Joint pain

[Gisele]

Thanks Allodwick!

Thanks Allodwick!

I can't thank you enough for your imput into my problem. Had I not had this board to refer to I might not have been so quick to call the docs and tell them. I think being a patient (and having worked for my cardiology office for nearly 4 yrs) I have the tendency to not want to bother them with anything that may be trivial. I was told that my doc was very worried about me. I think he is doing the right thing by having me test each day right now before I leave and adjusting accordingly. I'll tell you one thing-boy this is very painful. I will be concerned if I ever need Lovenox again as I wouldn't want this to happen again.
Again, thank you everyone. Gisele

 

[Guest]

The patient that I knew that had hemarthritis committed suicide because he could not stand the pain. At least that was what his cousin told me.

 

[Gisele]

Wow!

Wow!

I wasn't thinking of suicide on Monday, but I was thinking--what drug can I get that is powerful to get rid of this pain???? The poor guy. I will tell you, it is very painful. I believe what has helped me is that I bled in my iliac area, which is less painful than if I had bleed in another area of my hip where the ball and socket is located. The doctor mentioned something about the bleeding from my hip had gone to my knee, but he was rushing so I didn't have time to ask questions. ( I hate feeling like I am being rushed though an appointment). I am doing a bit better today. My INR is down to 2.1 (yesterday), and when my doc mentioned "we won't resume Lovenox just yet", I nearly panicked. I am scared to go back onto Lovenox. I am leaving on Sunday, and I am afraid if my level dips too low and I need Lovenox again, what are my chances that I will start to bleed again? What prompted this in the first place? Am I prone to bleeding as I had a subdural a few years ago, and now this haemarthosis incident. I hope my INR is up a bit today, not down. I have to test later this morning. Crossing my fingers...........Gisele

 

[Guest]

I doubt that anyone knows what your chances of bleeding again are. I think it would be most rare if anyone ever saw more than two cases like yours in a lifetime. Just in my clinic I have seen enough that if a doctor saw one warfarin patient a day for 20 years, they would still be behind what I have seen. At that I have only seen one and heard of one other - you.

 

[Sutro]

Gisele, has your doc tried opiates/opiods? I've found that Vicodin is the only pain killer I can use that doesn't interact with my Coumadin. Many, if not most, docs are reluctant to prescribe opiates/opiods because they're addicting - especially for chronic pain. Much of this is due to DEA/Drug War harassment of physicians who prescribe them, but a responsible doc who keeps good clinical records really doesn't have much to fear from the feds.

FYI, I once knew a woman who was prescribed Methadone for chronic pain that didn't respond to anything else. It worked. Since Methadone is an opiate/opiod, to my knowledge there wouldn't be problems taking it with Coumadin.

Also FYI... "addicted" has a (fortunately) different meaning in the context of taking opiates/opiods for chronic pain. We're not talking about your sticking up liquor stores to get your next fix of Vicodin. We're talking about a medical side-effect of tolerance requiring increased dosages over time and withdrawal symptoms upon termination of the drug. It's been my experience (I work in substance abuse treatment) that folks who take opiates/opiods for legitimate pain seldom get addicted - but it's certainly a possibility. But as a medical side-effect, addiction has far fewer negative implications than addiction from illicit use.

At any rate, if pain is exceedingly severe and chronic, speaking for myself I wouldn't really care if I got addicted if only other two options were ongoing excruciating pain or suicide.

 

[Guest]

Everything that I've read and experienced agrees with what Surto says.

 

[Gisele]

Back from Australia!

Back from Australia!

Good to be home. No real problems with INR while I was away. Slightly elevated readings probably due to the heat (boy is it hot)! Still had some pain from my bleed at the beginning of my trip (long flight didn't help), but overall everything went well.
FYI, Toprol XL daily dose right now is keeping my migraines away which is good news as I don't need fiorocet. I hope this beta blocker continues to work for me. It would be wonderful to not have to rely on pain meds. MD's are very reluctant to give out narcotics, I do agree with that-and as a patient I find that I hate to ask as I feel like a junkie looking for a fix, so I would rather not ask unless I absolutely need to. Hopefully it won't be an issue any longer as my bleeding in my hip joint has resolved and I haven't had a migraine in nearly one month! I believe that some docs don't have a problem with giving out pain med, but I did notice that the younger docs in the practice where I worked were very reluctant to give out narcotics. I think it is a very individualized matter with each physician, but you certainly can't "shop around" for a doc looking for one that has no problems dispensing meds.
Still testing my Inr's nearly every day due to the problems I recently had and I am running out of good fingers to use-lol. Beats going to the hospital every day. Trying to stay healthy...............Gisele

 

[Guest]

Glad that you had a good trip without problems.