I am still really new to healthboards, but I first off want to say thank you to all of those who responded to my previous posts. It's amazing how someone you have never even met or talked to in your life can have such a positive impact on you just by providing a little support.
Anyway for those of you (almost everyone) who do not know my situation, here goes. I am a 22 year old male, recently diagnosed with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome by a geneticist(sp?). Basically it's a connective tissue disorder that effects nearly every part of my body( I have the hypermobile type, not the type or types that effect the heart!
) I have dislocated my right shoulder 6 times before having reconstructive surgery on my R shoulder due to complelty torn labrum and many other issues. By 17 I had advanced osteoarthritis in every joint of my body, other than my hips. They diagnosed the arthritis through an MRI along with a physical and all that. I have dislocated every finger on both hands numerous times. My toes also dislocate without warning.
When I was 18 I was second in my class (surgical technology) and had gotten all the way through the first year without a single c. Anyway, I woke up one morning in the most intense pain of my life. I could not walk, stand up, or hardly even move. Another MRI showed ruptures to my L4-L5 discs. My family and I opted for the replacement (charite Disc) and it was the worst decision I could have possibly made. I feel now that I was bullied into that surgery almost. I was never given any other options other than suffering, so we did it. Well now I have bulges at many other levels and the artificial discs is slightly our of place to put it in lamen terms. My ortho and pain management doc both agree, I should have had the surgery only as a last resort, due to severe arthritis in my spinal cord. Now it's causing major problems to many other levels. I have been diagnosed as having scoliosis and spondylosis(sp?). I dunno if those are the same things are not as we have never really discussed the spondylosis- I just have seen it listed in my chart on many different occasions.
Anyway, I have just recently started going to an actual pain clinic. I was seeing my GP who specializes is PM or something like that. There was only so much he was allowed to rx(he said). Also the more proactive I became in my care the less he seemed to care. So my ortho started sending me to my current pain management doctor, and she is truly wonderful! In fact everyone form the receptionist to the doctors really seem to care and not cast judgements. My PM doc started me on oxycontin 20 2xdaily , and percocet 10/325 3xdaily compared to 5mg of percocet 3xdaily. More importantly, she listened! She spent over an hour with me on my first visit and we went over my entire medical history, and not once did I feel like I was being treated like an addict. She told me pain does not care how old you are, and I am not going to let you suffer because your 22 instead of 44.
I began having lots of side effects from taking the oxycontin. It was really helping with the pain, but not near enough to outweigh the side effects. I had EXTREME constipation, even when on stool soft. and high fiber in my diet. Also I would have terrible nightmares starting the very night I began taking them. I would also start feeling as though I needed another pill even when I was not hurting, and was afraid I was starting to become mentally addicted as opposed to just physically. I explained all of this to her, and she was great about it. She changed my ER med to Kadian 20mg 2x daily and left the oxycodone alone because I never had those feelings when just taking the IR. I began the Kadian yesterday and It is working really well. What is the real difference in the two ER drugs. I know Kadian is morphine and Oxy is well oxy, but why is it I am getting more relief from the Kadian-I was under the impression oxy was way better?
Sorry for all the rambling, but I finally have some good news to share! Anyone that could explain the difference in these meds in detail would be greatly appreciated.
Hoping everyone is well
adam
