OT - Broken shoulder and rib

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

You were wise to insist on the PSA test. My reading was gradually climbing and eventually a biopsy revealed it was cancerous. Like yours mine was manageable just as long as it was regularly monitored. Chances are I would have died of something else before that got me. Then one night I woke up, went to the toilet, and couldn’t pee.
That was more scary than being told I had cancer to be honest.
Anyway, after that the prostate had to go.

Regards Tyrone

 

[triumph406]

You were wise to insist on the PSA test. My reading was gradually climbing and eventually a biopsy revealed it was cancerous. Like yours mine was manageable just as long as it was regularly monitored. Chances are I would have died of something else before that got me. Then one night I woke up, went to the toilet, and couldn’t pee.
That was more scary than being told I had cancer to be honest.
Anyway, after that the prostate had to go.

Regards Tyrone

Haven't said goodbye to mine yet.

Twice I've been to urologist and been asked the question "peeing ok?" I say yes, both times as luck (?) would have it, had trouble peeing afterwards for a couple of weeks. Probably a result of the "examination" or I should say violation he subjects me too.

I can tell you the biopsy was no fun, got one coming up soon, not looking forward to it at all.

 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Yeah, the biopsy isn’t a pleasant experience but it’s there to keep you alive I suppose. I was glad when it was over for sure.

When I spoke to the consultant regarding the operation I asked him “ What would you do if you were in my place ? “

He said “ Well, it can’t kill you once it’s in a bucket “

Regards Tyrone

 

[michiganbuck]

Sorry that you had the accident, I hope you have a successful recovery.
Dont push it when it first feels good..I have done that and began pain all over again.
Buck

 

[Richard King]

I'm home now, surgery was Wed. and now have plates and screws in my arm. they were going to transport me to a transition home for 1 or 2 weeks. one of my facebook friends said he did that and caught covid. i said no way. so we rented a hospital bed and a power lift lazy boy chair. we have a bathroom on the first floor. a health care nurse will come in 3 times a week for check ups and therapy. i have a sling on my left arm and about all i can do is wiggle my fingers.i can take 2 pain pills every 4 hours and milk of magnethia to help me go the bathroom. my wife has been a sweetheat. my son alex is going to teach my June and July classes. talk to you late, thanks for the prayers and well wishes

 

[Richard King]

update. i was faint and my home nurse called 911. at the hospital they said i was dehydrated, gave me an IV and sent me home. told me to drink more water and gator aid. i am now drinking 8 bottles of 1/2 liter of water or more and 2 - 28 oz. of no sugar gator aid. they said if you urine is dark gold your dehydrated. it should be a light yellow when you drinking the right amount. i am exercising my left hand, wrist, elbow and shoulder. hurts like hell, but i have do it or my scraping career will be over. now im feeling less faint. later..rk

 

[TGTool]

That's hard. I'm glad they got you propped back up and on course for recovery.

 

[moonlight machine]

I'm home now, surgery was Wed. and now have plates and screws in my arm. they were going to transport me to a transition home for 1 or 2 weeks. one of my facebook friends said he did that and caught covid. i said no way. so we rented a hospital bed and a power lift lazy boy chair. we have a bathroom on the first floor. a health care nurse will come in 3 times a week for check ups and therapy. i have a sling on my left arm and about all i can do is wiggle my fingers.i can take 2 pain pills every 4 hours and milk of magnethia to help me go the bathroom. my wife has been a sweetheat. my son alex is going to teach my June and July classes. talk to you late, thanks for the prayers and well wishes

Just watch it with the pain meds, you can become an addict at any age.

 

[eKretz]

Just watch it with the pain meds, you can become an addict at any age.

That is a matter of willpower I think. One doesn't just "become" an addict by taking pain meds. I've been prescribed pain meds for my back for donkey's years, same dosage and have even gone down in dosage and never once have I taken more than what was prescribed or anything else extra.

The ones you need to watch out for with this are the people that like to get high. Or that decide they like to get high after taking pain meds. That is absolutely not what they are for, and it's an important distinction that doctors *should* be making. These are not recreational drugs.

I know that you said that from a place of caring and kindness, but talk like that can make people afraid to take their pain medication when they need it. Rich, take what you need so you're not suffering, but take the minimum that gives you that relief and you'll be fine. Stop after your first week and see how it feels. Do that every week and quit taking them when you don't need them any more.

