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Cutting Back On Medication

2K views 35 replies 11 participants last post by  In The Woods 
#1 ·
Ok when I started having more Back Problems my Doctor prescribed more Medicating for now.

It brings me down but I'm feeling better. I'm wondering if I cut back my Body will do better healing itself?

big rockpile
 
#3 ·
My wife just came Home told me if I don't need them don't take them.

They make me sleepy and I'm unsafe to drive but I sleep better now than I have for years but Sleeping Pills would do the same.

Only pain now is where my Spine is down, pinching a nerve, my Thigh on one side is numb. Nothing will take care of this. I'm wondering if I go to the Pool in deep end will pull and open it up.

big rockpile
 
#5 ·
That's a very common mistake. You feel better because the medication is working. Cut back on it and the pain will return.

I've been around and around with this same thing for years. After a couple of those years I realized that I have to take the meds if I am going to have even a facsimile of a normal life.

From what you have said there is no healing to be had anyway. My wife has chronic pain from a permanently damaged sciatic nerve - there is no cure or healing to be had. If your nerves in your spine are pinched the only way to stop it is to get the nerves un-pinched.
 
#8 ·
It's always best to discuss medical issues with a doctor that is familiar with your specific health needs but unless the pain meds are masking your discomfort to the point where you are causing you to push yourself harder than you should, it's very unlikely that pain medication is interfering with your body's ability to heal so cutting back won't likely cause you to heal any better. I will likely make you more uncomfortable.
 
#9 ·
At some point you will realize doctors either drug you or cut you, but they rarely heal you. What you need is to relieve whatever is causing the inflammation.

I had severe back pain with what the doctors called a dead nerve in my leg that would never heal. I decided to swim every day for a month and see what happened. I swam for about 15 minutes, kicking with my good leg and the other almost useless. Then I would just walk in the water for another 15 minutes. I followed up with about 10 minutes in the jacuzzi trying to stand on my tip toes - over and over, just trying to get the nerves and muscles to respond. At the end of the month I had regained about 80% of the strength in my leg (nerve healed) and pain from pinched nerve was only minor. This was after 2 back specialists told me surgery was the only option, one insisting I needed immediate surgery.

Another time I had a pinched nerve in my neck. Doctor said he was pretty sure he would have to operate, but had me try physical therapy first, which only made the pain worse. I then tried several chiropractors before finding one that listened and fixed the problem. Yes, I had a pinched nerve, but the pinched nerve actually caused a muscle to go into a continuous spasm. He did a deep tissue massage until the muscle finally relaxed. It took several treatments, with pain lessening after each one. In all, it took about a month before I was pain free.

My guess is there is someone out there that can help you get pain relief and probably at least some healing, but it is unlikely you will find that person in an MD's office. I would try a chiropractor that specializes in sport's injury. Some chiropractors give everyone the exact same treatment, but in my experience, those that treat sport's injuries are often the best of the best. And good chiropractor's do more than physical adjustments. Many also offer laser therapy, massage therapy, nutritional therapy, exercise therapy, etc.
 
#10 ·
#11 · (Edited)
Ok this morning I took my Pain Medication. Went to the Pool.

My Nerve is pinched going to one Leg. I went to the deep end hoping to loosen up my Spine. Well still Pinched. If I feel ok I will do Yoga tomorrow. Instructor has us doing some things to help sciatic nerve.

What many don't understand is I have other Health Problems. They can't operate, they can't give me anything for Inflammation, chiropractor would be one of the worse things I can do. Any of this will kill me.

I have to take Norco every 4 hours and now it is just starting to help. See my regular Doctor every 3 months and he says nothing can be done, I see no way around but to continue to take my Medication.

I'll see in the morning.

Ok Legally with Medication I can't Drive or Hunt. I know you can't tell me go ahead and do something Illegal but I'm thinking I can't just set here go ahead but be careful.

big rockpile
 
#13 ·
Once you are used to how the medication affects you you can do more things. My wife is on a pretty heavy dose of pain meds daily. I didn't let her drive for a while but feel it's OK for her to drive to town now. I just remind her to look twice and even 3 times before she pulls out and stuff like that.

