Painkillers or paindullers?

stickywicket

When I first came to the forum and saw the word ‘paindullers’ I thought it looked rather odd and, truth be told, a bit eccentric. But then I read on and realised that a lot of people were complaining that they still had pain despite taking all the painkillers they were allowed. It surprised me that they actually took the word 'painkillers' literally and thought they would do just what the name implied – even for arthritic pain.

I can honestly say that, in 50 years, the only times I’ve been painfree were during my first pregnancy and during the very early years’ (aged 15-24) remissions. The rest of the time it’s always been a matter of getting it to manageable proportions ie low enough to function – I use the term loosely - while on few enough painkullers/dillers to enable me to stay awake and alert.

I decided to sound you all out. Which is it for you? I’m assuming ‘normal’ arthritic life here. (General Anaesthetic is a great painkiller but I’ve never attempted to wash, cook or hoover under its influence.)

dreamdaisy

I have to say that I prefer the term 'pain dullers' or (at a push) 'pain relief'. The only time I have been pain free since 1997 is whilst awash with GA (which is why I like it so much!) I think pain is like weeds - neither can be successfully killed, they both have the habit of popping up again - and again, and again, and again. The dullers remove a sufficient edge for me to function but that is all and I agree that some appear to expect far too much from them - I don't think they are miracle workers as such: they can banish the pain of a headache or a sprain perhaps but arthritic pain is far more deep-seated, it has its tentacles everywhere! I've based my answer on my experience, it could be that others gain much better - and longer lasting - relief from whatever they take and that must be a good thing. DD

barbara12

Yip I prefer the term pain duller, I think if I took enough to kill the pain, then I wouldn't be able to function, so day by day I change what I take depending on how the pain is.. :???:

skezier

Hi Sticky,

I prefer killers as it leaves hope to new folks just starting out on this journey.

You and I have been on the journey for years and years and years it would be amazing if we still had tablets that took away our pain..... though I have some fairly heavy duty ones now that do help a huge amount with the pain so do actually feel that there are still options for those who's pain is only dimmed a bit.

I really do think that people who are starting are sometimes not in a good place already and dullers gives them no hope toward pain....

For that reason I have voted for the good old killers cus no matter how ambiguous it might sounds even now the heavy duty ones help a fair bit. With them I do function without I just curl up and cry.

I would be worried at downgrading them by calling them dullers. If some don't work there are a lot more out there and it added to almost every day. Hope is necessary and had someone told me the pain I had was going to be permanent back when I was a kid I wouldn't have bothered to be honest...... that's what makes me so wary of taking away hope cus I know how bad I was when they first found out I ha the oa. Thats my view any way. Cris xx

Poppyg1rl

In my case, I use a combination of things to help me cope with the pain. My faith helps enormously, as does my tens machine, and my hot wax hand bath along with the conventional treatments of Morphine, Celebrex, anti tnf, methotrexate etc. I agree with Cris that anyone just starting out needs to hope that their pain can be managed. But not just for those starting out, i need to know i have a plan of things to do and take to enable me to cope. Personally my rheumy and the pain clinic have been a wonderful support for me, to be able to discuss my pain and how to manage it has kept me feeling positive, it is uplifting for me that I have a little control over it. X

sciqueen

Hi

I prefer killers. Generally they do work for me and do take away the pain. I think they work now as I am on a dmard and have not (touch wood) experienced pain like how it was (something awful), before I was on a dmard - mainly mtx. That has made a difference for me in the amount of pain I've experience. Thus the pain relief I use does work.

Hope that helps

Sci x 8)

CJHunter

Hi, im in favour for pain Killers. Cris is right in my opinion, pain killers gives u something to hold on to. When i first saw dullers as a newbie i did think oh great what hope is there.

There is always hope and whatever term you use it is personal to you. I do understand why dullers is used but i want to cling onto some hope, especially now.

Love,hope and hugs to all no matter their choice

Wonkylegs

CJHunter wrote:

Hi, im in favour for pain Killers. Cris is right in my opinion, pain killers gives u something to hold on to. When i first saw dullers as a newbie i did think oh great what hope is there.

