Jus thad shoulder surgery and my day was a living hell today.

[HumblePie]

I am a disabled vet and as such I have medical benefits through the Veterans Administration (the VA) for life. I have had a torn labrum, which is the cartilage that forms the "cup" of the socket for your shoulder, for years now. It has only been recently diagnosed. Before I was constantly being told the pain I was having was simple tendentious, which is technically was since the cartilage doesn't produce pain without having any nerves. The pain was a side effect of the tear.

Well, I was laid off work last week, but thankfully I still have medical benefits and my surgery had already been scheduled out 2 months ago before my lay off. Since I had to have someone drive me home, my mother drove 200 miles from San Antonio to drive me back and watch over me for a week with the rest of my family.

Well, I get to the VA and before the surgery I specifically info the doctors, nurses and anesthesiologists about my condition when it comes to certain pain medication. For some very very very odd reason, my body is completely immune or instantly metabolizing certain medicines which renders them useless. I know this from past surgeries and experience. I inform them which family groups I am immune too, which include vicadin. Unfortunately, no one believes me. After the surgery and the general anesthesia wears off, I am in soooo much pain I can't really bare it. I am litterally on the verge of crying and they just keep on feeding me the same crap of medicine that is worthless and making me :wait 5 more minutes" to see if it takes affect despite my protestations that they are causing me serious pain.

FINALLY after about an hour they do a block by sticking a needle into the neck part of my spinal column to stop the nerve. Finally at least they listened to my advice here when I said lidocaine, which is typically used for blocks, doesn't work on me either. As such they used a huge dosage of soemthing different.

Now after this, while the paindampening affects of the all the huge doses of medicine have no affect on me, other side affects of the that same medication lingering around in my body DOES. I started throwing up like crazy for damn near 6 hours straight.

I could go into more detail on all the bullshit I have had to suffer today, but I am getting tired typing one handed.

Hope everyone else's day was better than mine.


UPDATE. Suffering from post-op myalgia for every single muscle in my body due to the crappy chems used in my general anesthewia. Read below for more details. The living hell continues over to day 2. Worse, it is suppose to last up to 3 effing days.

 

[Mojoed]

 

[KeithTalent]

Good lord, can't they put that in your file or something? I know very little about VA hospitals and whatnot, aside from my friend having done some of her dental residency at one, but I thought you pretty much had to go to the same place every time so they can track those types of things? Sounds like they are missing something on their end.

Anyway, that really sucks they wouldn't listen to you. Hope you feel better soon.

KT

 

[skyking]

My day has been much better than yours. I am sorry you had such a shit sandwich.
What pain meds do work?

 

[paulney]

Sorry to hear about this. I have to wonder if the military hospitals are messed up like that because they are overloaded with veterans and simply ignore any extra input, or because they are poorly run in general.

 

[olds]

That sucks. Hope you feel better. Most meds have little to no effect on me also. Must have been the 70s...
I have a torn supraspinatus tendon in my right shoulder and I am going to try physical therapy before I go the surgery route.
I am right handed so if I get the surgery, I may need this.

 

[HumblePie]

Originally posted by: paulney
Sorry to hear about this. I have to wonder if the military hospitals are messed up like that because they are overloaded with veterans and simply ignore any extra input, or because they are poorly run in general.

Yah, they basically were rude mostly, not all of them, and treated me like I had no idea what I was talking about.

As for which meds, the morphine derivatives work, but for a reduced time frame. Surprisingly, hydrocodone from walgreens I have found to work the best. Vicadin, and most of the caine family have zero effect. Percocet works alright, but things like dimatrol and something else they tried today that I never heard of doesn't. Not sure if I got all the names spelled correctly, but should be close enough to google them.

 

[BoomerD]

Actually, Vicodan IS hydrocodone...there are just a few different formulations of the basic drug. I've always had a very high tolerance to the opiate based pain killers...and all too often, doctors think it's just a scam to get more/better drugs...but I can usually tolerate a dosage high enough to kill a horse with little to no reduction in the pain level. :roll:

Experiences like yours are why I told the VA to fuck off 36 years ago...and haven't set foot in another VA facility, used any VA service of any kind, ever since.

They tend to treat the vets like so much meat...and begrudge any real service because it costs them money...:roll:

Cocksuckers. I hope they ALL DIAF.

 

[RKS]

For the risks and sacrifices that soldiers make, the VA facilities are piss-poor. I've had a more than a few clients who have access to the local VA hospital that choose outside doctors because they want better care.

