I am having severe side pain. It has been ongoing for 5 months. Now I can’t sleep or eat.
Medical Attention
Getting pain meds at first was very difficult. I went to my doctor 4 times before they admitted they didn’t know what was wrong with me. 3 of those times I met with a male nurse practitioner, once with a woman I didn’t recognize, none of those times with my actual doctor. It was only by the third visit, the one with the woman, that she prescribed painkillers, the lowest dose of opioids they could put me on.
Then I went to my previous oncologist. I had just finished calling the pharmacy because my meds had run out, they said I had to call the doctor. I did that and they said to call the pharmacy. So I did that routine twice with no results. It was a relief then, when the oncologist prescribed Hydrocodone-Acetaminophen at the lowest dose.
For a while that worked. Relief! Now it is starting to subside. I messaged my new oncologist’s team. They listened to me an immediately put in a prescription for Oxycodone. I took some and felt great at first. I felt high, and I barely noticed any pain. Then the pain came back with a headache, nausea, and extreme fatigue. I was a wreck and a zombie and at one point lost peripheral vision in my right eye. So, after another 3 hour nap, I stopped taking them and went back to the old ones after a discussion about my options which included morphine. What a difference to feel listened to.
Opioids Oh No
I get it. There is a huge problem with opioid addiction. It is highly addictive and has become a massive problem. The crisis has even been declared a public health emergency.
I can understand, then, the hesitancy that comes with wanting to prescribe them to patients. In a lot of ways I am actually proud of the medical field for not just jumping the gun on prescribing these addictive substances.
On the other hand. What am I supposed to do when I need pain medication and can’t get any? I am not alone in going to the doctor and being told to just manage it with Tylenol. On top of that, doctors don’t typically listen to women, especially black women, especially when it comes to pain. So some work needs to be done to believe that women have pain and need medication, and also to not overprescribe opiods.
Side Effects May Include
I have been stopped up like crazy since taking meds. I was told to just take Miralax once a day with coffee by a nurse. I was doing that except when I was too naeuous to eat the mornings I took oxycodone. I also take fiber gummies and now a stool softener.
I get so blocked I don’t even feel like I need to poop. Then I balloon up. I get so bloated I start to look pregnant. It is hard to eat anything because I already feel full. My side hurts intensely and I can’t sleep. I go about 2 days like this.
Then all the sudden I get chills. My stomach starts to hurt. It’s time. I run to the squatty-potty. It hurts while I pass a lot of stool. I feel done and continue my morning routine for about 10 minutes until I have to go again. This happens around 4 times until I’ve left my body weight in the toilet, and then I slowly start feeling better. My constipation routine was very similar when I was pregnant.
Pain has now started to seep into every part of my life. I can’t sleep, so I am exhausted all day. I’m bloated, so I can’t eat. It is hard to carry and lift baby, and there does not seem to be a comfortable position to sit in. There is a chance I might not live too much longer, I don’t want to spend precious years unable to, well, live.