There is always hope and whatever term you use it is personal to you. I do understand why dullers is used but i want to cling onto some hope, especially now.

Love,hope and hugs to all no matter their choice

I couldn't put how I feel any better than Cris and CJH already have.
Wonky

frogmorton

Pain releif/pain killers is what l generally say.

Always thought the term dullers was sort of humerous/tongue in cheek/jokey.

Love

Toni xx

I think l woudl have voted for releif if it were there.

Love and hugs

and pain relief to everyone

janie68

I also think that pain medication is not always used for our pain. Headaches for example, ibuprofen is my preferred choice and they do kill the headache. People who don't have our pain do generally have their pain 'killed' by pain medication for things like back ache, headache, colds etc.

Pain dullers does to me sound pessimistic, which is not what we need or want. As I'm sure, we have to hope that pain will be 'killed'.

Pain relief is for me a more realistic name and preferred.

Pain dullers, I would not use at all

Janie

PatriciaH

'Pain dullers' for me - because that is all mine do. I am more than grateful for them though

Love Patricia x

jillyb1

I , and my family , just call them - painpills . Have pain , take pills but it's generally accepted that said pills do very little ! Jillyb

tjt6768

I'll admit I do call em painkillers but it's more of a habit.. I can't remember the last time I was pain free as I was knocked out, lol.. I'm another fan of the wonderful G.A
I likes pethadine a little too much too.. Haha
All the rubbish I take now just helps me (sometimes) get up and about a bit..


Be well folks.
Hope whatever you cal em they help.

julie47

To be honest I have always called them pain killers. I had only ever heard of the name dullers on here.

I think same as tjt I call them killers out of habit and the fact that my parents called them painkillers too.

I think we could use both words. Killers for the fact that they can get rid of headaches and minor aches and pains and dullers for the more advanced arthritis.

juliepf x

stickywicket

I’m finding this interesting in that people on both sides of the fence are kind of coming from the same angle ie concern for newbies. I wholeheartedly approve of giving hope but I do worry about false hope. What scares me most is the idea of newbies taking more & more ‘painkillers’ and then worrying because they can’t function.

I guess I got it young enough and naïve enough to believe arthritis wouldn’t stop me doing anything I really wanted to do as long as I didn’t let it mess up my head. Painwhatsits have always zonked me even though some kinds left the pain totally untouched. There were no DMARDS at first so it was just painthingummies and anti-inflammatories, with the occasional pred holiday, so it never really occurred to me that ‘non-pain’ was an option. Plus, I’ve seen fellow in-patients so zonked out on paindoofahs that they were unable to stay awake long enough to do all the physio they’d been brought in for. It’s never made sense to me.

Jillyb1 – your ‘painpills’ reminded me of a wonderful, spirited old lady I was once in hospital with. When the nurse came round with the meds and asked if she wanted ‘Anything for pain?’ Anne replied ‘No thanks. I’ve enough bl**dy pain as it is.’

CJHunter

Maybe we should use your word sticky
Painwhatsits

love it and it should suit us all :roll:

frogmorton

or paindoofahs

CJHunter

liking painoohfas more. Sounds like it could be a flump!!

dreamdaisy

I have been pondering this over the past couple of days, and at the risk of upsetting newbies and others these are my thoughts. (Please bear in mind I am a comparative veteran of this business who is coming close to celebrating her fifteenth year of managing arthritic stuff.)

For me it is a matter of compromise. I still have things I am able to do and I prefer to be alert enough to do them. I have three pain-relief options currently available to me and choose to use only the one, 30/500 cocodamol, as the others zonk me and I cannot function adequately. I want to be able to drive the car, compile a shopping list, push the vacuum round and flick a duster on the better days, work, talk to friends, go out and if all that has to be done whilst still in some pain, so be it. I am still participating in life as fully as I can and that matters to me.

