Re: pain tolerance

[Guest guest]

Fliss,

I think both you and Karyn provided good info for Lesley. I honestly don't know

if my pain tolerance is high or low. I am a redhead so some studies show my

pain tolerance should be low. I just know that without daily pain meds, I

absolutely could not function. I would be curled up in a ball trying hard not to

even breathe much because when I'm having the worst pain, every breath raises

the pain from an already 10+ level to what must be 15+. At least that's how it

feels to me!

You are absolutely right that the level of pain does not necessarily correspond

with the severity of the attack. The times that my labs have been at their

worst have not been the worst attacks in regard to pain, nausea, and vomiting by

any means. When I began having celiac plexus blocks, some people asked what if

I had a really serious attack and didn't know it because the block kept me from

feeling the pain. Obviously, that has not happened for me or anyone else that I

know of. The blocks do help with both the pain and the nausea - the thought on

that is that sometimes it may be the severity of the pain making the nausea

worse. However, I have no doubt that if I had an attack that was severe enough

to put my life in danger, I would have symptoms that would alert me. I have

been hospitalized more times for simply 'rehydration', gut rest, and pain

control than I have because my labs concerned my doctors. Sometimes I think I

must just be a big baby or maybe I do have an extremely low pain tolerance. I

honestly wish I was better able to 'ride' the attacks out at home. I have told

myself many times that I am not going to go to the ER again no matter how bad

the pain gets. Yet, when it gets beyond about an 8 and stays there for an hour

or longer (despite my pain meds - if I'm able to keep them down), I always wimp

out and end up going to the ER. I suppose a lot of the time going to the ER is

absolutely necessary because I do seem to get dehydrated very easily - often

even though I haven't thrown up at all. Also, my potassium drops very low

easily so I often have to be given IV fluids and potassium supplements.

I do understand Lesley's concerns but I would think that if a flare reaches the

level of being life threatening, it would be very hard to stay away from the

hospital - even with a very high pain tolerance.

I don't know if what I've said really makes sense. I know what I'm trying to

say, but it seems the words just don't want to come out exactly right! However,

I, for one, wish that I had a higher pain tolerance, that I was tougher than I

feel I am, that I could just 'deal' with the pain no matter how bad it gets.

There have been many times when I've thought I was approaching ER stage and I

have been able to just 'ride' out the attack. However, there have been far too

many times, in my opinion, that the pain is just too severe for me to be able to

handle it without stronger, faster acting pain med than I have at home.

I hope everyone is having a good evening. Stay safe and stay dry. I believe

every single school and college in the state of Alabama is closed tomorrow (and

most on Friday, too) in anticipation of the horrible weather Ivan is going to

bring. I live in north Alabama, about 10 miles from the Tennessee border, so we

are over 300 miles from the coast, yet they are saying we may have 15 to 20

inches of rain, tornadoes, wind gusts up to 90 miles an hour!

take care,

W