 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Just be careful with the water intake. From what I read too much water can cause problems also, apart from the obvious one.

Regards Tyrone

 

[dgfoster]

I am am on the side of respect, use appropriately, but fear pain meds. I know of no one who intentionally became addicted. But, I have seen tragic instances of pain meds destroying lives. America is awash in addicted people who started using prescription drugs.

Rather than just stating my opinion, here is some basis for concern from the US Center for Disease Control.

CDC on Opioid Pain Med Addiction

”Anyone who takes prescription opioids can become addicted to them. In fact, as many as one in four patients receiving long-term opioid therapy in a primary care setting struggles with opioid addiction.4,5,6 Once addicted, it can be hard to stop. In 2016, more than 11.5 million Americans reported misusing prescription opioids in the past year.”

Use your machine tools, but do not trust them. Use pain meds and be damn sure not to trust them. Before there was OxyContin, people broke shoulders. They experienced pain. They healed. The best course is to accept pain to the degree possible, especially during the day. Use the minimum necessary to sleep. Trying to let the meds cover nearly all the pain is like reaching across the spinning four jaw with long sleeves…

Denis

 

[gmach10]

Doctors at the hospital killed my friends wife. Recovering from Covid and sent her home to early to die two days later

Were negligent and missed a key moment in my wifes life that contributed to her death

last physical my doctor didn't stick his finger up the exhaust to check my prostate. So Insisted on a PSA test. He said despite the fact I'm 63 I didn't need one. Insisted I did and wasn't leaving until he added it to the blood test.
The PSA came back high, I have prostate cancer, albeit at a manageable stage. If I hadn't insisted on a PSA who knows what the outcome would have been.

During Covid my 86 year old mother in the UK was confined to her flat for 2 years without a single call from her GP to see how she was doing. No calls from nurses etc etc.
When the doctor did turn up I very nearly strangled the c***. luckily for her my two brothers didn't think murder was appropriate.

Last place I worked 1 in 10 people coming thru the door could do the job competantly, I think 1 in 10 doctors are up to the task. the others? No better then the machinist who regularly scraps parts.

Next time you go do to the Dr.'s office look at his/her diploma. Old joke, "What do you call a college grad who got a D on their final? A Doctor!

 

[gmach10]

Richard sorry to hear about your accident. Keeping you and you wife in my prayers.

 

[eKretz]

I am am on the side of respect, use appropriately, but fear pain meds. I know of no one who intentionally became addicted. But, I have seen tragic instances of pain meds destroying lives. America is awash in addicted people who started using prescription drugs.

Rather than just stating my opinion, here is some basis for concern from the US Center for Disease Control.

CDC on Opioid Pain Med Addiction

”Anyone who takes prescription opioids can become addicted to them. In fact, as many as one in four patients receiving long-term opioid therapy in a primary care setting struggles with opioid addiction.4,5,6 Once addicted, it can be hard to stop. In 2016, more than 11.5 million Americans reported misusing prescription opioids in the past year.”

Use your machine tools, but do not trust them. Use pain meds and be damn sure not to trust them. Before there was OxyContin, people broke shoulders. They experienced pain. They healed. The best course is to accept pain to the degree possible, especially during the day. Use the minimum necessary to sleep. Trying to let the meds cover nearly all the pain is like reaching across the spinning four jaw with long sleeves…

Denis

I guess I must be a unicorn.

Also, there is a difference between physical dependence and addiction. Addiction is a term that describes drug abusers looking for a high. Physical dependence just means that a person's body has become accustomed to the presence of a substance. Taking that substance away will cause temporary side effects but those don't compel that person to seek more of the substance or drug. An addict will chase a high and do whatever is necessary to get more of a drug, including stealing, violence, etc. Those terms should not be used interchangeably. One is a choice, the other is not.

 

[triumph406]

Next time you go do to the Dr.'s office look at his/her diploma. Old joke, "What do you call a college grad who got a D on their final? A Doctor!

Turns out my Doctors main specialty is Pathology!

last visit I saw a Nurse Practitioner, 10x better. Seeing her tomorrow to get results for various tests that were ordered

 

[dgfoster]

I guess I must be a unicorn.

Also, there is a difference between physical dependence and addiction. Addiction is a term that describes drug abusers looking for a high. Physical dependence just means that a person's body has become accustomed to the presence of a substance. Taking that substance away will cause temporary side effects but those don't compel that person to seek more of the substance or drug. An addict will chase a high and do whatever is necessary to get more of a drug, including stealing, violence, etc. Those terms should not be used interchangeably. One is a choice, the other is not.