 

[HumblePie]

Originally posted by: BoomerD
Actually, Vicodan IS hydrocodone...there are just a few different formulations of the basic drug. I've always had a very high tolerance to the opiate based pain killers...and all too often, doctors think it's just a scam to get more/better drugs...but I can usually tolerate a dosage high enough to kill a horse with little to no reduction in the pain level. :roll:

Experiences like yours are why I told the VA to fuck off 36 years ago...and haven't set foot in another VA facility, used any VA service of any kind, ever since.

They tend to treat the vets like so much meat...and begrudge any real service because it costs them money...:roll:

Cocksuckers. I hope they ALL DIAF.

yah, they are close but not the same. The small difference could be all it takes for my body to treat it differently

 

[JasonSix78]

Sorry you had a rough one HP. I hope the healing and pain goes quickly.

 

[Shadowknight]

Originally posted by: HumblePie

Originally posted by: paulney
Sorry to hear about this. I have to wonder if the military hospitals are messed up like that because they are overloaded with veterans and simply ignore any extra input, or because they are poorly run in general.

Yah, they basically were rude mostly, not all of them, and treated me like I had no idea what I was talking about.

As for which meds, the morphine derivatives work, but for a reduced time frame. Surprisingly, hydrocodone from walgreens I have found to work the best. Vicadin, and most of the caine family have zero effect. Percocet works alright, but things like dimatrol and something else they tried today that I never heard of doesn't. Not sure if I got all the names spelled correctly, but should be close enough to google them.

I haven't had surgery as bad as yours, but in college I broke my elbow off and had to get surgery to get it reattached with a screw. They gave me several doses of morphine when I woke up, and I found out that I was completely immune to it. They told me I couldn't get any pain meds until the morphine wore off, so I had to wait 4 hours in pain, unable to sleep, counting down until I could page the nurse to get something else which did work (Tylonel 3).

 

[silverpig]

Originally posted by: Shadowknight

Originally posted by: HumblePie

Originally posted by: paulney
Sorry to hear about this. I have to wonder if the military hospitals are messed up like that because they are overloaded with veterans and simply ignore any extra input, or because they are poorly run in general.

Yah, they basically were rude mostly, not all of them, and treated me like I had no idea what I was talking about.

As for which meds, the morphine derivatives work, but for a reduced time frame. Surprisingly, hydrocodone from walgreens I have found to work the best. Vicadin, and most of the caine family have zero effect. Percocet works alright, but things like dimatrol and something else they tried today that I never heard of doesn't. Not sure if I got all the names spelled correctly, but should be close enough to google them.

I haven't had surgery as bad as yours, but in college I broke my elbow off and had to get surgery to get it reattached with a screw. They gave me several doses of morphine when I woke up, and I found out that I was completely immune to it. They told me I couldn't get any pain meds until the morphine wore off, so I had to wait 4 hours in pain, unable to sleep, counting down until I could page the nurse to get something else which did work (Tylonel 3).

Tylenol 3 is codeine which is very similar to morphine...

 

[Sea Moose]

I have respect for you Humble Pie. Could you tell us more about your service? Were you injured during service or after?

 

[PlasmaBomb]

Originally posted by: silverpig

Originally posted by: Shadowknight

Originally posted by: HumblePie

Originally posted by: paulney
Sorry to hear about this. I have to wonder if the military hospitals are messed up like that because they are overloaded with veterans and simply ignore any extra input, or because they are poorly run in general.

Yah, they basically were rude mostly, not all of them, and treated me like I had no idea what I was talking about.

As for which meds, the morphine derivatives work, but for a reduced time frame. Surprisingly, hydrocodone from walgreens I have found to work the best. Vicadin, and most of the caine family have zero effect. Percocet works alright, but things like dimatrol and something else they tried today that I never heard of doesn't. Not sure if I got all the names spelled correctly, but should be close enough to google them.

I haven't had surgery as bad as yours, but in college I broke my elbow off and had to get surgery to get it reattached with a screw. They gave me several doses of morphine when I woke up, and I found out that I was completely immune to it. They told me I couldn't get any pain meds until the morphine wore off, so I had to wait 4 hours in pain, unable to sleep, counting down until I could page the nurse to get something else which did work (Tylonel 3).

Tylenol 3 is codeine which is very similar to morphine...

Codeine = methylmorphine and is about 10% of the potency of morphine.

I'm not surprised that they wouldn't give you something other than Vicadin, since they would doubtlessly hear sob stories such as yours from people trying to score more potent opiates. If you were asking for hydrocodone, they would likely not have given you any until the next dose was due because you already had a dose of it.

Americans are really uptight about opiates...

 

[xSauronx]

sounds like the OP is in need of (and definitely deserves) a beer

:beer:

 

[Sea Moose]

Originally posted by: PlasmaBomb

Originally posted by: silverpig

Originally posted by: Shadowknight

Originally posted by: HumblePie

Originally posted by: paulney
Sorry to hear about this. I have to wonder if the military hospitals are messed up like that because they are overloaded with veterans and simply ignore any extra input, or because they are poorly run in general.

