The Chronic
These days I’m not feeling very well. Over the years, my health has gone up and down. Right now, I’m in a downward phase.
For the last two years, I have had intense pain in my neck and shoulders. I have trouble turning my neck from the headaches, and constant muscle spasms. I cannot sleep more than six hours at a time. I can totally forget about lying on my side anymore. It feels like the outside of my upper arms burn whenever I move. Once my back went out, I finally broke down and saw a chiropractor. And thank goodness, too, because Dr. Stacy is a miracle worker!
Over the course of a year, she has reversed the curve in my neck. It moved from between phase two and three (phase 2.5?) to phase one. That’s awesome progress!
I like the way she explained it. She pointed to my before x-rays, and said, “People with this kind of alignment are crazy! They’re just crazy from the pain. They hurt so much, they can’t think straight.†She exchanged the ‘before’ films for the ‘after’ x-ray. “Now this alignment is just bad! But from this point, over time, we can get back to a normal curvature in your neck. That’s great news!â€
As much I continue to hurt, I know I would be sooooo much worse off if I didn’t take care of myself. When I say take care of myself, I mean have regular adjustments, and take a lot of drugs. And when I say a lot of drugs, I mean 2400mgs of Motrin, 500mgs-1500mgs of Vicodin, and 500mgs of Soma daily.
No, I’m not kidding.
I know Dr. Stacy would prefer a more natural approach to pain relief, but that magnesium powder only helps so much. For now, I HAVE to take these prescription meds just to get through the day. Without them, I couldn’t get out of bed.
So imagine how happy I was when a nurse at my doctor’s office decided to cancel my pain prescription. She wasn’t advised by a doctor to cut me off. She made that decision by herself!
I’m guessing Nurse Ratched didn’t call Dr. Miller because she is recuperating at home from back surgery. I know for a fact that Dr. Miller is still available for consultations regarding prescription refills. She approved medications for Endicott a couple of weeks ago.
This “nurse†then argued with me about medication dosages (I took the recommended dosage or less) and refill frequencies, before admitting she couldn’t approval the prescription refill (Then why freaking defend it, Nurse Wretched?!). She begrudgingly agreed to ask another doctor to approve my medications, and then she hung up on me!
That “nurse†was so rude and out of line!!! I cannot wait to call Dr. Miller’s office on Tuesday morning and explain what suck-ass customer service skills that “nurse†has! Not to mention lack of compassion. Obviously, that butt-munch never had a chronic pain condition. I have. It sucks your energy, and all of your strength (and sometimes even the will to live) from your body. It just plain sucks!
Until my pain medication is refilled, I have to cope any way I can. Currently, my daily routing includes about 3200mgs of ibuprofen a day, one 500mgs of Soma (when I can find a pill in my partially unpacked moving boxes), and a couple of puffs off of a joint, shortly before bedtime. Yes, I have turned to ‘medical’ marijuana for pain management.
The amazing thing to me is that it REALLY works! I don’t notice a buzz or coughing. I just know the pain dissipates enough for me to get to sleep. For now, that will have to be enough.
Let me ride,
Flo
Add comment May 28th, 2005