I think the CDC is quite aware of the distinction between dependence and addiction and so am I. The addiction problem is real and exacerbated by doctors and patients underestimating the potential. I prescribed(very carefully) pain meds for 40 yrs to many many patients with a legitimate need and saw the results of unintentional addiction first hand when addicts from elsewhere came through my door and desperately sought meds. Their scams were in some cases remarkably elaborate. Their addiction caused *tragic* outcomes to their personal and employed lives.

Denis

 

[Richard King]

I could be a SCRAPING ADDICT - lol.... always chasing a scraping high :-)



























0











0

 

[eKretz]

I think the CDC is quite aware of the distinction between dependence and addiction and so am I. The addiction problem is real and exacerbated by doctors and patients underestimating the potential. I prescribed(very carefully) pain meds for 40 yrs to many many patients with a legitimate need and saw the results of unintentional addiction first hand when addicts from elsewhere came through my door and desperately sought meds. Their scams were in some cases remarkably elaborate. Their addiction caused *tragic* outcomes to their personal and employed lives.

Denis

That's great, it's too bad they never make that distinction in all of these publications and headlines that are very one sided...

Being on the other end of that spectrum, it gets VERY tiring to be lumped in with addicts by virtually everyone, and to see them get more sympathy from doctors and everyone else than people who are in SEVERE pain every day, who sometimes can't get pain medication because of ADDICTS. That has been my point all along. Didn't think I needed to elaborate it, but I guess so.

Any doctor that is irresponsibly prescribing pain meds is a jackass and should be strung up by the neck. Maybe try pointing the guns in the right directions.

Rich, you're all good, nobody coming after those yet...

 

[TGTool]

My wife was in the ER a while back with severe pain. She had cancer but this was probably indirectly caused with nerves exiting deteriorated vertebrae. So they were getting her a prescription for pain meds and she had questions about running out and having difficulty with refills given all the restraints on prescriptions. The doctor said that legislators had mercifully made accommodation for cancer patients so that wouldn't be a problem for her. I did note that at the end the hospice nurse collected all the narcotics and counted them for disposal. No, I wasn't even tempted.

 

[dgfoster]

That's great, it's too bad they never make that distinction in all of these publications and headlines that are very one sided...

Being on the other end of that spectrum, it gets VERY tiring to be lumped in with addicts by virtually everyone, and to see them get more sympathy from doctors and everyone else than people who are in SEVERE pain every day, who sometimes can't get pain medication because of ADDICTS. That has been my point all along. Didn't think I needed to elaborate it, but I guess so.

Any doctor that is irresponsibly prescribing pain meds is a jackass and should be strung up by the neck. Maybe try pointing the guns in the right directions.

Rich, you're all good, nobody coming after those yet...

A definition of irresponsible prescribing that applies patient by patient and situation by situation would be so helpful.

I guess it is tempting to think this problem of being "responsible" is easy. It is not. It must be one of the most challenging for practicing physicians. How to be compassionate and still not screw up a perfectly normal person converting them into an addict.

Folks did not come into the office with an "A" on the their forehead if they were addicts or were likely to become addicted. In fact, those addicts spent an enormous amount of time and effort attempting to deceive and defraud well-meaning docs. (I had one guy who we learned presented to my office late on a Friday afternoon with a "fresh" few-day-old surgical wound on the midline of his abdomen with a well-practiced story of travel home, significant pain, etc etc. The thing was his he kept freshening his wound with a razor blade for one doc after another). So ya, docs get gun-shy.

And we do see injured people requiring/requesting/pleading for pain meds. The trick was to convince them that try to take away their pain entirely was practically impossible and attempting to do so has significant risk. A cooperative approach with them doing their part to avoid addiction is important. When I hear folks wanting the docs to "take their pain away" I see huge red flags. That is the whole point of what I have written. Use the meds responsibly, but fear them. They are dangerous and there are untold numbers of good people who have been harmed by well-intended treatments. If the patient takes initiative to protect themselves outcomes will be better and they will be safer.

I did not think that needed explanation, but maybe it does. Machinery is dangerous and anyone using it should be clearly cautioned. Pain Medications are also just as dangerous and more insidious, and patients certainly should be cautioned.

Denis