Shoreline

Hi Bilbo, Sorry to hear how the surgeons dropped the ball on you. As far as managing post op pain or failed surgery or just old injuries, You really don't want to appear that your trying to come up with a list long enough to justify prescribing opiates. A NS that di you back surgery isn't going to treat your knee pain or shoulder pain from an injury when your 14.

Try to keep your complaints to the issues that cause you the most problems and have the greatest impact on you. You ask for some insight, so I will oblige. You may not like it but here it is. Nobody or I should say most people unnless born lazy aren't content spending the rest of their life sittingon a heating pad and avoiding anything that might cause pain. That doesn't make you different. The fact you have had numerous surgeries and injuries in the construction field over a the decades you have bneen in construction doesn't make you different from anyone else that's 45 and comes home from work hurting after a hard day of physical labor.

Docs expect us totake some reponsability for our own life, although pain eds are the easy answer, they aren't neccesarrily the best treatement if someone wants to continue to work andplay like their 25 when their 45. This is the point in your life where you except that pwerhaps you need to hire help to do the heavy lifting, squating and bending and twisting. Carrying sheet rock up a flight of stairs willmake anyones back hurt, but druging a 40 year old so that he can continue on like he's 20 isn't in the patients best interest. You have to show the doc that the problem your asking for help with is severe enough that your willing tomake some changes in your life. I broke my back when I was 28, It;s tough to pay a kid to mow your own lawn or replace a roof shingle when you know how and would do it yourself it didn't cause pain tat put you on the floor for the following 3 days. Noy being able to to take advanatage of a sportamsn paradise isn't a qauklity of life issue, not being able to suport your gfamily is.. Not being able to go camping and slweep on frozen ground during hunting season isn't a quality of life issue, but being able to enjoy a night out with the family without looking for a place to lay down half way through dinner is a quality of life issue.

You will read some absord stories of med use on this forum, some of the folks simply can't function without meds, and some elieve they are just as entitled to pain meds as the next because they had back surgery too. You don't want to come across as someone that feels entitled to anything that willmake life more comfy or prevent you from making changes in your work or play activity simply because there are drugs avaialable that will make those activities less painful.

For exapmple, lets say your a mason, I respect the heck out of the intensive labor and skill involved in laying brick and block all day long. I probably couldn't have payed block on my best day for 8 hhours when I was in my 20's. It's back braking work, but it's work for a young man that can handle that kind of work. Asking a doc to dope up a 40 year old so he can keep up with the 20 year old isn't a reasonable request or a quality of life issue. It sucks to have to asdmit we are aging and can no longer do what we used to without paying for it dearly or admitting we simply can't do it any longer.

Docs expect patients complaining of chronic pain that requires the use of opiates and the inevatable physical dependnece that develops from continued use to adjust their lifestyle to reduce the amount ofpain where in. At this point they may be able to give you enough vicodin to allow you tokeep up with the younger folks and do your own rentivations. Bt it's an absolute cetainty that tolerance will develop and you will need something sronger down the road. If you push yourself beyond your abilty and expect the doc tomake it possible with the use of pain meds, your not being realistic.

Opiates aren't used to stay off retirement or to prevent having to pay someone else to do something we used to be able to do ourself. But we do have a role in our own well being. If your not changing your work habbits and passing the torch, I don't think it's realistic to expecta doc to prevent the inevatable by making you dependnet on opiate pain medication. It will work for a while, but eventually no amount of pain meds is going to allow a 60 year old to slinghg block 8 hours a day 6 days a week. That's not a reasonable expectation or a reasonable request.

Construction work , even if you're the forman, or general contractor or supervisor on the job will put you in the position of having to make the decision to wait for help to do something you know how to do and would have done it yourself 10 years ago. But that was before multiple back surgeries and when you were 10 years younger. Opiates aren't the fontain of youth, they shouldn't be used to continue to engage in activity that you know will cause you pain severe enough to need narcotic pain meds. We allhave some degree of control over what we are wiling to subject ourself too. If you come across as completely unreasonable, unbending and unwilling to make modifications to your life and work load. I don't think it's reasonaable to expect a doc to dope you up so you can keep going when you know you simply masking the damage you could otherwise avoid.

Just some things to consider Take care, Dave