Living with chronic, severe and intransigent, pain…

Note: I started this some time ago, but have been undecided whether to finish and publish it as it seems a bit whiny. Right now, though, I’m hurting enough not to care. That, and I think it’s better out of my head than not – gives me some perspective.

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I’ve been taking 30/500 Co-codamol for a long time now, except for relatively brief diversion to Dihydrocodeine (DHC), which was somewhat more effective but, given my heart problems since January 2011, has had a tendency to trigger pulmonary oedema. I still take DHC occasionally as part of my “Spoonie Speedball” – 2 Co-codamol + 60mg DHC and 200mg Naproxen, on the intolerable days.

Been a lot of those of late… Not good on several levels, not least because

Where is my respite – from me?

It occurred to me, talking to someone on Twitter, that carers can get respite breaks, so that they can get away from their charges for a while. Fair enough, no doubt many of them thoroughly deserve – and need – a break, but what of the rest of us? Where is our respite from ourselves?

Like very many disabled people, I have to look after myself, take care of

Does pain really change a person – and is it for better or worse?

The following quotation is currently rattling around on the web:-

“I’m in pain… Every day. It changed me. Made me a harder person, a worse person. And now… Now I’m alone. You don’t want to be like me.”

Dr. Greg House, (“House” TV series – “House MD” over in the colonies)

But is it actually of any significance? Does pain so utterly change a person? Having been in often excruciating, and always unremitting, pain since I was struck by lightning in 1983, I feel qualified to take a stab at that.

First off, a gripe – House walks

DHC Continus – a warning…

Partly as a result of being stuck by lightning, partly because of my ME/CFS, and also because of spreading osteo-arthritis, I am in often severe pain 24/7.

I have several pain meds, DHC Continus, of course, 30/500 Co-codamol, Naproxen, an anti-inflammatory, and Paracetamol, which I take in whatever combination seems most appropriate. Make that have been taking…

For the last couple of years I’ve been plagued by headaches and nausea which, this past week, became so severe I just couldn’t function. Monday was spectacularly bad – on a trip to the chemist I had to hang on to the counter for grim death, and it was a toss-up whether I

Life – it’s not a dress-rehearsal, and no-one gets out alive.

I know this is going to be controversial so, please, I’d ask you to think about it, rather than just react and post a snotty comment. Constructive comments, though, are very welcome.

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This was written primarily from the perspective of a Myalgic Encephalopathy (ME), sufferer (that’s me), though it applies equally to other chronic illnesses, especially my COPD, the precursors of which I have had all my life (Ron’s Rants passim). For US readers, ME = CFS.

The following extracts are from an article in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research, Volume 61, Issue 5 , November 2006, “Well-being in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome: The role of acceptance.”

They reflect, and endorse, insofar as it relates to chronic illness and pain, the philosophy – if that’s not too grandiloquent a term – by which I’ve tried to live my life:-

Objective: Research in chronic pain patients has shown