Now, this reflects my situation and is not a comment on that of any one else. My real concern is that if I resort to the stronger stuff (to lose, well, let's say 90% of it all) I will become so used to that level of relief that when stuff goes mammaries up (and we all know that possibility is there, we just never know when) I want to know that the stronger stuff is still there, waiting to be used so that I might feel an appreciable difference.

I am still convinced that if I had had a much earlier diagnosis, and was put onto the meds when they would have had the greater chance of making a difference, I would be in a far better place than I am. I confess I find it hard to offer hope to people when mine ran out long ago (June 2003 to be precise) but that is something with which I have to deal. I will still do my best to reassure, encourage, support and just be there to listen. DD

skezier

Hi DD,

Your last sentence ... Flower that's all we can ever do here. My Hope also died the same day as they took away my bone shift hope but thats now and be honest i have had not only a good run.... but a hell of a run

It is hard but like you said I can only talk about me in terms of what life has been like and after over 30 years of oa an who knows how many of pa I still function fairly well and still have drive even if there is no hope at all.

In my case its just resolve and something that just makes me drive through it all and stay as up as I can.... I think I am lucky mind. I got it young an that's easier I'm am sure.

Its complicated in my case cus I stupidly did call Hope Hope..... they really did stick me on the palliative junk the same day I lost her and well I try not to forget its taken years to get to here.

Some years as well I have this huge denial thing of courses

We all find out way through the shift and I know (it has been said enough) that some find me annoying cus i do do what seems to be called fluffy but I remember how I felt when they told me I had the oa.... the bottom fell out my world for a min, and I would have given anything to have had one person tell me it will be ok.....

They didn't they told me all the things I had to stop doing.... There wasn't one kind word just a whole hit of gloom.....

Maybe that's why I veer towards the better side of the bone shift? Hey I also am wagon trained and the best bit of kit we ever had was remeasurence. (sorry the spell check and I don't this just don't get on....)

DD I am on strong stuff...... its ok there and I was told this morning all they can do is up the strength and 4x a day it instead of what I am doing now.... I honestly am still unzonked and not addicted..... its ok to take the stuff you nee to ake life easier....

I know some folk do say they can tell when i have just had the tablets mind.... I haven't just yet and I am still out of a tree

You will be ok if you have to progress on to the stronger things. You really will. I know you hate them but a sugar coated ((((( ))))) and hey i still participate inlife .... just dropped off the real world a bit Cris xx

Poppyg1rl

Huge big hugs back at you Cris you're an arthritic super trooper as is DD, I don't tend to worry about what I have to take when the pain gets bad, you take whatever you have to and get through the day. My GP is fab and has told me there are quite a few painkilling drugs out there yet for me to try, we'll try out a few as and when the need arises, I also think there are quite a few things out there that i can do myself to distance my mind from the pain.
Whether you try meditation, or distraction/relaxation techniques, if it works for you then great! but you'll never know unless you try it.
Love and gentle hugs to all.

skezier

Hi Poppy,

Good to see you

Oh for me the vissulisation/relaxation/meditation is brilliant and they do really help in my case. Better than tablets at times.

I stuck ther oa in a hamster ball years ago.... it really did help and well the dam thing needs the ball reinforcing cus its biting a bit but lets see it get out of a titanium one

There was a relaxation meditation thing on the site back along... not sure if its still there but I love the walk i the forest but you have to leave all the junk at the gateway..... anything that helps has to be good eh?

Tis really good to see you and hope your doing okish? (((((((((( ))))))))) love and light Cris xx

stickywicket

I agree totally with Poppy that, when the pain is really bad, you take what you have to take. But, I think it's a question of what we take in more 'normal' times. I've never aimed for 'no pain' as it seems very unrealistic to me for reasons that DD has outlined so well. There may well be stronger & stronger stuff out there but I'm enough of a control freak to want to....well, stay in control.

As for hope (And I don't mean your lovely little sheep, Hope, skezier - that was a tragedy) I have tons of hope left. I don't hope for a cure or for lack of arthritis but life is still good and there is always lots of stuff to look forward to, whatever the future brings.

