i work for an orthopedic surgeon and I would recommend asking your doctor to get you a bone stimulator. insurance can cover it depending on the injury and duration. The bone stim is a very easy procedure, you apply to the area and leave on for about 20 min at a time, 20 min off, etc.. most of the bone stims you can use for 3 hours a day. I have seen a lot of sucess with them!!
Well, if that's not a good option, would taking the rib out be a better option? I understand we need to speak with our doctor of course.
He has tried every other pain med out there. He's got epidurals before that are supposed to temporarily numb the pain, but that doesn't work either. We have told the doctors that pretty much nothing is helping the pain, so the next option is surgery.
As for the surgery, I can understand plating to a certain extent, but if the bone isn't healing on its own, I doubt he'd have a good outcome with plates. That surgery tends to rely on having healthy bone to hold the screws, and once the plates and screws are in place, healthy bone fuses it all together. I'd have a long talk with the orthopedic surgeon before consenting to that surgery.
As for the irritability, there are plenty of other pain meds to try that may not cause this reaction in your husband, and may actually work better. Again, this is a discussion you both need to have with his doctor.
He is in really bad pain everyday. We aren't sure if the rib is what is causing the pain. The oxycontin doesn't completely numb the pain, so it really doesn't work for him.
He is in the Army and they like to take their time before doing anything drastic. He has had at least 3 or 4 CT scans and they all show little to no healing, so they said in December or January they are going to do surgery and put a plate on it! Either that or they said they would take it out. I'm not sure why it's taking so long to heal. The rib is close to his spine on the back side of his body up near the shoulder.
What do you guys think?
I agree 100% with Jaybay.
Seven months is a long time for a rib fracture not to heal.
And oxycontin would seem to be the last in line of drugs presribed.
Has he had follow up xrays/CT scans recently? What does his orthopedist say?
Yes. It is not uncommon for people to get irritable while taking any kind of opiate. Some folks get that way while the medication is in their bloodstream; others feel that way when it's wearing off. I can't imagine why he hasn't healed in 7 months? Oxycontin seems a bit excessive for a busted rib unless it was a huge fracture allowing a sharp end of bone to cut up some internal organs. ?