What do you do for pain management?

[Crohnswife]

My husband has had Crohns for about 6 yrs now, he was first diagnosed as UC but just changed to Crohns. He is on Cimzia (newly) and is having a bad flare. His GI doesn't believe in pain meds and calls them a "bandaid" If he wants any relief until the prednisone will help he has to go to the ER. We always end up going to the ER which is a waste of time and money, the only plus is they give him pain meds to get him thru. We are considering a new GI but don't know what to start to look. We dont want another GI that doesn't believe in pain meds either. What do you all do for pain? I researched and half said their GI's dont do pain meds either and half did. His current flare we have been to the ER 3 times now. At $200 a pop! We can't afford to do this everytime he has a flare! Any help??

 

[DustyKat]

I find it offensive that a doctor makes these sort of statements. Grrrrrrrr.

I have no problem seeing where the GI is coming from because yes they are a bandaid until the root cause is dealt with BUT isn't that what a bandaid is for?!?!?! To help you until the healing is done!

I personally have no issue with pain management when used appropriately and responsibly and when someone is experiencing pain when flaring then that is an appropriate time as ever. When my children have experienced pain due to uncontrolled Crohn's I commence them on regular Panadol, 2 four times a day, as a baseline medication and then Endone, Oxycodone, for breakthrough pain. This has worked well for them.

Naturally pain and its management is a highly individual thing but to me is an important an ingredient as any other treatment associated with IBD.

I hope your husband is able to find relief and remission very soon and in the meantime his pain is also sensitively dealt with.

Dusty. xxx

 

[Trysha]

Hi Crohnswife
Welcome to the forum.
Pain meds can be a tricky situation when it comes to crohns since it can be harmful, which is why many GIs don't give them.
However when you have a pain it does need to be relieved and I find a heating pad helps,as well as hot water bottles. It can be so difficult at times though which is when I resort to tylenol and I try not to do this.Sometimes I find walking about can help it is so difficult---I also have a very high pain threshold.
My GI does not agree with pain meds either and I agree with him. It does bring its own problems for me..
Dusty has put it so well and I have nothing to add to what she has said.
However your GI needs to be more supportive of you and it is so important to have a good relationship with him/her.
Hope things improve.
Hugs and best wishes
Trysha

 

[tots]

Thats BS- Crohns is PAINFUL!! Its not a bandaide its a necessity!

That is spoken by a Dr who dosent really take the time to hear his patients!
My new Dr said that to me and I asked him if he had ever had a kidney stone or
if his wife had any babies? He smiled at me and said well done, I left with
an Rx for pain meds. It is never your main treatment but, it is very important
in helping managing IBD and still making it day to day.

Lauren

 

[afidz]

I had a GI that didn't like using pain meds, and when I got addmitted into hte hospital he put in big bold letters no pain meds. Well, I left him pretty quickly. My GI now doesn't like to use pain meds and he will voice his opinion but then says if you feel you really need them, then I will prescribe it for you. Right now I am on a pain med that I don't think is a narcotic, I'm not even sure if it is a pain med or not. I think its more just to calm the flare down. It's called Bentyl and it works wonders for me, but like Dustycat said, pain management is different for everyone and I would consider wither reasoning with your dr, or leaving him. Crohn's is very painful and you can't lead a normal life with the pain, you just can't

 

[Crohnswife]

Thanks all. He has been on bentyl before but it never helped him. It just makes us so mad with the "bandaid" comment. We know it doesn't fix anything but it makes him function and work and be a dad. He hasn't worked in 5 days! I'm afraid he will get fired. The doctor's reasoning is that it doesn't fix the problem it just makes it feel better. It doesn't make sense though because he is taking the prednisone like he said and also on cimzia so we are treating the flare but it takes time to make the pain go away. If you have a toothache they give you pain meds until they fix the tooth..... so frustrating!

 

[afidz]

I would talk to your doctor about filing for fmla, that way is job is protected even if he misses a month of work

 

[INPAIN]

Hi... I was told that I had UC then Crohns and my GI also thinks that pain meds are bad, so I have to live in pain. He put me on klonopin in stead but it just knocks me out I don't think that the doctors really know how to treat the disease

 

[badbelly]

That's bad so many GIs aren't prescribing pain meds. I wonder if they know how much pain we are in. I'm in a flare and deal with very bad pain daily. It leaves me doubled over and is very hard to take. I'm working on treating the source but until that is fixed I need a bandaid! Its not fair to let people like us suffer so

Luckily my docs have been OK giving me pain meds so far. I use medical marijuana at times as well instead to help with the pain.