Pain

Hi

I have just been to a meet and greet,pain clinic,the nurse reckons that I am mismangering my drugs,but I do have a system take certain drugs one day and others on the next day,as they are not effective if you take one sort every day.
Anyway she thinks Pain Management would probably help,so today went in for a meet and greet.
When I went in its a gym of sorts with mats laid out a big white board and chairs,a bit like AA,everyone gave a brief history I was getting a bit wound up,listening to these other people.One was a young man an amputee who had a motor cycle crash,wasnt wearing protective clothes and fell badly,lost a large part of him arm,but he has been in pain for 18mths and nothing touches.
Another was a young girl who had a form of Athiritus,when she was young,and she has now fused,and she is grateful that her fusion has been down her spine as others can be bent over,her head is nearly on her chest.It seemed to me that most of them had been happy and got relief from there medication,but have been told by the GP that there medication will no longer be available on the NHS.Each of the people who were there had enough to live with without the NHS taking something away from them,they just want to be able to do some form of work and have an almost normal life. The medication they take eases their pain enough so they can do some form of work, What about taking Methodone off the list,that probably costs the NHS as much as these pain or beta blockers,as one person put it succintly this will probably get to the medical people as part of our assessement,and will then be used so that they dont get benefit.Sorry to rant but welcome to the real world,that people who are having real pain are being targeted,and in attending something like this Pain Clinic it could be used that they do not need benefit as they are coping with there disablity its not for there benefit,its another way for the government to get people into work. Also most of the people there have adapted vehicles which comes as part of the disablity payment they get.Gemini54

Can you give details/names of these pain relieving drugs that are now no longer going to be available to patients on the NHS? Or a link to an announcement about it?

I'm not being lazy - I have googled and searched about for news or even discussions about this but cannot find it. It's always a good idea to link to your source when you make statements that could well worry others who read them.

As for methodone - you obviously do not see addiction as an illness. Would you rather they were still propping up the criminal drug trade by buying heroin on the street?

Is it the withdrawal of some NSAIDs on safety measures you are speaking about? That has been a debate for years and some were I believe already withdrawn.

Gastro specialist nurse friend of mine said they see more and more people end up on that ward due to continual use of NSAIDs that have a dire effect on the upper gastrointestinal tract with conditions then worse than the one they were taking them for.

I do hope you can provide some details about this as I am very interested to read about it.

Putting it in terms 'no longer available on the NHS' makes it sound as if they can still buy them over the counter? If that is the case they won't have been withdrawn for safety health reasons.

Playing devil's advocate, could it be that these medications are being withdrawn over safety issues? My Nan was on Vioxx (sp?) but it was withdrawn due to problems, so it's not always down to cost.

I'm not un-sympathetic - my husband has chronic pain because of Ankylosing Spondylitus in his spine and hips - he's just been taken off his regular pain medication because he's been on it so long (7yrs) it has damaged his kidneys and nearly killed him.

Well said; years ago when one of the new WONDER nsaids came out ( was it opren) a dear friend and many others die so they withdrew it.

I vary painkillers; seems best, and as Irish pharmacies are so keen on preventing ods getting otc stuff can be gruelling. When I lived near the Border, I used to go over and buy there as did many others and now my friend in Texas sends huge bottles of simple generic aspirin and brufen.

The body quickly becomes too used to meds for them to be effective so varying works and if I can I do without

I suspect that this has nothing to do with cost but with safety only they cannot say that without risking legal action. These things are never as simple as they seem but when you are in terrible pain it gets hard to be rational and yes, addiction to pain meds is a very real danger, I know I have used to much codeine at times which is why I vary now

Don't bet on that. The pharm industry is very corrupt in the UK and eg Viagra is available easily !

All that not on the NHS means is not free; private scrips will still be there as many drs will not agree.
I have no illusions re the NHS etc,

As I have said already I think your basic tenet and theory is wrong here. People on benefits are ALWAYS worried that they may lose their money. In the UK this is a constant battle as I know from my life there. We can get very neurotic as a result. They are not being targeted simply safeguarded and pain management is not usually a criterion for benefits.

The Drugs mentioned at meet and greet,excuse spelling
Phentanyl
tapentadol
gabapentin,I was on that but have changed to tramadol,a lot of people at the meet and greet out of 12 seem to be on that
subivo
others on injections Gemini54

Hi I can see where you are coming from,but a lot of the people at this meet and greet are waiting for an assessement date with Atol,and I would assume from the general conversation that people were attending this,just in case it could be used as part of the assessement,although there GP has said that they could be given other drugs,like myself I was on gabipent but after a while although the dosage went up and up, found relief but often felt sick ect now on tramadol which helps
Gemini54

http://www.drugs.com/fentanyl.html..opiod

tapentodol much the same

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabapentin.. safety concerns here

tramadol; again a narcotic type

The concern pattern is pretty clear isn't it