I think you will be fine with hunting. It's something you have likely done all your life. Just be aware of yourself and how you feel. If you have any doubt whatsoever when out there just don't pull the trigger.

You need to get out. The first couple years I sat in this chair and was mad at the world. I finally forced myself to do some stuff but I had lost all interest in doing anything. I don't know what happened to finally change that attitude, but now each day I go outside and do something - anything! I have found that I am only good to tinker with something for 1 hour then become exhausted. But this gives me the feeling of accomplishment even if very small.
 
#19 ·
Rockpile, find a friend that is into supplements to recommend natural anti-inflammatories. Or stop at a health place like GNC and ask for recommendations. Two I know of are turmeric pills and ginger. Then go over the list with your regular doctor to make sure there are no issues. And give up sugar and junk foods - that alone can work wonders.

Otherwise, giving up the pain meds with no other changes will just result in more pain and probably less sleep - which won't do you much good. When pain meds help you rest, it is a good thing and often it is worth the trade off. But natural remedies and diet change will serve you better in the long run.
 
#20 · (Edited)
Ok because I have chronic Blood Clots I'm on Blood Thinners. I can't have any anti-inflammatories natural or otherwise.

There is two Hospitals here. One none of its Doctors can treat anyone with Chronic Pain.

Chiropractor will not touch me because there is too much going on if they do anything wrong it could paralyze me and it is just asking for a Lawsuit. My Doctor now tries to keep on top of everything and is suppose to be one of the Best around. He has taken me off several Medications, the Doctor before took me off about 20 Medications.

big rockpile
 
#21 · (Edited)
Does your doctor have you taking vitamin K2?
Coumadin pulls calcium out of bones and dumps it right into the coronary arteries and heart valves.

And to add insult to injury, it causes high blood pressure, leads to osteoporosis, easy hip fractures, joint replacements, and much more.

But scientific research shows that the right amount of a non-synthetic vitamin K can stop this from happening. And it does so without damaging the coagulation time.
https://www.functionalmedicineuniversity.com/public/Coumadin.cfm

So calcium is being deposited in soft tissue, like your heart and joints, instead of in your bones and teeth like it is supposed to be.

This is a good test to find out how good your doctor is. My guess if you ask him about k2, he will say it interferes with blood thinning. That shows he is not up on current science. He can always change your dosage if that's what it takes to balance K2.

How do I know this? Because I have aortic stenosis and the doctor told me nothing. When it was first discovered 2 years ago, he just said come back in 2 years for another echocardiogram. I came back and it had gotten worse. Again, a different cardiologist this time, said nothing except come back in 6 months.

I had to do my own research and learned that vitamin K-2 (MK-4/MK-7), along with vitamin d and magnesium, will get calcium to the right place. So instead of calcifying my heart valve, the calcium should now go to my bones and teeth like it is supposed to. It can even reverse the existing calcification.

I discussed this with my integrative doctor yesterday and she agreed I need K-2, and actually said to take an even larger dose than I was taking. She said she had a couple of patients in their 80's that had seen good improvement by taking K-2.
 
#24 ·
This comment is NOT to or about Big Rockpile. I have no idea his situation. It IS just a comment about two people I know, one an in law and one a friend. They both live with long term severe disabling crippling torturing pain. Both have docs that have said "there is nothing more that can be done for you, so here are some pain pills."

But that isn't the whole story. They both have contributing factors to both the pain and the chronic illnesses complicating treatment that could be addressed with non medical intervention. One has severe sciatica, untreatable due to chronic hypertension, diabetes, and various other ailments. But the thing is, she is very obese and will not stick to a diet and exercise program. Both have also been told they probably could be cured IF they lost weight, ate right, and got in shape. Both have been offered biofeedback training and refused it. Both have been offered various non medical pain reduction methods like tens units, massage, hydrotherapy, heat and cold therapy, etc. Both just blow those off and want increased pain meds.

I'm no MD, do have a degenerative spine condition and live with constant chronic pain myself. I won't judge another's pain level, but do know I enjoy life more and feel better if I do all the non medical stuff I can to reduce the pain, and then use pain meds only when the pain is intolerable. I don't shoot for living pain free, just lower it enough to handle. I refuse the offer of rx mj, and anything with an addiction potential so far. Some day that may not work.

