Re: How Do I Ask?

Dear Cat,

Six months on eggshells? Stop thinking like that might be a good first step.
This is an issue you may have to deal with the remainder of your life. You
haven't even had time to establish yourself as a good, bad, or crazy
patient.
You have to remember the abuse and illegitimate use of these drugs, while
not as big a problem as they'd like the public to think is still an issue.
No joke, it's not toy time, and you need to handle your medication like it
was a gun. Would you stop being careful with a gun cause you already had it
for six months?
I would suggest you look up and do some research on a couple things. Any
search engine or wikkipedia should do it. One would be the signs they look
for in an addict. Some are real stupid, some are not. A good doctor will
know the difference, but an average doctor probably will not. Just like the
"good soldier" who follow a dumb or dangerous order, an average doctor will
just follow guidelines unquestioningly. A good doctor will get to know their
patient, then decide if any of the "dumb signs" are worth looking at on a
case by case basis.
In some cases, it's not an easy thing to do. Bona fide patients can
sometimes do the same things as the behaviors described for addicts. So, how
do you tell if a patient is an addict or undertreated? Put yourself in the
doctors spot and think about it.
Another thing to check out would be what is called psuedo-addiction. You
will find a description of overlapping things doctors need to give some real
scrutiny to. It will not only help define the patient, but even more
importantly, gauge how effectively they're treating the patient.
As a patient, you have to do more than circle all the 10's. Not just "I need
more meds." Be as descriptive as you can be if they insist on a definition.
Give them as much info as you can. What's it doing to your daily activities?
Your quality of life? If narcotics aren't doing anything, you might not be
on the right medications. Try a different narcotic or another type of
medication all together. They have to be doing something to you, good or
bad. If all they do is tie up monthly income, move on.
I don't know if you're looking for "Cat" specific suggestion or
observations. I don't want to put words in your mouth, cause they would be
the wrong words for you, just think about the last couple months. I don't
think anybody can be the ideal patient, just like there's no perfect doctor.
It takes time, just like healing from a surgery. And you have to build up
trust. Six months is not a whole lot of time for either.
Oh yea, one other thing, Cat. That contract you signed is a pretty standard
thing. If you haven't seen it till now, it's the exception instead of the
rule. They normally include a consent for random urine screens. And a lot of
other (if it is a well written one) good information. You should not think
of it as a contract to get drugs and if your doctor has any brains they
don't call it a narcotics contract. It's an implied consent document,
telling you what you should know about the medications, what you should
expect from them, and most important, what they expect from their patients.
Read it well, especially if you already signed it.

Hang in there--og

"CatEyes" <CatEyes@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:77oa78F1ifvejU1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
OK, my current dose of pain med just isn't cutting it any more. That's
one of the reasons I agreed to the myelogram and will probably end up
OKing more surgery if they recommend it - I just can't take the pain any
more and my job performance is suffering because of it. So...

How do I ask my PM doctor to up the dosage of the Oxycodone or change me
over to something stronger? She is super sensitive about screening for
addicts (just last visit she had me sign an "agreement" about not giving
or selling my medication to others). Even though I've been seeing her for
over 6 months, I still have to walk on eggshells when it comes to this.
She's just as likely to cut back on my meds if she thinks I might be
abusing them (she did this to me a couple of months ago which was one of
the reasons I tried to get off of the pain meds entirely - of course, as
you know, that didn't work).

Are there any "hot buttons" I should try to avoid? How can I make her
believe I have no interest in getting "high" - in fact, I hate that
feeling and wouldn't take a stronger pain med when she tried to get me on
one 4 or 5 months ago (the Kadian made me feel woozy which made me vomit)?
The *only* reason I'm considering something stronger is because I just
can't work at this level of pain any more.

Any advice would be really appreciated.

Hugs,

CatNipped




.