It has been awhile ....

So much has happened in my life since my last post, it has been a journey.

2010 was pretty much a wash. I lost my mom in January and then in February we had to close our business. The summer of 2010 we had our youngest daughter in drug treatment for addiction to prescription pain medications.... mine have always been in a locked safe. She met a guy while in treatment and the two thought it would be an amazing idea to move in together after all he was in for alcohol. REALLY!!!

There was all kinds of crap that filled in the gaps all equally stressful and we know that stress is not good for chronic pain patients.

We somehow muddled through it all but I can tell you it was not easy.

It is a pain to get medications refilled by MDs

When I first began treatment for my chronic pain I worked with a pain management Dr. for over 4 years to get the correct dosage and everything that I needed to more or less control my pain and still be able to function and have a quality of life. Once this was accomplished I talked to my primary care physician of 16 yrs. to see if she would take over writing my prescriptions. She agreed and this has worked well for 4 or 5 years now. I have never called with lame excuses for why I have run out of medicine (I never had) or any other crap that Md's see with drug seeking patients. I also see a huge benefit to having one MD prescribing all of my medicine instead of 3 or 4 MD writing a variety of Rx's.

I also believe in continuity of care... which seems to be a thing of the past.

Last month I was informed by the "phone nurse" that my Dr. has decided to no longer treat chronic pain patients. All that she does for me is write my Rx's every 2 or 3 months and takes care of my annual physical.

Heat and the Duragesic Pain Patch.... Use Caution

This is the post I came on here to write about and then read about another class action suit against the manufacturer.... you can read that rant in the following post.

As of yesterday we had not turned on the air conditioner in the house, fans were doing the job even though the outside temp was up in the upper 80's.

Yesterday morning I woke up not feeling well and we had a graduation party to attend later in the day. About 2 p.m. I told hubby I needed to take a nap and to wake me about 4 so that I could shower and get ready to go.

When he woke me up I was sick and hotter than hell. I knew right off that I was overheated and my patch was causing me problems.

Another Duragesic Patch Manufacturer Lawsuit

I was actually going to write a precautionary note on the Duragesic Patch when I came across this attorney page and their "class action" lawsuit against the manufacturer.

These have cropped up from time to time and the reason for the lawsuits are always the same... "death due to use" when actually it needs to be "death due to miss-use."

I of course left a comment which I doubt will be approved and published on their site so below you will find the reasons outlined for the lawsuit and my response to them.

Attorney Website:

Duragesic Fentanyl Patch Overdose Lawsuit

May 29, 2009 - Attorney name omitted by my own decision

Filed under Duragesic Pain Patch

The Duragesic patch is a pain management product that actually is capable of delivering a powerful dose of medication to a patient. Unfortunately, even as many patients were using this product it became apparent that an ever increasing number of individuals were experience overdoses of the pain killer contained in the patch – fentanyl – for one of four different reasons. These individuals ended up facing oftentimes life threatening reactions to these overdoses. Moreover, an increasing number of individuals are being identified as having been killed as the result of overdosed associated with the Duragesic patch. Consequently, a growing number of individuals are making the decision to pursue a Duragesic patch overdose lawsuit.

Thank you for all your input and suggestions

Please be sure to read the comments left by others there is really some good advice.

So far I am doing great with my "diet' and exercise. I have not had any red meat and have really increased my fresh veggies and fruit. I am back to my Pilates and yoga and already feel much better. Last night at my daughter's graduation party I didn't even have a piece of cake. That is a miracle

Traditional medicine is not always the answer. At least back when I was in the medical field, MDs would get little bonuses from the drug companies for writing certain prescriptions, giving away samples, etc. This encouraged doctors to give patients medications when they may not necessarily need them.

As for the medication given to me for my cholesterol, I have not fully researched it, but I don't think that it has been on the market very long. When I do take medications I want tried and true meds, those that have been around for a few years, the ones that we know if they are going to cause horrible side effects or not.

It has come out that taking Paxil when you are pregnant can cause problems in the baby. This should not take the FDA or a rocket scientist to know.... you don't take drugs of any type while you are pregnant. If your depression is so bad that you need meds, then maybe now is not the time to get pregnant. Get your depression under control and then have a baby.

I am convinced that the increase of ADD and ADHD in children is caused by the mother's exposure to medication, chemicals in the home and environment and chemical laden foods including processed foods.

Please keep the comments coming. I read each and every one of them.

Doctor's And Their Medication

The update on my visit to the MD concerning all of my lab work trying to figure out what is wrong with my immune system.....

First; they had done a lipid profile and my cholesterol was up some as well as the rest of the numbers. BAM... she hits me with "you need to take medication to lower your cholesterol." Wait a minute! Why can't I try altering my diet and doing just a little exercise? My husband was able to lower his cholesterol numbers by simply taking his lunch to work instead of eating out and he has stayed with his exercise routine.

With all of the stress of this past year my diet has been horrible and I gave my pilates ball to my best friend and have not blown up my new one. She was insistent that I go on the medication but, with me being me, I am going the diet and exercise route for the next month and see if it makes any difference in the lipid profile numbers. If it doesn't, then I will take the medication.

As for the immune system issue; the MD she referred me to for this is an "allergist and immunologist." Most of my blood levels were within normal limits and the few that were not were, in his words "close enough to normal to be considered normal." I don't know why that didn't apply to the lipid panel. His solution, sit down for this one.... take an allergy pill everyday.