But if anyone else is also suffering from a permanent pain condition, let me encourage you to do all you can BEFORE expecting meds to take care of things. Then when you do have to use the meds, you use so much less and get so much relief!

There is hope! It just probably isn't in a bottle, but in getting yourself as healthy as possibly baseline.
 
#25 · (Edited)
Thing is I was Working Out Building Muscle and my Doctor is all for this. Slowly getting back to working out. Starting with Water and Stretching not Weights.

Thing is I came to this problem Swimming for couple hours ( Good) Came home and moved wrong, nothing strenuous just moved wrong. Getting better just don't want to go too fast.

My very worst Medication I was on for years was Lasix. I quit salt, cut the Lasix out plus 20 other Medications. My New doctor is very fast about taking me off Medications he don't feel I need. I watch all Doctors and Medication. had one wanting to take me off a Medication with out checking me first, if he had seceded I would have been dead in two years from Cancer.

Ok yes I shouldn't have came here. Like anymore with Doctors now I tell them to have their stuff together because I trust them and I don't want to die because they did something stupid

big rockpile
 
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#27 ·
Well I am taking in more K2 and they adjusted for this. Now for some reason because I have all of a sudden changed Medications for Pain my Pro Time is way off, my Blood is too thin so readjusting my Coumadin.

big rockpile
 
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#28 ·
In the Wood and Big Rockpile- one thing that helped me immensely was non invasive laser therapy of the irritated nerve. In Palm Beach county only one very expensive pain control clinic offers it. Out at the lake, there are 2 providers, one was a person with no medical background whatsoever that wanted $4,000 up front for 25 treatments, and one is my chiropractor who charged only a couple hundred dollars for 5 treatments and subsequent treatments were to be half price, if they were needed. The only thing with the laser is you have to wear these Hollywoood star looking sunglasses during the treatment, if it's anywhere where you could see it. I've had additional treatments before each trip with GFB, and once when my primary later diagnosed me with a silent bladder infection. The only symptoms I had were incontinence and severely increased pain. I don't know if that laser treatment helped, or if it was a combo of that and the antibiotic, I really am grateful that I can walk about and stand to wash dishes or cook dinner, none of which I could do for a couple of years because of the pain. BRP, please ask your doctor about non invasive laser therapy. I thought it sounded pretty woo-woo when I read the first reviews about it a few years back, but my masseur convinced me to look into it.
One other thing the chiropractor did was fit me for proper orthotics. I wore only good shoes that I could put them in for over a year. I was amazed at how much better I felt during standing and walking wearing the orthotics. You see, BRP, there are interventions a chiropractor can do that won't kill you.

I do hope people will stop urging you to take even herbal non steroidals, and don't take Ginko either. The interactions with your blood thinner...well, I wonder if anyone has seen a patient bleed out from a stomach lesion. Not pretty.

Please, in the woods, suggest to your wife a trial of non invasive laser. BRP, you ask your doctor about non invasive laser and if he thinks custom orthotics might possibly help you.

Hoping EVERYONE feels more comfortable soon.
 
#29 ·
Very nice post - thank you!

I am taking your suggestions and doing something because my wife is too meek to do so herself. We both see our PCP next week so I am going to arm my wife with this webpage for a spine place. Going to this place would entail an overnight trip but would be well worth it. The only issue that with my wife’s insurance she has to have a referral from her PCP.

https://www.ahn.org/specialties/neuroscience-institute/spine-center
 
#31 ·
Rock a few weeks ago in another thread you said you would look into getting an inversion table (can be gotten used on Craigslist). Have you tried this? They work well on taking pressure off and giving some relief.
 
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#33 ·
The pool sounds great. While I am in my chair suffering I think about how nice a whirlpool or hot tub would feel. Many people have said that a hot tub would work very well for me. I agree with them but I can't afford one!

Even soaking in a hot tub would probably feel good but I could never get in or out.
 
#34 ·
We considered a Hot Tub but I use the Pool at the YMCA for about an Hour and Half 3X a week And Yoga, she tells me to try but don't hurt. Some is interesting pulling Joints and Muscles around.

big rockpile
 
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