Today is definitely tough. Rama woke at 3a.m. whimpering with pain in her arm. This is par for the course with experimenting with pain management. She had been using pain relief patches but these needed to be supplemented with Endone, which the doctor wanted to phase out. When she got to 15mg patches but still needed Endone the doctor said that obviously her system needed Endone and the patches were not effective so he started the process of withdrawal. (They are addictive, being morphine based) so now Rama is using a 5mg patch and I think that it is telling on her system because by the early hours of the morning her pain relief has worn off. Now I'm in a quandary: do I reintroduce the patch to provide all night relief of let her system adjust?
Either way, this morning has been hard going and it's only 10! Lets see how the day unfolds.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Sunday, February 24, 2013
The more things change...
Rama woke up this morning screaming with arthritis pain. Nothing psychosomatic there. After Endone, she was off to her Strong (rehab/physio) program which she did well, considering the limitations caused by the pain and arthritis.
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Since my last post I've noticed that frustration is building in both of us. This is centred on communication, as you might expect. Rama is also quite cantankerous about the pain from her osteoarthritis in her right arm and spends a good deal of her time complaining about discomfort. There is no doubt that the pain is at times fierce and eye wateringly agony but at the same time I think that she allows herself to dwell on pain and imagine it to be worse than it is. Boredom is the key here: she has too much idle time to ruminate on her ills.
This has led to some horizon lighting storms at home as the two of us battle each other's will. Much of this is related to the administration of pain killers. Our doctor has recommended using a patch which releases a close cousin of morphine into the system continuously for 7 days. It takes time to get the dosage right and this is the issue. We started with a 5mg patch which was useless for pain relief and have crept upto 15mg but Rama is still demanding Endone tablets. She does need these occasionally when there are pain spikes but she insists on taking one every 4 hours which I'm resisting. I think it is psychological in that she equates the tablet with pain relief but doesn't really believe that the patch will do anything. I suppose it's a tactile response: take a tablet and pain is relieved. Do nothing and pain stays.
The battle will continue but it is wearing. We'll see the doctor again this week and possibly up the patch dosage to 20mg.
I have tried diverting Rama's attention away from the pain but with limited success. Somehow I've got to get her past the idea of swallowing a tablet as the solution to all her ailments.
This has led to some horizon lighting storms at home as the two of us battle each other's will. Much of this is related to the administration of pain killers. Our doctor has recommended using a patch which releases a close cousin of morphine into the system continuously for 7 days. It takes time to get the dosage right and this is the issue. We started with a 5mg patch which was useless for pain relief and have crept upto 15mg but Rama is still demanding Endone tablets. She does need these occasionally when there are pain spikes but she insists on taking one every 4 hours which I'm resisting. I think it is psychological in that she equates the tablet with pain relief but doesn't really believe that the patch will do anything. I suppose it's a tactile response: take a tablet and pain is relieved. Do nothing and pain stays.
The battle will continue but it is wearing. We'll see the doctor again this week and possibly up the patch dosage to 20mg.
I have tried diverting Rama's attention away from the pain but with limited success. Somehow I've got to get her past the idea of swallowing a tablet as the solution to all her ailments.
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