| MANAGING PAIN |
The best way to start here would be to describe what type of pain I have and set a "standard."
Pain can be rated on a scale of 0 to 10, with 0 being no pain and 10 being "unbearable."
What I consider to be "10" pain is "the worst pain I ever felt" and that would be when they
removed the foot-long drains from my abdomen. I never heard screams like that before, and
they were mine.
Some people with Crohn's disease experience arthritic type pains in their joints. I get this
pain almost every day, mostly in my hips, knees and ankles. Pain associated with the
disease itself can best be described as a cramping or stabbing pain in the abdomen.
Imagine someone grabbing a hold of part of your bowels and squeezing as hard as they can;
this is what the pain is like. The intestine is a smooth muscle that normally contracts every
90 seconds or so. When there is a blockage or adhesion, the intestine squeezes to try to
push fluid through, but encounters a narrowing or blockage. Have you ever held onto part of a
balloon while blowing up the rest, it is kind of like that. Pressure still builds, and with no
where to go, pain can be very bad.
Now people think that you can become "immune" or "used" to pain. The opposite is true.
When nerve cells become used to sending the same signal over and over again, they actually
become sensitized. So over time, what might have been a "3" pain has now become a "5."
All of this I learned in pain management.
In my case, pain is worse when I eat something I shouldn't. I cannot eat any fruit or
vegetables or anything else bulky, dairy products either. So my diet consists mainly of meat,
pasta and other starches (except fried potatoes), and lots of sugar. I must take in about
5,000 calories per day to maintain my weight. Once in a while I get really stupid and eat
something like popcorn, which does not digest. This flows down my intestine until it hits an
adhesion, narrowing or blockage. It kind of "clogs the drain" but pressure continues to build
behind it. Until something happens and the popcorn passes, I am in agony. Those of you
who have had abdominal pain know that since your abdomen is the center of your body,
movement of almost any body part becomes difficult when your tummy hurts.
There are many ways to manage pain. There are many wonderful drugs on the market that
help make life more bearable. However, taking a narcotic at the first sign of pain is not only
overkill, it is irresponsible, like putting a cast over a cut. I was once addicted to narcotics and
had the "joy" of withdrawal. Narcotics have their place, but they should only be a last resort.
When I wake up, I usually have pain level 1-3 going on. When I take my morning meds I will
take tylenol if need be. If the pain gets worse or does not go away, I will take Ultram. Ultram
is a great drug; while it may not take all my pain away, it lessens it enough so I can function
and does not sedate me. The only drawback to Ultram is that it takes about an hour to kick in.
When I bowl I usually am in a great deal of pain (level 6 or 7) by the third game. I used to take
Ultram before bowling started, in case the pain became bad. Since it took an hour to kick in,
this was my best option. This is kind of like using crutches in the morning in case your leg
hurt at 4 pm. However, one of my doctors recently prescribed toradol. Toradol is like Ultram
in that it does not sedate me. Also, I inject it into my thigh, so it only takes about 5 minutes
before it starts to work. This is great for when I bowl or for when it hurts to put anything,
including oral medicine, into my belly.
The last resort is narcotics. I only use narcotics when the other pain medicines have not
reduced the pain enough for me to sleep, or after a surgery. Not sleeping properly will only
make me worse, so I break out the big guns when I have to. While narcotics kill the pain, they
make me dopey, a feeling I do not like. Again, their addictive properties make them an
absolute last resort. I beat addiction to them once and do not care to go down that path again.
One final treatment I use for pain is my red clown nose. While it does not take the physical
pain away, it reminds me that for myself pain, like vomiting, etc. is a fact of life. I can't let the
pain I feel ruin my day. I refuse to let pain take away my smile.
Pain can be rated on a scale of 0 to 10, with 0 being no pain and 10 being "unbearable."
What I consider to be "10" pain is "the worst pain I ever felt" and that would be when they
removed the foot-long drains from my abdomen. I never heard screams like that before, and
they were mine.
Some people with Crohn's disease experience arthritic type pains in their joints. I get this
pain almost every day, mostly in my hips, knees and ankles. Pain associated with the
disease itself can best be described as a cramping or stabbing pain in the abdomen.
Imagine someone grabbing a hold of part of your bowels and squeezing as hard as they can;
this is what the pain is like. The intestine is a smooth muscle that normally contracts every
90 seconds or so. When there is a blockage or adhesion, the intestine squeezes to try to
push fluid through, but encounters a narrowing or blockage. Have you ever held onto part of a
balloon while blowing up the rest, it is kind of like that. Pressure still builds, and with no
where to go, pain can be very bad.
Now people think that you can become "immune" or "used" to pain. The opposite is true.
When nerve cells become used to sending the same signal over and over again, they actually
become sensitized. So over time, what might have been a "3" pain has now become a "5."
All of this I learned in pain management.
In my case, pain is worse when I eat something I shouldn't. I cannot eat any fruit or
vegetables or anything else bulky, dairy products either. So my diet consists mainly of meat,
pasta and other starches (except fried potatoes), and lots of sugar. I must take in about
5,000 calories per day to maintain my weight. Once in a while I get really stupid and eat
something like popcorn, which does not digest. This flows down my intestine until it hits an
adhesion, narrowing or blockage. It kind of "clogs the drain" but pressure continues to build
behind it. Until something happens and the popcorn passes, I am in agony. Those of you
who have had abdominal pain know that since your abdomen is the center of your body,
movement of almost any body part becomes difficult when your tummy hurts.
There are many ways to manage pain. There are many wonderful drugs on the market that
help make life more bearable. However, taking a narcotic at the first sign of pain is not only
overkill, it is irresponsible, like putting a cast over a cut. I was once addicted to narcotics and
had the "joy" of withdrawal. Narcotics have their place, but they should only be a last resort.
When I wake up, I usually have pain level 1-3 going on. When I take my morning meds I will
take tylenol if need be. If the pain gets worse or does not go away, I will take Ultram. Ultram
is a great drug; while it may not take all my pain away, it lessens it enough so I can function
and does not sedate me. The only drawback to Ultram is that it takes about an hour to kick in.
When I bowl I usually am in a great deal of pain (level 6 or 7) by the third game. I used to take
Ultram before bowling started, in case the pain became bad. Since it took an hour to kick in,
this was my best option. This is kind of like using crutches in the morning in case your leg
hurt at 4 pm. However, one of my doctors recently prescribed toradol. Toradol is like Ultram
in that it does not sedate me. Also, I inject it into my thigh, so it only takes about 5 minutes
before it starts to work. This is great for when I bowl or for when it hurts to put anything,
including oral medicine, into my belly.
The last resort is narcotics. I only use narcotics when the other pain medicines have not
reduced the pain enough for me to sleep, or after a surgery. Not sleeping properly will only
make me worse, so I break out the big guns when I have to. While narcotics kill the pain, they
make me dopey, a feeling I do not like. Again, their addictive properties make them an
absolute last resort. I beat addiction to them once and do not care to go down that path again.
One final treatment I use for pain is my red clown nose. While it does not take the physical
pain away, it reminds me that for myself pain, like vomiting, etc. is a fact of life. I can't let the
pain I feel ruin my day. I refuse to let pain take away my smile.
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