Yep, those synthetic painkillers are bad medicine. When I broke my back my bowels completely locked up until I got off the opiates. Whole plant medicine is what you need. One day it will be legal again.

Here's a interesting read while you're laid up in pain.

https://medium.com/@dubhempmuseum/sir-william-brooke-oshaughnessy-medical-cannabis-pioneer-c94798fd7722

Sir. William Brooke O’Shaughnessy - Medical Cannabis Pioneer

It is widely known that before prohibition was enacted cannabis was available from pharmacies for medicinal purposes. Tinctures and other products were prescribed to treat various ailments. This period roughly occurred between 1840 and the early 1900’s until prohibition begun to be enforced.

Lesser known is that the Limerick born doctor Sir. William Brooke O’Shaughnessy helped introduced cannabis into Western medicine. Although now largely forgotten by history it was O’Shuaghnessy who undertook research in India and subsequently stimulated medical cannabis use and research throughout the West.

“In India the use of hemp preparations as a remedy was described before 1000 B.C. In Persia, cannabis was known several centuries before Christ. In Assyria, about 650 B.C., its intoxicating properties were noted.”

Lot of good reading on that link about natural pain management.

Not doing any dope smoking. As for ice, I have an Ice Man, but use the big strap on ice slush packs preferentially. Have cut way back on the Oxy. And…BM’s are going well.

I haven’t mentioned that a second painkiller was prescribed. I didn’t recognize the name, but have found it to be Celebrex. And I’m allowed to take Tylenol, since it isn’t a blood thinner.

Six weeks is going to be a long time. Otherwise, I’m in decent shape. I sure hope that USMC89 is doing Ok. I might be making a lot of griping sounds, but compared to his damage I’m hardly hurt at all. He needs prayers. I don’t, not really.

Thanks for riding along with me on this surgery and the early days of healing. Company does help…

I take the Tylenol Arthritis but mine is 650mg. Haven't seen them in 1000mg. need to look for some

I wasn't aware celebrex was still on the market

Have you read up on what OTC meds can do to various body systems, especially when "loading up"?

Ice is good. Your varied response to taking meds could have a couple of explanations: taken on a full stomach they "sit" in your stomach longer while they are absorbed through the small intestine. Secondly they could/are from foreign sources where the QC is not so tight.

tips:

Mix some anti-inflammatories in once in a while with food.

Don't let the pain get too excruciating levels as it takes much more meds to bring the pain levels down.

Narcotic pain meds work but they are not to make pain "go away" but allow you to tolerate it. I always wondered why patients expected to feel no pain.

Use the anti-constipation meds you can get OTC. What we gave in the hospital was Colace (docusate sodium) 100 mg 2-3 times daily. It's cheap and works well . . . pulls fluid into the pipes and loosens things up so they move on along. Osmotic. Drink plenty of water.

Get your doc to change up med. Ask him about precautions of new stuff. You're probably on hydrocodone (like Vicodin) which is an opioid so maybe try codeine for a week. To be honest after 2 weeks you should be off narcotics as the tissue inflammatory process has done its thing and that's where a lot of the pain comes from.

Inflammation will be kicked in with physical therapy so maybe a pill 30 minutes before that and ice afterward.

Last thing I told patients in pain and worried about getting addicted is "Don't be a hero, take the meds". Folks don't know or realize that pain slows the healing process due to the anxiety it creates. This is a proven fact. Take the meds but know what all the risks are so do your homework on anything that goes into your body.

RayBob, Good info. Thanks.

My big painkiller right now is Hydrocodone, not Oxy. And the other one is Celebrex. At one time Vioxx was the big painkiller, but got taken off the market. That really ticked off the old warrior tennis players like me. We used it a lot and called it the”Breakfast of Champions”. Everybody was using it. The one that really worked, but we had to switch to Celebrex. Nobody liked Bextra or Naprosyn. We were all about 40ish, serious tournament players, and our bodies were no longer up to the demands of what we were trying to do. We were on the early edge of ‘fail’, but couldn’t admit it to ourselves.

Célèbrex is great for arthritis. They call me William.

Yes it is, and it was the only thing that ever helped me especially using the inversion table & muscle relaxers.

I was a cripple for a while and added alcohol to the Hydrocodone, muscle relaxers, & Celebrex and I was finally able to sleep. Sleep felt good.

My poor liver.

I was in a lot of pain and thank God that I've healed. Spent a lot of money before deciding to self medicate.



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Lots of wisdom here. Know the risks, but there's no reason to be a hero. Be responsible. The War on Pain Meds has been less than helpful for a lot of people with chronic pain.

Went almost all day without the pain pill, and just used ice. Had to ‘re-pill’ an hour ago. Getting better.

It’s slow progress getting back to magnificent

Just keep plugging along and you will be going again before you know it.

Thsas why people od ..what you had yesterday isn't as good today. Your body adjust to everything you give it, then you need more than more than more to get the effect you used to .

I can tell you all about pain meds (2 back surgeries & pins up & down my spine, all have failed) now I am on Fentanyl 50mm patch every 3 days and Oxiconde when I need more, as above said on empty stomach can be different, missing dosage can be harder to get relief, I have lost 30lbs and that increases the effectiveness.

Went 24 hours with no pain meds, but that might have been a bit too long. Feeling pretty good today. I’m getting better finally. Next Tuesday the stitches come out.

As for pooping, I’ve always been good at that. Had to hit the pickled beets last week though. Doing fine now.

Colt45, I feel for ya. Back pain 24/7 has got to be hard to take. As much complaining as I do, I’m still expecting to be without pain eventually. I sure hope you can get there too.

Good job buddy, when you get ready for PT be prepared to hit those puppy’s hard LOL

I have 5 fusions, all have failed

Colt45, this back problem wouldn’t be due to a gymnast/ contortionist GF, would it?

That brings up a good off topic question. I’ll ask…