Good question but it's the same for me. Pain medications must handle a certain "measure" of pain and if the pain exceeds that "measurement" you have to have more pain medication.

Sound reasonable? That's all I can come up with.

Same thing. I wish I knew why. I went to dentist yesterday & my teeth & neck are really hurting. My pain meds barely touch it. I am very concerned that this will be a issue with surgery in a few weeks.

Hi Honor ~ I'm sure you're undermedicated. We ALL are. Doctors do that all the time. If they gave us enough to be "comfortable" they wouldn't have any 'leeway' to give us increases. So we have to suffer some. Hugs, Lee

Hey Laura ~ Don't worry about your surgery. The anesthesiologist will definitely keep you 'under.' I've often thought about that too when going under the knife, but they did a good job. .Don't worry. You won't know a thing. God bless. hugs, Lee

best thing I can think of is talk it over with your pain doc see if he can swich to something else

Ya know, I have the same issues..... I take Methadone and Dilaudid for my intractable spinal pain, but when it comes to my cancer (stomach) pain, these meds don't do anything for me! Go figure.... My Oncologist's told me that it happens, so he gives me something else for my stomach pain. I also suffer from migraines, and I have to take a different medication for the migraines, so is not only you that this happens to.

So glad to hear that this problem happens to so many of us. I cannot cure both my cervical and my lumbar pain at the same time, and I figured that they must have different pain thresholds or something like that. I'm also concerned with what will happen when I go to the dentist for some extensive work.....I'm just out of patience for anything new, pain-wise. I'd like them to just put me out and do everything at once lol.

Me too with the dentist. I haven't been in a very long time and the only way I will do the first and most extensive appointments is being under with twilight sleep. Then thereafter, hopefully, I will get back to being consistent and be able to tolerate the regular dentistry.

I have 3 issues that cause pain and take two different opioids, long acting and short acting. The long acting works for the failed cervical fusion and radiculopathy pain but doesn't do anything for the other two issues. I find that the short acting one is the only one that helps with the migraines.

And if I get any type of pain anywhere at any time due to my fibromyalgia/myofascial pain syndrome, I definitely feel it in spades!!!

Pain patients need to be titrated to effect which means your pain fully addressed concurrently with any side effects/symptoms of your conditions taken care of. This is almost never done.

Has everyone here looked at the American Pain Foundation and at the Sept 13 Time article? Please check in with them and do your part typing away explaining your condition to your congresspeople and also to complain to Time and CBS.

Thanks,
Laurie

I agree with Rosetaz's simple and correct explanation. Our meds only "cover" the usual pain we have.

Leeall, most people may be under-medicated but I am not. My doc will give me what I need. I am so happy to have found this pain doc! Good docs that don't under-medicate are like needles in a haystack but they are not chimeras. (In other words, they are rare, not non-existent.)

Tipper, ask for Fentora oral fentanyl that dissolves in your mouth. It kicks in within 5-10 minutes and is much stronger than Dilaudid or methadone. Fentora provides extremely strong and intense, near-immediate pain relief. It only lasts 2-3 hours, but that is fine for breakthrough pain. (You add it to your current meds. It does not replace anything since it is so short-acting.) It is non-constipating. If you can't get Fentora, Actiq suckers are the 2nd best choice for cancer breakthrough. (They are also oral fentanyl, but not as fast and strong.)

BlondieLou (Laurie), Thank you so much for mentioning APF's letter writing campaign against the recent Time and CBS anti-opioid propaganda pieces. (The usual "they are addicts" stuff.) The CBS piece is called Pharmageddon. 150 replies and a few were mine. 80% in support of patients, thanks to APF alerting everyone.

Have a relatively pain-free weekend, all!

watch the fentayl lollipops, major teeth dacey, you have brush after using.