In other idiocy

[davidgillon]

I may have kicked my Kindle Fire into the bath. I thought I'd gotten away with it, but nope, it shut down later. Or at least the screen did, the rest of it, such as the alarm, still worked until the battery ran down. Try turning your alarm off when you can't see the icon to swipe....

At least I timed it right for Black Friday.

Had an appointment with my doctor this evening for a medication review, which is code for "we want to take your opioids away" (I'm only on one drug). Convinced Dr Singh(1) to wait six months back in the spring, didn't hold out much hope of keeping them this time, but this time the appointment was with Dr Singh(2) (I'm not certain if they're sisters or not) and we talked about my experience of pain, and what had worked and what hadn't, and at the end she said "I normally don't like keeping patients on opioids, but actually, you're the ideal candidate*."

Hurrah for doctors applying logic, not opiod hysteria!

* Low dosage, I haven't built up a tolerance, it works, most other things don't, and I did a test a couple of weeks ago to confirm my pain levels are still where they were when this was first prescribed by going cold turkey for four days (I intended going a full week but it hurt too much).

Comments

[hamletta]

Ouch for the Kindle, but yay for a sensible doctor. I mean, opioids are bad but pain is worse! I hope Dr Singh (2) remains your doctor.

[davidgillon]

They're actually both okay, I think it was Dr Singh(1) who put me back on opioids when I had a bad reaction to the gabapentin the other doctor in the practise (now retired) had insisted I try. But Dr Singh(2) is just that shade more sympathetic in her manner.

[jesse_the_k]

Hooray for a respectful doctor who listens.

Sorry about the Kindle, but it is he best time if the year tor replace it.

[davidgillon]

Replacement ordered ;) Not quite half-price, but close enough.

[yhlee]

Oh man, sorry to hear about the Kindle but glad your doctor is sensible!

[lilysea]

I am glad your Dr didn't cancel your pain meds. ^_^

Opiate pain meds don't work for me :(
but it makes me so, so angry when they are taken away from pain patients who they DO work for! *angry face*

[davidgillon]

Yeah, difficult enough here in the UK, don't think I could cope with all the extra hoops I'd face in the States. Not sure how bad things are in Australia?

[lilysea]

Not sure how bad things are in Australia?

Until 1 February 2018 you could buy codeine over the counter with no script either as ibuprofen + codeine or paracetamol + codeine. Then they changed the rules so now codeine requires a prescription.

When I had gynecological surgery, I was given several different types of opiate pain meds on discharge - I think a 7 day supply of all of them?

One was the less-addictive alternative to morphine, Buprenorphine.

I ended up not using much due to intolerable side effects - unfortunately opiates give me vivid nightmares, severe Depression, night sweats, feeling feverish, and almost complete inability to do even the most basic activities of daily living. :(

There is currently a push to get patients who are under 65 off long term opiate use [mainly due to concerns about hormone effects and bone density effects], but it is nowhere near as bad as it is in the US. It feels more "cost/benefit analysis" and less moralistic/panic than the US.

The conversations here haven't been about addiction but about side effects and accidental overdoses.

[davidgillon]

I'm on one of the buprenorphine variants (butec at the moment, was butrans until this year, via weekly patches). I strongly suspect there's cost pressure not to prescribe it to patients.

When I re-did my pain management course in 2015, having previously done it about 2002, they'd changed their line on opioids from "people with chronic pain don't get addicted" to "if you have chronic pain there's only a small risk of addiction", which was obviously changed because of US research, but completely non-hysterical.