NSAIDS

[c_girl80]

my doctor keeps prescribing me NSAIDS even after I told him they really irriatate my stomach He'll just prescribe me another one. The medicine he keeps prescribing me first  doesn't work and secondly make me have to go to the bathroom like 6 times a day when i do take them. I really don't know what to to. I'm in pain and my doctor keeps prescribing me things that put me in more pain.

[Ghilly]

Excellent advice, Tuck.   It took me a long time to realize this, and years of my husband trying to drill this little bit of advice into my head, but too many people elevate their doctor to "god" status and think that their word is the final one.  That's completely wrong, and it's also the reason that so many people are living in pain today despite regular visits to their doctors.

If you go to a doctor and tell them what is bothering you, and they consistently prescribe things that either don't do anything to relieve the pain or make you sick for one reason or another, that tells me that they aren't listening to what you are telling them and are doing their best to avoid prescribing something stronger that WILL work for some reason.

The thing you have to consider is what IS that reason?  Do they have a battle plan in mind that might take a while to come to fruition, during which time there is an adjustment period where it might seem as though the meds are not working?  Do they, for some reason, not feel that a given person is not a good candidate for opiate therapy?  Do they not believe in opiate therapy as a viable option PERIOD, and therefore don't prescribe them to ANYONE?  Or, another possible option, are they simply not listening to what their patients tell them?  No matter which one of these (or any one of any number of things NOT listed) it might be, you need to just come right out and ask the doctor "why, after all the times I have told you that the NSAIDS DON'T WORK, not to mention that they make me sick, do you continue to prescribe them for me?".  If he can't provide an answer that makes sense to you, then FIRE THEM AS YOUR PHYSICIAN.  Go home, get out the Yellow Pages, and find yourself another doctor.  It's that simple.  Unless you're talking about the doctors that are on the list of physicians who are approved by individual insurance companies, doctors are not assigned to us.  WE hire THEM to fix us!  So if what they're doing isn't fixing us, find another one who is willing to try other things!   As Tuckamore said, if your sink leaked and you called a plumber to fix it, if it still leaked after repeated attempts on his part to fix it, would you continue to use him as your plumber?  Of course not!  So why should you suffer both physically and mentally because your doctor won't listen to you?  

If the next doctor you go to mentions treating you with NSAIDS, tell him right from the get-go that you have been down that road and don't care to travel it again, that you would appreciate him trying something else.

Ghilly

[Tuckamore]

Hello C-girl,

Welcome to the Pain Management Forum. I am sorry to hear about your pain and they way your physician is treating it. NSAID's can be very damaging to the gastrointestinal system. Make sure you are taking them with food and drinking plenty of fluids.

If your sink leaked you'd probably call a plumber to fix it. However if after you paid the plumber you discovered your sink still leaked what would you do? I bet you would call him back to fix it...and if he didn't fit it the second time you would fire him. Physicians, in my opinion, are no different that plumbers in the fact that they work for us. We hire them to preform a service for us, they are not Gods. If your physician is not providing the service you hired him to do to your satisfaction why do you continue to employ him?

So my suggestion is obvious. Search for a new physician. Good luck to you. Please let us know how you are doing. I will look forward to your update. Take Care, Tuck