Yah, they basically were rude mostly, not all of them, and treated me like I had no idea what I was talking about.

As for which meds, the morphine derivatives work, but for a reduced time frame. Surprisingly, hydrocodone from walgreens I have found to work the best. Vicadin, and most of the caine family have zero effect. Percocet works alright, but things like dimatrol and something else they tried today that I never heard of doesn't. Not sure if I got all the names spelled correctly, but should be close enough to google them.

I haven't had surgery as bad as yours, but in college I broke my elbow off and had to get surgery to get it reattached with a screw. They gave me several doses of morphine when I woke up, and I found out that I was completely immune to it. They told me I couldn't get any pain meds until the morphine wore off, so I had to wait 4 hours in pain, unable to sleep, counting down until I could page the nurse to get something else which did work (Tylonel 3).

Tylenol 3 is codeine which is very similar to morphine...

Codeine = methylmorphine and is about 10% of the potency of morphine.

I'm not surprised that they wouldn't give you something other than Vicadin, since they would doubtlessly hear sob stories such as yours from people trying to score more potent opiates. If you were asking for hydrocodone, they would likely not have given you any until the next dose was due because you already had a dose of it.

Americans are really uptight about opiates...

Fucking disrespectful. I bet to wager that you would never serve in the forces.

I could be wrong. But fuck there are times when not to say certain things.

 

[KK]

Is the VA government run?

 

[imported_Devine]

It's the VA, sadly enough everyone knows they suck

 

[BoomerD]

Originally posted by: Sea Moose

Originally posted by: PlasmaBomb

Originally posted by: silverpig

Originally posted by: Shadowknight

Originally posted by: HumblePie

Originally posted by: paulney
Sorry to hear about this. I have to wonder if the military hospitals are messed up like that because they are overloaded with veterans and simply ignore any extra input, or because they are poorly run in general.

Yah, they basically were rude mostly, not all of them, and treated me like I had no idea what I was talking about.

As for which meds, the morphine derivatives work, but for a reduced time frame. Surprisingly, hydrocodone from walgreens I have found to work the best. Vicadin, and most of the caine family have zero effect. Percocet works alright, but things like dimatrol and something else they tried today that I never heard of doesn't. Not sure if I got all the names spelled correctly, but should be close enough to google them.

I haven't had surgery as bad as yours, but in college I broke my elbow off and had to get surgery to get it reattached with a screw. They gave me several doses of morphine when I woke up, and I found out that I was completely immune to it. They told me I couldn't get any pain meds until the morphine wore off, so I had to wait 4 hours in pain, unable to sleep, counting down until I could page the nurse to get something else which did work (Tylonel 3).

Tylenol 3 is codeine which is very similar to morphine...

Codeine = methylmorphine and is about 10% of the potency of morphine.

I'm not surprised that they wouldn't give you something other than Vicadin, since they would doubtlessly hear sob stories such as yours from people trying to score more potent opiates. If you were asking for hydrocodone, they would likely not have given you any until the next dose was due because you already had a dose of it.

Americans are really uptight about opiates...

Fucking disrespectful. I bet to wager that you would never serve in the forces.

I could be wrong. But fuck there are times when not to say certain things.

No, unfortunately he's right. People (including lots of vets) have drug problems and lie about being allergic to things like hydrocodone, about some of the lower-strength formulations not being effective, and about many other things...all to get morphine, dilaudid, oxycontin, etc.
Druggies will lie about any dammed thing to get more/better drugs.

For me, my pain management doc keeps trying to push drugs on me for the pain of the FUBAR'D knee and back, but I refuse to take them.

He's told me on several occasions that the level of pain I live with would put the average person on the couch...crying like a little girl, and begging for pain meds...but I refuse to take them.

I call them "Stupid Pills" because they really don't do a helluva lot for the pain...and just make me stupid.

For the past couple of years, I was struggling to get through community college after being out of school for 40 years.

I told him that I was stupid enough naturally...I didn't need any chemical help.

OP, it sux what you're going through right now...I can't offer you any relief for the pain...(The feds would be up my ass like a giant gerbil for drug dealing if I did) but I can tell ya to hang in there, to try to put the pain in a box...and to remember...

Pain reminds you that you're still alive.

(sometimes it's all you can do.)

 

[Exterous]

Wow, that sucks OP. I am truly sorry. I hope your shoulder gets better and the pain goes away soon!

