How Many Milligrams Are You On?

[Ringo]

I am sorry to hear about your struggle. Thank you very much for your service to our country!!! And, welcome home!

I am terribly sorry that you are struggling with the VA. Unfortunately, you are not alone. The VA hospital is an unusual place in many situations. I have run into very compassionate people and I have run into people that simply are cruel and should not be taking care of other people.

Yes, you need a pain specialist. There is a formula that should be used to calculate the dose when moving from oxy to hydro's. Those are entirely different birds. One is a lamborgini or bugati and the other is a 50 year old schwin 10 speed bike.

Yes, it would be great if you had a pain specialist that is good at managing and explaining your options and managing your pain. The VA usually doesn't have them. If you have problems, contact the patient advocate at the hospital. That is sometimes an option. It is also an option to write your State Senator or Congressmen or threaten that you will .

Personally, if you are on that much Oxy, that should be managed by a pain specialist. They might be trying to get you off the Oxy because your dose requires a pain specialist and they are being told to first try to get you to a lower dose before ordering a pain specialist . Obviously, the goal is to keep you on the minimum amount of narcotics. A pain specialist can also recommend other forms of relief that you might benifit from (electric stim, narcotic pain pump, nerve blocks and nerve ablations, nerve ligation, non-narcotic medication (lyrica), etc. The area of treatment is growing fast.

I love your picture..... looks like you have some wonderful friends. Stay close to them. Please know that chronic pain is very debilitating and can greatly effect your ability to take care of yourself now and in the future. It effects you both mentally and physically. I am especially sensitive to this since I am assuming that your injuries are military related. If you are not service connected, get service connected. You should have a Veterans Service Officer or Attourney that can represent you to the VA (you might already have this set up). Please Please keep a diary. You just stated that you had to take an incomplete in two classes. That is a perfect example/evidence of how your injury is effecting your ability to provide for yourself. You sound like you are suffering and struggling.

In the future, you might struggle with employment or providing for yourself. You do not need to be fully disabled to qualify for unemployability. The VA will not tell you this stuff. Unfortunately, they are encouraged not to inform you of your options with regards to your rights for benefits. They will make you do that yourself and it can be a "war" all of its own .

If you have anything done or put into words by a physician and it is military related or secondary or tertiary to a military injury (ie. chronic depression/anxiety related to pain related to shoulder injury; or fatigue/loss of labido/sexual disfunction secondary to depression or medications, etc, etc) try to have your doctor make statements that relate it to the primary injury. They rarely do this. For example, have them say, "Pain is more likely than not related to shoulder injury; or insomnia is more likely than not related to chronic pain and depression."

A severe shoulder injury can easily cause pain, depression/anxiety, lethergy/fatique/brain fog/inability to concentrate, insomnia, immobility, loss of work or inability to maintain gainful employment and sexual disfunction (sorry, I seem to be hung up on that sexual disfunction thingy ). And all of this will either be directly related to or seconarily related to the injury or medical management of the injury.

You are my hero! I just want you protected as much as you protected our country and our freedom!

Terry

Originally Posted by ajspine

Hi Guys,
Just came across this as I spend most of my time on the iSpine forum. First, Eddie, Congrats on coming off the opiates, this is great. And I have heard some wonderful things about medical maryjane. I am currently going through hell with the VA because they switched me from 5mg Oxycodone HCL 2 every 6 hours(40 mg a day) to 10/325 Hydrocodone one every 6 hours. The Hydrocodone does NOT work for me and from what I have been reading the dosing is way off. I have to take 2 to almost get relief but I can't do that because that is not what I am prescribed. it also has APAP, which makes me worry about my liver and kidneys.
I tried this for 8 days then called my Dr to switch back and he was gone on Vaca until today(I have an appointment this afternoon) and I had to go the VAMC 2.5 hours away to have the Chief of Staff fill my meds because no one else would fill them while my Dr. was gone.
This med change left me crying in bed for days and I have had to take an incomplete in both of my Grad school courses. I have finally pushed for approval for treatment at a Civilian Pain clinic in the town I live in. I should not have to beg for pain relief but the VA is on tear when it comes to opiates and true chronic pain patients are losing their meds. It is unbelievable what they put us through.
I wish I had the option to try Mary jane for my pain but the VA is federal and if I get caught I will loose all of my benefits. Once again, Congrats!
AJ