I just about fell off of my chair. 5 years on IV antibiotics because of hospital acquired MRSA, I catch every bug, every cut becomes a major staph infection and an allergy pill everyday is going to make everything ok. I told him that essentially the doctor's created this MRSA problem so why aren't they working diligently on curing all of the complications that go along with having it such as long term IV antibiotic therapy and the immune system. Of course he had no response to that.

I am going to check around for some clinical trials and also seek homeopathic help with this. I am just so frustrated with the whole mess that I could spit bullets.

An update on the Vitamin D and chronic pain

I just wanted to update you on my vitamin D issue. The high dose Rx vitamin D boosted my levels up a little and now I am on a maintenance dose of 1400 mg a day. I need to do some research because it seems like there is something else you need to take in order for your body to absorb vit. D. but so far I have just been taking the pills.

I don't recall if I mentioned in a previous post that they have found I have absolutely NO immune system - this is a result of 5 yrs. on IV antibiotics. I have been to an immunologist who drew 16 tubes of blood checking just about everything there is to check, and I go back to see him on May 1st to see what the outcome of the blood results are and what we can do to boost my immune system.

Needless to say, this is getting tiresome and I have become somewhat depressed over the entire ordeal. The anger towards the Dr. who did my initial surgery when I got the staph infection, but his ego got in the way of him treating it, has resurfaced. I went through a long healing and forgiveness process it took years but it finally happened, now it is back with a vengeance. I guess I will have to begin the forgiveness process again.

I will post again when I get my lab results on Thursday.

New Studies on Vitamin D and Chronic Pain

Last month when I went for my monthly visit to my MD to get my Durgesic patch refilled, she told me about a seminar she attended. The seminar was conducted by a "Preventative Cardiologist" -vs- a Cardiologist that just treats the symptoms and disease.

She said that he talked about new and old studies showing the importance of vitamin D in the prevention and treatment of a wide variety of illnesses including chronic pain. A lack of vitamin D will actual make one hypersensitive to pain.

So we decided to draw some blood and check my vitamin D level, it came back at 0, I have no vitamin D in my body... I guess that is what the test results of 0 mean.

She has put me on 50000IU capsules of vitamin D (Rx only), I take 1 a week for 6 weeks. 2-3 days after my last pill I have to get my blood levels draw again and hopefully it will show a significant improvement. If it does then I will go on a maintenance dose of over the counter vitamin D.

I take a daily multi-vitamin and have for years as well as supplements of B complex but evidently the level of D is not enough to make a difference.

Please remember, I was on IV antibiotics for almost 5 years due to the MRSA I contracted during surgery about 11 years ago. I was told at the time that no one was really sure what consequences I would endure due to the long term IV antibiotic therapy and depletion of my vitamin D might be one of the effects.

After I caught pneumonia last year they gave me a pneumonia shot and when they drew blood for the above test they also checked my immune system titers..... out of 10 or 12 different values mine were all ZERO. I have absolutely no immune system either. They gave me another pneumonia shot and I have to get my levels redrawn in a couple of weeks. If there is still no improvement, I will get one more shot.

I had suspected that my immune system was shot to hell and have tried many conventional as well as alternative treatments to build it back up but I guess all of them failed. This is scary to me. I am just a walking sponge for any germ that wants to leap off onto me and make me sick.

This makes me wonder if my childhood immunizations are still functioning, the MMR, etc. so I am going to ask to have all of the titers for those diseases as well as all my vitamin levels done.

There is something going on in my poor worn out 48 year old body and I don't like it one little bit. I eat lots of veggies, fresh or frozen not canned, loads of fruit and all of the food that is supposed to be good for the body but it's not taking.

Just a suggestion, get your vitamin D levels drawn and see what yours is.

I don't really have any reference other than what my MD told me but I did find the below blurb about chronic pain and vitamin D and a few websites that can give you some info to take to your MD.

Chronic muscle pain can be a symptom of vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin
D is found in fish with small bones, fortified milk and cereal, and exposure
to sunlight.
Risk factors for vitamin D deficiency are:
darker
pigmented skin (e.g. Hispanic, African American, Asian) does not convert UV rays
efficiently to vitamin D
digestive disorders, such as celiac disease
use
of glucocorticoid medications for conditions such as lung diseases and
allergies
minimal sun exposure (elderly, institutionalized, homebound, veiled
or heavily-clothed individuals)
latitude and season - for example, people in
Boston do not produce vitamin D from sun exposure between November and
February
A study by the University of Minnesota looked at the prevalence of
vitamin D deficiency in 150 people with chronic musculoskeletal pain.
Researchers found that 93% of patients had vitamin D deficiency. All people with
darker pigmented skin (African American, East African, Hispanic, and Native
American origin) had vitamin D deficiency.
Another interesting finding was
that the majority of people with severe vitamin D deficiency were under 30 years
of age. Season was not a significant factor.
The researchers concluded that
all people with persistent, non-specific musculoskeletal pain should be screened
for vitamin D deficiency.

• http://www.vitamindcouncil.com/
• http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/533686/
• http://www.thaifoodandtravel.com/features/vitaminD.html (this article has other good info on vitamin D)

Please be sure and leave comments on your experience I am really interested in what you have to say.

Live Love and Learn