Congratulations to the winner of the War on Drugs: Drugs.
After spending a little over 5 weeks in the hospital for malnutrition, sepsis, and surgery, I can tell you that the current policy on the administration and use of opiates has mutated to a level of pretzel logic I didn't even know existed. I was in the hospital essentially for a mass on my intestines and other endometriosis deposits. The end goal was a bowel resection (cutting pieces from my intestines and putting them back together) and total hysterectomy. I was too malnourished for surgery, so I had to receive IV nutrition for close to a month so that I would have a better chance of surviving the surgery and healing appropriately.
The main rule for receiving opioid pain medicine is they have to counter it with non-opioid treatments as well. I didn't realize that the non-opioid treatments didn't have to even make sense. They are just doing what looks good on paper. That has become the focus instead of your pain relief. They actually admittedly don't intend to relieve ALL of my pain. The current theory is that you should have some pain. It's "normal". The moment you ask for pain relief, they bring you non-opioid medication without explaining it to you. I was brought Toradol, which is an NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) that's a bit stronger than ibuprofen. I asked for more/other medicine and was brought Morphine AND Gabapentin. Then was brought lidocaine patches for my belly. I have intestinal pain. Lidocaine is a topical (meaning applied to skin) medication. It can be used for muscle pain and soreness. There is no way in the universe it would EVER go through my skin and tissue and fat and abdominal wall, etc. all the way to my guts and help. It's not possible, but this is part of the charade. I was then given a regimen of OTC aids like Tylenol to help as well. I was getting the pain medication through IV and the Tylenol by mouth. Because of my intestinal issues, I was vomiting the Tylenol, which the doctors and nurses referred to as "refusing alternative treatments" and the opiates were taken away from me. I asked for pain meds again and was then referred to pain management.
Pain management came and gave me Dilaudid by mouth and once again I puked and told the attending that I'm not tolerating medication by mouth. I was then flagged for "repeatedly requesting IV pain medicine" and not cooperating with my treatment. I had to jump through some more hoops and eventually got the Dilaudid back (by mouth so I wasn't really getting relief). A few days later I became septic and the doctors came in to evaluate me. I was dripping in sweat and vomiting and SUPER tired. They woke me up when they came in the room. After I talked to them, my pain medicine was discontinued because I was "falling asleep" while they were talking to me because of "all the pain meds" I was on. Of course, I argued with them saying the obvious things like I was septic and thus really tired. That night a nurse reported that I was acting "suspicious" and she suspected I was doing something with my medication. They came in and talked to me about my 2 options: I was to be moved to a room with cameras so I can be watched or security would have to check my bags.
(Dead serious)
Skip ahead to me leaving the hospital. Following the major surgery I got 1 week of meds. Gabapentin was one of those meds, and Dilaudid 2mg (same as when I was in-patient). Not only was it a pain in the ass to get and continue taking opiates, but I was given ZERO instruction or education about withdrawals. After a week at home, I had been on Gabapentin and some opiate for 6 weeks, long enough to develop a tolerance and dependance on both. Luckily, I have the education I need to know about hese things, but many people/most people do not. They put me on a regimen of medications that will cause dependance, and neglected to explain anything about it. I should have been presented with information about Gabapentin, withdrawals are very uncomfortable and I'm sure surprising to some. With all the effort the healthcare industry is taking in prescribing non-opiates and creating a pain management team and everything, they don't provide the most important thing of all: education/harm reduction. A dietician and multiple surgical teams and a social worker came to see me before I left the hospital so I knew what to expect and what was expected of me when I went home. I think an addiction specialist should have been one of those people to check in and educate me of the symptoms of withdrawal and when to expect it and how to minimize it, etc. Why is that topic so completely neglected?
Share your experiences with recent opiate policy and healthcare workers. How can this be improved? What are your thoughts?
After spending a little over 5 weeks in the hospital for malnutrition, sepsis, and surgery, I can tell you that the current policy on the administration and use of opiates has mutated to a level of pretzel logic I didn't even know existed. I was in the hospital essentially for a mass on my intestines and other endometriosis deposits. The end goal was a bowel resection (cutting pieces from my intestines and putting them back together) and total hysterectomy. I was too malnourished for surgery, so I had to receive IV nutrition for close to a month so that I would have a better chance of surviving the surgery and healing appropriately.
The main rule for receiving opioid pain medicine is they have to counter it with non-opioid treatments as well. I didn't realize that the non-opioid treatments didn't have to even make sense. They are just doing what looks good on paper. That has become the focus instead of your pain relief. They actually admittedly don't intend to relieve ALL of my pain. The current theory is that you should have some pain. It's "normal". The moment you ask for pain relief, they bring you non-opioid medication without explaining it to you. I was brought Toradol, which is an NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) that's a bit stronger than ibuprofen. I asked for more/other medicine and was brought Morphine AND Gabapentin. Then was brought lidocaine patches for my belly. I have intestinal pain. Lidocaine is a topical (meaning applied to skin) medication. It can be used for muscle pain and soreness. There is no way in the universe it would EVER go through my skin and tissue and fat and abdominal wall, etc. all the way to my guts and help. It's not possible, but this is part of the charade. I was then given a regimen of OTC aids like Tylenol to help as well. I was getting the pain medication through IV and the Tylenol by mouth. Because of my intestinal issues, I was vomiting the Tylenol, which the doctors and nurses referred to as "refusing alternative treatments" and the opiates were taken away from me. I asked for pain meds again and was then referred to pain management.
Pain management came and gave me Dilaudid by mouth and once again I puked and told the attending that I'm not tolerating medication by mouth. I was then flagged for "repeatedly requesting IV pain medicine" and not cooperating with my treatment. I had to jump through some more hoops and eventually got the Dilaudid back (by mouth so I wasn't really getting relief). A few days later I became septic and the doctors came in to evaluate me. I was dripping in sweat and vomiting and SUPER tired. They woke me up when they came in the room. After I talked to them, my pain medicine was discontinued because I was "falling asleep" while they were talking to me because of "all the pain meds" I was on. Of course, I argued with them saying the obvious things like I was septic and thus really tired. That night a nurse reported that I was acting "suspicious" and she suspected I was doing something with my medication. They came in and talked to me about my 2 options: I was to be moved to a room with cameras so I can be watched or security would have to check my bags.
(Dead serious)
Skip ahead to me leaving the hospital. Following the major surgery I got 1 week of meds. Gabapentin was one of those meds, and Dilaudid 2mg (same as when I was in-patient). Not only was it a pain in the ass to get and continue taking opiates, but I was given ZERO instruction or education about withdrawals. After a week at home, I had been on Gabapentin and some opiate for 6 weeks, long enough to develop a tolerance and dependance on both. Luckily, I have the education I need to know about hese things, but many people/most people do not. They put me on a regimen of medications that will cause dependance, and neglected to explain anything about it. I should have been presented with information about Gabapentin, withdrawals are very uncomfortable and I'm sure surprising to some. With all the effort the healthcare industry is taking in prescribing non-opiates and creating a pain management team and everything, they don't provide the most important thing of all: education/harm reduction. A dietician and multiple surgical teams and a social worker came to see me before I left the hospital so I knew what to expect and what was expected of me when I went home. I think an addiction specialist should have been one of those people to check in and educate me of the symptoms of withdrawal and when to expect it and how to minimize it, etc. Why is that topic so completely neglected?
Share your experiences with recent opiate policy and healthcare workers. How can this be improved? What are your thoughts?
