2019Lefty21 posted:Pedaldad posted:
Personally, I never write for opioids for anything other than significant trauma and post-operative pain control. Very rarely more than a few days, never more than 2 weeks even in the most dire injuries/surgeries. Heaven forbid you show up on the operating table with a crushed limb. But if you do, I promise you that you part of your medical management will include a scheduled regimen of opioids to assist in pain control. I will promise you that you will appreciate it. I also promise you that if written responsibly by the physician (almost always the case) and if you follow that regimen (less frequently the case), you will run little to no risk of addiction. If you abuse/misuse it, that is where the problem is.
I have had major surgery including brain surgery as a result of a tbi from a fall, and have been able to avoid taking opioids as a personal choice and have gotten through the pain management issues, but how do you tell someone else to “suck it up buttercup” and avoid things they are prescribed? I have a son who is a freshman in college, and will now be receiving treatment from trainers and doctors away from me if necessary, and reading this thread scares the hell out of me. From a doctors standpoint, if you try to manage pain from surgery under a lesser painkiller will the pain eventually go away as the surgical wounds heal? Just trying to understand why anyone would ever want to risk the opioid addiction?!
I sucked it up post aortic dissection surgery after being sent home. I have a very high pain tolerance level. During my five week recovery at the hospital and rehab I was given Percocet for five weeks. But being in the hospital it was monitored. My cousin, a doctor took the Percocet away from me when I went home. He called the hospital and told them to prescribe something less dangerous. I went through withdrawal. It was a pleasant distraction from my recovery (sarcasm).
The problem is patients back on their own, unmonitored with powerful, addictive medications. Relative to baseball you can’t just send a player home post TJ surgery with powerful, additive meds and expect everything to be ok. He wants to get back on the field as soon as possible before he loses his job. The player has to be monitored for signs of addiction.
I can fully understand a person playing around with levels of medication and thinking they’re smart enough to handle it. I did it while dealing with negative side effects. But I wasn’t playing around with opioids.