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Originally posted by: HumblePie
I am a disabled vet and as such I have medical benefits through the Veterans Administration (the VA) for life. I have had a torn labrum, which is the cartilage that forms the "cup" of the socket for your shoulder, for years now. It has only been recently diagnosed. Before I was constantly being told the pain I was having was simple tendentious, which is technically was since the cartilage doesn't produce pain without having any nerves. The pain was a side effect of the tear.

Well, I was laid off work last week, but thankfully I still have medical benefits and my surgery had already been scheduled out 2 months ago before my lay off. Since I had to have someone drive me home, my mother drove 200 miles from San Antonio to drive me back and watch over me for a week with the rest of my family.

Well, I get to the VA and before the surgery I specifically info the doctors, nurses and anesthesiologists about my condition when it comes to certain pain medication. For some very very very odd reason, my body is completely immune or instantly metabolizing certain medicines which renders them useless. I know this from past surgeries and experience. I inform them which family groups I am immune too, which include vicadin. Unfortunately, no one believes me. After the surgery and the general anesthesia wears off, I am in soooo much pain I can't really bare it. I am litterally on the verge of crying and they just keep on feeding me the same crap of medicine that is worthless and making me :wait 5 more minutes" to see if it takes affect despite my protestations that they are causing me serious pain.

FINALLY after about an hour they do a block by sticking a needle into the neck part of my spinal column to stop the nerve. Finally at least they listened to my advice here when I said lidocaine, which is typically used for blocks, doesn't work on me either. As such they used a huge dosage of soemthing different.

Now after this, while the paindampening affects of the all the huge doses of medicine have no affect on me, other side affects of the that same medication lingering around in my body DOES. I started throwing up like crazy for damn near 6 hours straight.

I could go into more detail on all the bullshit I have had to suffer today, but I am getting tired typing one handed.

Hope everyone else's day was better than mine.

Thank your local script addict for their non believing attitude. Lots of times people say this crap so they can get their drug of choice

 

[waggy]

ugh the VA stinks. The one in Madison is a pile of horseshit.



as for the shoulder surgery man they suck. a few years ago i had surgery done where they shaved bone off the clavical. it fricken hurt for like a month. Even now it still hurts (though not nearly as much as it did before the operation) and im afraid i will have to do it again.

i did the PT route for like a year. it would help but never fix it.

Originally posted by: PlasmaBombCodeine = methylmorphine and is about 10% of the potency of morphine.

I'm not surprised that they wouldn't give you something other than Vicadin, since they would doubtlessly hear sob stories such as yours from people trying to score more potent opiates. If you were asking for hydrocodone, they would likely not have given you any until the next dose was due because you already had a dose of it.

Americans are really uptight about opiates...

sadly you are right. I go to a Chronic pain doctor and have a history with chronic pain for years. i also have a history of fighting the use of any kind of pain medication (like boomer said they just make me stupid..and i don't need any help in that..im stupid enough without them). EVEN then when i still need such medication its a pain in the ass to get anything other then Vicoden. Why? to many drug seekers are claiming to have "chronic pain" in order to get the damn meds. so it makes it harder on the rest of us who really need them.

then you add on the government itself is going after doctors who they think are prescribing to many opiates, going after patients that use them (even legallly. they were trying to make it so if you took more then 3 a day you could get arrested) etc. gotta love the war on drugs when it hurts legal people.

Also they recently had a major crackdown on opiates. it was really hard to get them.

 

[olds]

I have to agree on the Americans/opiate comment. I have broken many bones, tore ligaments and cartilage. I have never been given a drug that helped with the pain with one exception.
I had knee surgery and whatever they were injecting into my ass (either darvon or demerol) helped. Most drugs they give me have zero effect or only give me a headache.

For my shoulder I didn't take any drugs from the doc, I told him I would just take Aleve. It's been two months now and all I have done is hose up my stomach. I called the other day and got something called darvocet. No help yet, maybe the levels are not hight enough in my blood so far.

 

[BoomerD]

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
I have to agree on the Americans/opiate comment. I have broken many bones, tore ligaments and cartilage. I have never been given a drug that helped with the pain with one exception.
I had knee surgery and whatever they were injecting into my ass (either darvon or demerol) helped. Most drugs they give me have zero effect or only give me a headache.

For my shoulder I didn't take any drugs from the doc, I told him I would just take Aleve. It's been two months now and all I have done is hose up my stomach. I called the other day and got something called darvocet. No help yet, maybe the levels are not hight enough in my blood so far.

IMO, darvocet is worthless.
When I go in for my epidurals, the doctor puts his "cocktail" into the IV. A mix of versed and fentanyl...WOOHOO! That shit is F-U-N! More or less valium and demarol...but short acting. I'm back down within 2 hours...

I guess the next time I come up for some "Basement Therapy," I'll have to bring you some norco or oxy's...