2am Post Op ...

So it's 2am, and I can't sleep. The 24hr nerve block wore off 12 hours early. They said it was the 72hr one. I haave dilaudid but I still have high morphine tolerance. They said don't lay down. I can't sleep sitting up, sure can't if the drugs won't make me loopy.

This reminds me of the days of 16hr overnight bus trips in college ... with shoulder pain.

a reply to: ketsuko
My wife was on 3 100mg fentanyl duragesic patches every three days along with 6 dilaudid for migraines from a blocked opsipical nerve in her back. When it gets to nerve pain nothing touches it.

a reply to: ketsuko

Up for a game of racket ball?

a reply to: PhilbertDezineck

I have gaba too but if I take more than 1 I get headache and blurry vision. The pain is tolerable, but between it and position, not sleepable.

a reply to: ketsuko
In the end my wife could only sleep sitting up on the couch when the feds began cutting off the patches and lowering the pills to 4 aday. At times I wish politicians and doctors would come under so much pain that they would see that some folks need the meds it's not about getting high.

I am just pleased you are okay.

a reply to: ketsuko

Lame idea, but maybe ice? When I had my hip replaced the ice was sooooo soothing. Wanting to sleep and being in pain is the worst.

Take care Ketsuko, heal up!

a reply to: ketsuko

I thought gaba was a complete joke for both neuropathy and degenerative joint disease. You have my sympathy.

I wonder if they're consistently overstating benefits from pain treatments. There's your case. There were my cases of (1) hip joint steroid injection....supposed to last months....lasted two or three days and (2) epidural steroid injections. On the ESI, the doc said it would last six months. Researched it online, and too many people said it was more like six weeks.

I know three examples don't make a case, but they're enough to make me start wondering.

originally posted by: PhilbertDezineck
a reply to: ketsuko
In the end my wife could only sleep sitting up on the couch when the feds began cutting off the patches and lowering the pills to 4 aday. At times I wish politicians and doctors would come under so much pain that they would see that some folks need the meds it's not about getting high.

I absolutely wish the same upon them. They don't care.

a reply to: drussell41

I have chronic migraine. I come by this tolerance honestly. I'm lucky I am not an addict with all the pain killers I had for migraine, but it bites me in the ass at times like this. At least I have pretty good pain tolerance with it.

And yes constant ice.

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: PhilbertDezineck

I have gaba too but if I take more than 1 I get headache and blurry vision. The pain is tolerable, but between it and position, not sleepable.

GABA alone is useless.. Baclophen, prescribed (which is gaba with the phenyl ring and the chloride atom to make it not only hit through the blood brain barrier but also be worked on by the liver, so mg not grams required) is a god awful experience.. I know.. I'm on it in spades.. don't take it.

But have you ever been hit by a car and had the emblem go into your arse cheek, requiring you to have not only an arm reset into place, but also have your groin broken in multiple places, making it so even if you can sit side ways, your arse hurts, but if you can lean a little you have the bones hurt like you're about to die over and over?

Me neither... but hearing my mate whinge constantly required me to take loads of alcohol to shut him up

I wish you well, sounds awful...

chin up, it will end one day, and you'll think back and say "Bloody hell, don't want to do that again!!"

a reply to: gallop

Not awful so much as frustrating. Secret to handling post op pain is to be still. I counted on meds to ease sleep because handling and being able to sleep are different things.

a reply to: ketsuko
That really sucks. Why can't you lay down? Is it because of stitches? Take it easy on those pills. Don't use them until you absolutely need to. I had to take a class before my surgery and the woman giving it said that's how people get hooked most of the time, by taking a pill right when it hurts.

a reply to: ketsuko

yeah but avoid gaba agonsits where you can.

trust me... trust me...

Please discontinue Gabapentin if that's what you are on. It helps at first but it has bad side effects and a b*tch titrating off of.

a reply to: Skid Mark

Pain thing. The angle of a recliner is easier post op than trying to get comfy lying down. I can lie down but I don't want to. Getting up and down from cushioned recline is interesting enough atm

a reply to: mockingmay

I am not on a titration dose and it's only for the post op window cause I had nerve work done alonf with 2 labrum tears repaired, biceps tenodesis, and global capsulotomy. I am still less than 24 out and expect to be past the worst by Sunday into Monday in pain terms. It'll hurt but old hurt, less raw by then

a reply to: mockingmay

This... hard as any benzo.. which are also gaba agonists..

gaba receptors are through the entire body. they regulate everything. im struggling to get off, but god... i am not sure i even will...

from 250mg a day down to 60.. I still see the devil in my bones..

a reply to: ketsuko

My dad was racked with neuropathy pain during chemo treatments it was agonizing. Accu pressure seemed to help a little bit it overloads your over-firing nerve endings and can give you some relief I've got the pillow and mat and it definitely helps the slight neuropathy I have in my feet too. We also got a high-pressure/impact massager that sometimes he would put under his legs and he would finally fall asleep from it helping. Chronic pain wears you down, going through getting my Mom ready for her hip replacement and she is in constant pain now. Hope ya feel better soon

a reply to: gallop

I'm on 300 mg of gabapentin. I am allowed 3per day, but only take one. I have to because of nerve damage pain. I used to get sharp pain and a burning sensation, like being branded with a hot iron. I'm also on a pain pill for arthritis, but that only helps so much. Needless to say, I don't remember what it's like not to have pain on some level.