relaxers and would have tried low dose

anti-depressants but I have a bad history with them (side

effects). I am very, very impressed with my pain doc and I am

sure that I will be seeing her or someone like her for the rest of

my life. She has been the only doctor willing to help me with CP.

The other ones all run away from me as quickly as they can.

As far as tapering off.....this is the best type of doctor to help you

with that. They are able to advise you on a tapering schedule and

give you meds to counteract the side effects of withdrawing

(these meds will lessen or prevent those side effects). However,

I believe that they will be very clear too, that you may never be

able to completely stop taking the meds....that your pain may be

chronic. Usually the withdrawal process will take several

months or longer unless you do the type where they put you in a

" coma " for a few days to clean your system out....but that is pretty

drastic and I am not sure if you will want to take that route.

As you can tell, I highly, highly endorse pain clinics and I think

you will be pleasantly surprised if you get to the right one. It is

important to go to a doctor / clinic that specializes in chronic

abdominal pain.....and is comfortable and knowledgeable in

treating CP. Be wary of clinics that are free standing (no hospital

or med school association) because these usually concentrate

on providing pain control to chronic back, head or arthritis pain

and do not have the knowledge or expertise to treat CP issues.

laurie

[Guest guest]

Try this: I found it on the web md page.

http://my.webmd.com/pages/dir/search_results.asp?searchType

=1 & sponsor= & sortOrder= & specialty= & specialtyDesc= & last=mu

rphy & first=james & practice= & state= & city= & ddSpecialty=

Hopefully one of these is the doctor that you are going to see and

there will be more info about him.

Otherwise try a google search to see if his name shows up.

Laurie