How do u ask for a stronger pain med (w/out sounding like a pill seeker)?

[jennifer567]

Hi everyone! My question is how do I ask for something stronger without sounding like a "pill seeker" or drug abuser? My Lortab 10mg is like regualr tylenol to my pain. They already have me on Cymbalta, Lyrica, Lortab10mg, Soma, Xanax and Ambien BUT I AM IN SUCH PAIN! It is unreal!

I know it's not a good idea to double up or whatever but I have in desparation- it does not help! My legs give me the worst trouble. I take magnesium, calcium and a few other natural things. I do swim exercise religiosly now BUT the pain is beyond any pain I've ever been through including natural childbirth!!!

How do I ask a doctor to put me on something like Percocet or Oxycodone? Or just anything that will be wotrth taking?? This Lortab is USELESS!! But I've been told if you ask for something specific they think you are just there to get pills for the wrong reason. HAS ANYONE ASKED THEIR DOCTOR FOR SOMETHING STRONGER, AND HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT IT????

By the way thanks in advance for any ideas, thoughts, suggestions or sharing.
Jennifer

[AbbieM123]

Thank you, Jennifer567.  You are RIGHT on the money.  I never realized what daily/constant pain really meant.  In fact, I couldn't imagine that it was even a possibility for a person.  I thought "surely, there's something out there in today's medicine that would keep pain away".  But now having experienced it first hand (8 hospitalizations in 5 months too) and they can't find out why am in constant abdominal cramping. I can't believe a person has to suffer like this.  I'm on Dylotted (hydromorphone) and experience pain morning, noon, night and in my sleep.  Even this strong medicine is not keeping my pain at bay.  I have just received copies of my last hospital stay and my own PCP!!!! wrote "narcotic dependency" in my chart (which has now bruised me for future medical treatments).  I am a well respected person and now I feel I'm being slandard!  Talk about adding insult to injury!  My own PCP?  And she didn't even have the guts to talk to me about it - just reduce the pain meds in the hospital every 6 hours till I had NOTHING left to help the pain.  Then they released me.

I'm in the process of getting my record amended.  Wish me luck.

[debpurpletiger]

what I did was to be completely honest with my doctor about how much pain I was actually in. After a very good discussion, my doctor decided to put me on morphine extended release, so that I only needed to take 2 pills in the morning and two pills at night. I would suggest this, but I do understand how hard it is for people with any pain issues to talk to their doctor without sounding like a pill popper

[abcdefghijklmnop1957]

Yes your right. The Docs think we are just looking for meds, and as far as exercise goes to help, I don't know about any one else but the next day the pain is worse. So I tell my Doc about something else to take and she say's their really is nothing else to take. They make you feel like a drug seeking liar. I wish I could find a Doc that has fibro, myofacial, and chronic pain disorder. That would be the one for us to go to. Find another Doc, look for a support group (that's what im looking for) and maybe you can find a better Doctor. Good luck Lee

[HOPE5758]

IM SS JENNIFER AN YES I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU NOBODY KNOWS JUST HOW BAD WE HURT AN ARE FAST TO JUDGE US I TOTALLY UNDERSTAND WHERE YOURE COMING FROM HUN AN I JUST SIMPLY TOLD MY DR THE HONEST TO GODS TRUTH LIKE U DID HERE AN THEY KNOW HOW MUCH PAIN WERE IN AN WILL UNDERSTAND MY DR DOES AN THEY DO THERE BEST TO TRY AN KEEP ME AS COMFORTABLE AS POSABLE SO JUST LOOK UR DR SRT IN THE EYES AN TELL THEM WHAT YOU GOING THREW AN THAT U HAVE A FIBRO BLOG AN 1 OF THE PEOPLE ON THERE TOLD U IF THAT WASNT WORKING TO ASK UR DR TO GIVE U WHATEVER IT IS U THINK WILL HELP I HOPE U FELING A LIL BETTER HUN GOD BLESS

[sara12345]

The reason why the doctors seem less compassionate is because they are now under tremendous pressure from the DEA and politicians who don't understand that there are people like us who are in terrible pain and do need the pain meds.  These doctors are now at risk of losing their medical licenses.  You need to write to your Senators and Congressional Reps, and the DEA about your experiences.  These terrible experiences are all over another medical website that starts with drugs.  And yes, the reason for the government's totalitarian control of doctors is because of all the illegal selling of pain meds.  Wish you the best.

[davidj980]

Thank you for your initial post and subsequent post. I sympathize with your predicament. I feel the same about asking for stronger pain meds when talking with a doctor. I feel so scared that they are going to call me a pill head or drug addict that I don't ask. Case in point, two days ago I meet with a orthopedic surgeon to review my recent MRI which shows my third herniation  at my L-5, scar tissue from previous surgery, and now disc degeneration to the point where fusion is now the recommended treatment along with a referral to pain management. So after a rather emotional visit about this operation. I tell this surgeon, who is part of the same clinic as my PCP, that I took my last Vicodin that morning. The surgeon tells me he does not like to prescribe Vicodin and he prescribed Tramadol 150 mg and Nabumetone 750mg x2 daily. I had never heard of Tramadol nor Nabutome so I didn't press the issue. I had been taking Vicodin 5mg q. 8 hours for three weeks at that point. It was prescribed Vicodin for the sciatic pain that I felt, but before the MRI procedure, which concluded the herniation and disc degeneration. I had taken the Vicodin as prescribed mostly, sometimes waiting four hours instead of the prescribed 8.
While I was taking the Vicodin, I was able to drive my family to California for vacation, surf and dance with my wife. I then took the Tramadol and it is awful. It makes me nauseous, dizzy, fatigued and unmotivated. I feel as though I'm in a tunnel and detached from the people. I can't track a conversation. I almost slipped in the shower because I lost my balance. My world shrank to the couch. Looking at the dishes in my sink overwhelmed me. And it only knock the the pain from a 10 at times to a 8. I read about this medication on-line and found it to be a synthetic opioid that also act as an SSRI. Well I told myself that's that. I won't take any meds, I rather be in pain. I did this because I didn't want to call the surgeon back and ask for Vicodin. Well that plan lasted until late the following morning when my sciatic nerve went OFF. I was cuddled in a ball on the floor crying. I thought about going to the ER it was so bad. Finally the spasm settled and I hobbled to the Tramadol and took some. I still wasn't going to call that surgeon back and ask. I wasn't going to call my PCP and explain everything. Fortunately, I have a pain management appointment on Tuesday (three days from now). I'm waiting to talk with someone about this pain. In the meantime, I have severe sciatic episodes just walking half a block. I went to a function today thinking I needed to do something to get out of the house. I had to lay on the sidewalk to get the spasm to stop. I want off this Tramadol! I don't care if they give me Vicodin or not but I wrote a list of my expectations for successful treatment and I will not stop pressing until I get relief and my active life back. I'm so angry at people who abuse these pills- and help to unfairly stigmatize people who really need them. I do understand that addiction is an illness, I want to be compassionate. But their illness and behaviors makes everyone else suspect, which in turn makes doctors less compassionate towards their patients- like they need another thing to get in the way of that.