This is for the 2 people I know who are following me in this journey later this month:
Here is what I have done for the past 2 days. When I woke up, I had mild pain, and I took one pain pill anyway. I can take 1-2 pills every 4-6 hours. So, every 4 hours, the pain was just beginning to creep up, and I would take one pill. I had 2 pretty good days because my pain was never uncomfortable, and I didn't mind moving around as much because it was not as painful as it has been. I guess everyone has to figure this out for himself, but moving more freely because I was not guarding against the pain was so liberating. So all day the past 2 days, I basically took one pill every 4 hours, then 2 at bedtime.
This morning when I woke up, I felt really good. I had slept like a rock, I had no pain, and getting out of bed was miraculous compared to the past 2 weeks. I thought this was going to be a really good day. Did I immediately take my pain medicine? Nooooo. Did I let the pain get ahead of me? Yesssssss. So I spent the rest of the day feeling sorry for myself and being weepy because of my pain. My new regimen for the duration will be one pill upon awakening, and paying attention to the clock and my pain level as the day progresses. Paying attention to the clock is more important than to the pain level. I figure eventually 4 hours will turn into 5, then into 6 hours.
Not to tell the professional what to do, but it may help some of your other readers. Our experiences and therapists taught us to "split" dosages. If you have 2 medications for pain, taking one on awakening and then the other one halfway to the next dosage time and continuing to alternate throughout the day made it possible to actually take less medication while staying pain-free. Step downs were made much easier from 2 prescriptions to 1 prescription plus 1 OTC down to 2 OTCs. It did take a couple of professional healing people to convince Scott that keeping the pain at bay was much more conducive to recovery, but it was a lesson well learned and now he shares that wisdom with others.
ReplyDeleteHis new parts are metal and so cold bothers him more now. Warm from the dryer towels are very soothing as are rice filled socks warmed in the microwave for 2-3 minutes.
Freda, do the pills that are brown, red, orange, red, blue and yellow with little M's on them count? I'll throw down a handful of them every now and then!
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