I asked to go back to work, and I am on light duty 5 hours a day
That is a good prognostic sign , well done !
I am taking my meds, but I am still in allot of pain.
3 Oxy, and 3 Diclofenac each day.
Pain to some degree is understandable with all those broken spinous processes.Bone will take up to 3 months to heal but faster for spinous processes.There is also possible soft tissue injury.That too is expected to heal within this timeframe.
I tried just taking Tylenol or the Diclofenac but it don't help much by it's self.
The idea is to take regular long acting Tylenol (brand name for acetaminophen or paracetamol) together with the stronger tablet. This is due to a known synergistic effect. Tylenol alone would be absurd in this situation as would diclofenac. The latter being an anti inflammatory and at this stage there would be little expected inflammation. Diclofenac like all nsaids does have relatively weak analgesic effects in its own right but better as an adjunct
laying down helps,
that's okay but try and stay as mobile as possible....which is where better analgesic management helps.
heating pad helps.
go for it, just don't burn the skin. (Ice is better in the first week or two when inflammation is present)
I am feel it will never stop hurting and will be in extreme pain the rest of my life.
Now,this is most important - challenge those negative thoughts ! The evidence does not support your speculation.We spoke about this privately but suffice to say the risk of developing a chronic pain state are proportional to the interaction of 1) unrelieved
acute pain which in turn causes 2) "suffering" in the form of emotional distress amplified by negative thinking habits (leading to a vicious circle) and 3) predisposing personality/background factors. I refer to "pain management psychologists" to tackle 2) and 3) and for 1) Pain or Rehabilitation physicians for pain medication and physical therapies etc (that would be me).
beyond "challenging" negative thoughts is a whole counter-intuitive area of "acceptance" sometimes called "ACT" (acceptance and commitment therapy).Essentially we find the people least prone to chronic problems are the ones willing to "accept" the possibility of negative outcomes but still with a belief that they will be okay, they will get through it one way or another. It sounds rather strange to advocate pain acceptance but it counters "catastrophising" thoughts. We find the most successful people can accept the possibilty of failure without defeat, that is, they know they are resilient and will handle it. Those that "must" win at all costs, with only one outcome acceptable, tend to be less
flexible in approach and not in tune with real world. The problem is in western style culture we are taught we need to be inflexible i.e steadfastly single minded to achieve our goals. Paradoxically it is the flexible thinkers that seem to be more successful.
My advice for anyone with high levels of ongoing
acute pain is therefore:
see a specialist who can judiciously prescribe adequate analgesia and closely monitor same. The key word is adequate.
Monitor your thinking and emotional reactions. Challenge overly negative thoughts and develop more flexible thinking patterns = see a pain psychologist
If there are predisposing "red flags" in your background, make doubly sure you read the first two pieces of advice.
All of this is normal world wide best practice medicine.Full stop.
Now, some more slightly controversial thoughts.I am a physician not a surgeon (done it, dont like it).Basically the world of medical specialization is Physician or Surgeon. You see a cardiologist (physician) for heart conditions and a Cardiac surgeon for a bypass. They do not work in the same day to day practices but each complementing the other.In the world of broken bones you see Orthopaedic surgeons (sometimes neurosurgeons) as generally there might be need for surgical intervention and this needs to be decided first. If you do not need surgery my view is you are arguably then better seeing a physician. This is my bias but by the same token I worked for 15 years as a partner in a large orthopaedic practice and the surgeons were keen to send me all their non-surgical cases. They freely talked about their ideal to only see patients needing surgery coz thats what they are trained to do. They literally have a different set of 'tools' they work with. My point is not who is better. Its 'horses for courses'. When surgery is not being contemplated (my guess that would be you) all the orthopods I have ever known are grateful when a patient asks to see a pain specialist physician/rehabilitation physician. They still follow up to make sure they are not needed ie the bones heal without their intervention.
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Topic: Dr. Joyce Brothers dead at 85 (Read 1812 times)