CJHunter

Well i can honestly say I have today been given the best pain relief for my knee. Ok it mite make me feel a bit more drowsy, but im fat happier being drowsy than feeling sick from pain, so bad not knowing what to do with myself. I dont care if it prevents me from drivong for a while, at mo Knee does that itself.

Life is what u make it and if u wish to give up then thats your choice. If like Cris u wanna fight it till the end bring it on cos i will be joining her till the bitter end.
27 years ago this all started for me, and i'm still fighting for the diagnosis, which was changed, so i can get on the meds to prevent further damage. Not yet 40 and am on some heavy duty stuff, but as my G.P said today ,there is still a way to go and we will manage the pain together.
Meditation and relaxation is great, accupuncture is heavenly.
Whatever u choose there are things to help for sure.

I know i'm late night waffling and this makes sense.

skezier

Hi Sticky,

She was beautiful actually Kind and gentle but never again do I call somethig so important something like Hope :roll:

It was so bad that day.... She was PTS at 7.15 I think and the rumo wrote me off at 9.45..... Bad day all round really

Got was an easier name but I use hope a lot.... couldn't for a bit hence now having 'better' names Though there is still Wish..... mind Sticky I so dread that one what ever she is called.

I agree with you 100% (I often do actually) its best to take the min you can get away with but now....

Sticky I have so much pain with this cutting in half thing I would take anything just for half an hour out from it.

I prefer pain control or pain relife... though i love paindoofas

I also once frightened a newbie.... I really did scare one cus I posted about the neck... that taught me to be more careful... it also felt a bit like a gagging order.... its all balance isn't it?

I don't like being written off... may have mentioned it :oops: :oops: but I do understand why they have. Thankfully I keep hope for others even though I don't have any for my self if that makes sense?

There are folks here i owe so much to..... One was kind to me when I first joined and went off on a massive rant..... you know the one you have been brewing for over 20 years

The other taught me the one day at a time.....Bless her the hours she put into that :oops:

Hey the contraption is for pain relief, going in next week for a confrnce with 2 ot's and a drawing bored cus it doesn't actually exist .... maybe there is some hope still eh

he is clambering into his suit.... bit cobwebbed actually and I am going to have to go get some big pay back cus got to be up early as well.

So from him ((((( ))))) from Slurps tea for the morning and from me hope you get a decent pain free day. Cris xx

Hey Clare its like when I first took the pregabs Its so good isn't it now where is that lump hammer...... xx

dreamdaisy

Again the differences in us all are amazing: del admits that the enbrel sorted his pain out for a good while - my first anti TNF did that for about a week, the others have not touched the pain in any way but I guess that is probably due to the encroaching OA and those drugs aren't meant for that at all. :roll: Strewth, it's all so tiresome.

I read with interest what skezier said about the lack of warning about all the things she would have to give up but how can you tell someone who is new to all of this what may have to be dropped as time passes? Again we are all different, but over the years I have lost cycling, swimming, dancing, walking for pleasure as well as a normal habit, walking hand-in-hand with Mr DD, sleeping in comfort and waking refreshed - I can't even remember that feeling now - sitting without pain, the list goes on, but back at the very beginnning with one fat knee who would have known the life-activity-toll of this disease? I am glad I didn't. I freely admit I envy those who can still ride a bike, go dancing, exercise in whatever way they choose - that must be lovely but 'tis not for the likes of me.

Right, scrambled eggs with chilli flakes beckons, followed by co-cos. Daisy's battery is flat so Southwold followed by Sainsbury's is off the agenda, I will have to make do with a clatter to the Co-op, who do not sell fresh corainder or limes, so the dinner menu has altered too. Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, DAMMIT. Wake up tired, in pain, flat battery, can't do what I want. :sad: Je suis une sulky mare. :sad: On the plus side my mate Wendy is coming round after work today so a touch of alcohol-induced happiness may ensue, especially if we manage a waddle up to the Plump Feline. DD