A&E is promo'ing a new "Intervention" episode that will air next Monday at 9:00 (EST here, check your listings). It is about a young woman dx'd with RA who is addicted to pain meds.
They show her walking, and she limps terribly, like one knee doesn't bend. The family says they know she needs her pain meds, but she is abusing them. They show her saying she is in pain and needs them, that she isn't doing anything wrong. Then they show her passed out.
I think this will be interesting and heartbreaking. I want to see how she does rehab, what they do for pain control there.
I guess it might help make sense of why some drs. seem reluctant to rx pain meds beyond NSAIDS, too.
Suzanne. Where I work, I am starting to see more and more people usingSUBOXONE is the first opioid medication approved under DATA 2000 for the treatment of opioid dependence in an office-based setting. SUBOXONE also can be dispensed for take-home use, just as any other medicine for other medical conditions.
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SUBOXONE at the appropriate dose may be used to:by
It is possible that she suffers from very very light RA and took too many meds for it and got addicted. We would need her full story to see if she is one of those or one of us.
Sounds interesting, but if she is a light RA person with a drug addiction, it's going to make those of us who are pretty bad look like fakers etc. or that RA isn't really that bad.
I saw the preview.... it will be interesting to see!Bubbagump - the preview makes it clear there is no doubt she is pain from RA - the announcer says stuff like 'RA crippled her'; the family members they show all say they know she is in pain. You can see it is hard for her to walk, nothing looks faked.
I really want to see it. Why couldn't her drs. control her disease better, so she didn't have so much pain, so much damage, I wonder? I just want to know what else she was on, besides pain meds.
On another board I go to, someone posts as a teen who has to have a homebound tutor because of her jra, but also posts she is only on Celebrex. Makes no sense. Celebrex will not alter the course of the disease. Why isn't she on a DMARD or biologic, if she can't even attend school? She posts that she sees a ped rheum, too. I'd love to know the whole story.
I saw that and it is a very sad situation. I hate the vicodin, I try to take onlyh the minimum, it always makes me sick and feel as though I could vomit. BUT, it takes the pain away for th emost part.
I am hoping to be able to watch it, it looks very informative. I just hope the general public does not get the wrong idea about it and think we are all that way.
jode
I just worry about those of us that are allergic to NSAIDS and asprin. What will this do to the precious pain relief that I can get especially at night. I have never(unless after surgery) taken even the four pills a day, and keep a journal of when I take them. I worry that at some point in time I will not be "allowed" to have any pain relief. I definitely plan on watching that Intervention episode. I too want to see the whole story. I already feel bad for this girl--as I too have to take pain meds every day and I know the risk of addiction. I am always very careful because getting addicted mentally to narcotics is not a good thing--especially if you know that they actaully help and allow you to get thru the day with a little less pain. I certainly wouldn't want to ruin it for myself by turning into a junkie--its a fine line to be on.Bubba
I didn't get the "one of us" comment. If you have RA you have RA. Do you have to have serious disease to be one of the club.
Pain is pain whether you have one joint affected or 20. Is it somehow more redeeming if she has severe disease and became addicted?
I see a rheumatologist for the first time this Friday - I'm anxious to get a diagnosis and proper medications so I can get off the Oxycodone that my family doc has prescribed for pain. I know that it's so easy to become addicted to it. I'll be watching that episode.I would like to se this episode, too. As a chronic pain patient for many years, I have been on many different narcotic pain meds. I hate them and wish I didn't have to take them, but unmedicated, I would be entirely bedridden. This, according to my doctors. In the beginning, they had to convince me to take them. I was taking pain meds several years before being diagnosed with RA.
My doctors explained to me that, when you have severe, unrelenting pain, the pain meds go to your pain, they do not cause a "high" or pleasurable feeling. I can certainly attest to that. They also said that the body can become physically dependant but it is unlikely to become addicted, when used as prescribed by patients with chronic pain. Addiction is when a person goes to any extreme to obtain drugs. Getting the drugs becomes the goal, not pain relief. It is an addiction when you want the drugs for the altered feeling you can get if used improperly. Addiction is uncommon in people who have pain that effects the quality of life. I was assured that it was extremely unlikely that I would become addicted.
I am currently taking Methadone 10mg, (2) four times a day. For breakthru pain I take hydromorphone (dilaudid) 8mg., (1) four times a day. I have occasionally forgotten to take my meds, and have no ill effects. But my pain is almost always there and my body lets me know that it's time to take my meds.
I will definitely try to watch the Intervention show, even though, in general, I hate the "reality" shows. Usually they are anything but real. I just hope it is not her family that are uneducated about the proper use of narcotic meds. It would be a real shame if they take away her only means of pain relief.
Just my opinion, as always.
Karen, please don't be so afraid of prescribed meds that you deny yourself pain management. It is possible that your RD will keep you on pain meds. I am not the only one here who must take these drugs. If you are still afraid of them, have your doctor explain how one becomes addicted. I think it will ease your mind.
I hope everyone has a good night and a great New Year!
I have been looking forward to this episode as well. I understand totally where the fear of taking too many meds comes from. I have not been too worried that I would get addicted but I have always been worried about becomming tolerant to a point that nothing would work for me. Now I have a new fear, that I wont find a doctor that will perscribe me the meds I need when I need them. Now I dont take them unless I am just dying and nothing else has worked. My rd doesnt like to perscribe them and my pmd that was giving them to me moved away. In the end I guess it has been okay for me because I was only taking one narcotic pain pill per day at bedtime. Now I dont take them but maybe one or two times a month...when this bottle is gone I wont have anymore. It is a sad state of affairs how one person can find enough people to supply pain meds to the point of letting themselves become addicted..while there are others of us who live in fear of being in pain and not being able to be reasonable medicated for it.Living With Pain That Just Won’t Go Away
I find that I do not get any 'kick' from pain meds after I take them daily for 10 days at the prescribed dosage. Pain meds make me feel depressed not high or euphoric.
I hope they do a decent job with this show.