What to do when doctors refuse to prescribe you medication but you need it?

[Tommyy67]

9 months ago, on holiday in Vietnam

As a pedestrian, was run down late at night by a drunk driver.
Fractured right clavicle, fractured left humerus, fractured right tibia, plus significant bruising on my right lung which cleared up relatively quickly, other than a decent amount of grazing on my arms and legs I wasn’t in too  bad of a condition.

Humerus and clavicle both healed naturally over time and now feel 100%, my right leg however needed surgery and I had a rod placed in from my ankle to my knee.
Surgery was performed on right leg a couple days after accident while still overseas in Vietnam.

3 months later after being on and off a range of painkillers eg. Endone, panadiene, tramadol(?)  to help manage the pain, my leg at this point is at the stage in which I don’t need to regularly be on some kind of painkillers. However I still receive a decent amount of pain from my leg just from day to day activities. The only way to avoid pain in my leg at this point is to just laze around and not do much at all which isn’t a problem as at this time I am still prior to starting university studies.

6 months on and my leg is still giving me grief for whatever reason, by this point I can jog comfortably and can start to clearly notice my leg getting more and more healthy however there is still noticeable pain.

9 months on there is NO pain in my leg while in idle. There is also a distinct lack of pain while walking etc.

However, I still have to deal with decent amount of pain at the end of each day due to the fact that my lifestyle is a whole lot busier than it once was and I can no longer sit around to avoid the pain.

I do physio EVERY day and am praying that one day my leg will be the way it was.


Anyway. i NEED painkillers or just SOME way of managing the  pain at the end of those long days when you just want to get to sleep. the doctors are saying i shouldn't be on painkillers for long periods of time and that my leg is in a condition in which it shouldn't be hurting anyway?

i think they are trying to accuse me of being some kind of druggie, refusing to prescribe me anything other than PARACETAMOL for the pain.... are you serious? like.... is that a joke? what can i do guys.

also some details about me.
19y/o from australia, I live in melbourne. i love politics and philosophy and Christ <3

God bless.

[LaLonna]

Hello dear.
I am sorry you continue to experience discomfort at bedtime due to your accident. My son was also hit by a drunk driver and now resides in a long term care facility. He also suffers with a great deal of pain.

Although it has been 4 years since your post the answer remains the same.  You are now, presumably 23. Starting a pain regimen of narcotics will most definitely lead to far worse illnesses in the future. Second, because of the increasingly number of deaths due to overdose of narcotics has raised the insurance rates for physicians to an astronomical amount.
By now, I pray your pain has become manageable without such harmful medications.

[backhurtz]

Pain medications are one method of treating pain- there are a myriad of modalities to help lessen pain- some far more effective than others .
When used properly , at the prescribed dosages and intervals by the patient- opiates are no more or less harmful than other forms of prescribed medications.
The danger comes when patients  seek and prescribers permit ongoing dosage increases - with little to no additional benefit of increased pain control.
Treating acute and chronic pain are two very different arenas- and improper use, failure to adhere to dosing schedules or misuse of medications can lead to tragic outcomes .

[BOK2Bjan]

So sorry to hear about your pain. I have to agree that eventually, pain meds just stop working. If you just need then at night, maybe there is something else you could do or even a different type of medication.

I'm very supportive of taking narcotics when needed. I've been on them for years. There are legitimate reasons for taking them. But they no longer are working due to having developed such a tolerance. It's so frustrating that medications so desperately needed, just stop working - unless you increase the dose over and over.

I'm amazed that so many people seem to get help from them, after years of use. If that happens - I think they should be available. They helped me stay productive when I needed to be there for my kids. But they messed with my GI tract, which was already destroyed by Systemic Sclerosis. My MS pain keeps increasing, and my poor spine is a degenerated, stenosed, mess, with bulging discs, cysts everywhere, scoliosis, facet joint arthritis and on and on. I was given a huge amount of fentanyl recently for a nerve ablation to my Thoracic spine,  and they might as well have given me water. So yesterday, when abating twice as many nerves - I said forget the fentanyl. It was actually better - he felt forced to give more local! Believe me - had it worked, I would have wanted it!!

I offer this perspective because if you are able to function fairly well at this point - it would be awesome if you didn't have to continue with opioids. Eventually they turn on you and can even cause more pain. (Not with everyone).

Muscle relaxanrs, or light sleep aids - or tens units, or acupuncture maybe? I just hope you're able to find relief. And I wish there were a good option for chronic pain!! Blessings!

[fntn]

Nonsense, medication is a therapy.

[Knifeguy]

Pain ***** but withdrawal ***** more. I was on Pain management for several years and everyone will tell you the longer you take, the more tolerance you build, and the more you have to take to be effective, until you are basically taking heroin. My body is also a mess from sports and car accidents, two back surgeries exc...  I found that the more I took the more pain I was in at the end of the day because my body wanted me to be numb to it. The hardest thing in my life was getting off the meds but had to have a second back surgery that fixed me before I was willing to try. I'm 8 days off norco and 12 days off oxycontin and feel so much better not taking. I forgot how it feels to feel, forgot how great music sounds. It was hell not taking for that past week. I'm really sore today, but it's all Muscular from a busy day yesterday and would rather be sore than be owned by pills. The things you love will become second to pain pills if your not careful. I wrote this to give perspective, because it can happen to the best of us. I was a functioning pill popper, full time job, managing household, exc... but felt and looked like ****. Just a few weeks and I'm looking like a new man, because I'm no longer being poisoned.