Ow (again)

[cjsmith]

The pain

just never

ever

ever

STOPS

four Advil

three Aleve

what does it take before it

STOPS

"there's nothing wrong with you," says the doctor

"you're perfectly fine"

wonder if he's ever felt like this

and whether he considered it fine

wonder how much convincing it will take

for him to scoop out my guts

so that all this will

STOP

Comments

[klwalton.livejournal.com]

From http://www.rxlist.com/cgi/generic3/meclofen_cp.htm

"In controlled clinical trials of patients with dysmenorrhea, meclofenamate sodium 100 mg t.i.d. provided significant reduction in the symptoms associated with dysmenorrhea.

In randomized double-blind crossover trials of meclofenamate sodium 100 mg t.i.d. versus placebo in women with heavy menstrual blood loss (MBL), meclofenamate sodium treatment was usually associated with a reduction in menstrual flow.

In association with this reduction in menstrual blood loss, the duration of menses was decreased by 1 day; tampon/pad usage was decreased by an average of two per day on the 2 days of heaviest flow; and symptoms of dysmenorrhea were significantly reduced."

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Interesting!

I suppose it'd be worth trying that before getting all my parts removed. On the other hand, removing stuff would have other advantages. On the other other hand, surgery is no fun...

Re:

[klwalton.livejournal.com]

I think your first move should be to find a new doctor. You need someone who isn't going to be dismissive of your pain.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

To his credit, he does treat my pain as bad and important and worthy of fixing -- he just can't find anything wrong with me, and without finding something wrong with me, I have the impression he really has no idea how to proceed. Unfortunately, neither do I.

[klwalton.livejournal.com]

Interestingly enough, the person who steered me to the meclofenamate was my nurse-practitioner. My physician never mentioned it.

[bklyngirl.livejournal.com]

I was just going to suggest a nurse-practioner. I suffered for years while a doctor (Male, for what it's worth) swore he could find nothing wrong with me & just kept giving me increasingly high doses of pain-killers and muscle-relaxers. He was a good doctor & he had an appropriate amount of sympathy, but deep down I always felt like he didn't really believe or understand how much pain I was in. Finally, a friend steered me to a nurse-practioner who worked with me really hard to find some type of relief. We settled on a combination of a (rather mild) muscle relaxer, major dietary changes, some specific exercises, and some "mental imagery" work. I know it sounds a little "new agey" and goofy, but it actually helped me a lot. I am not totally pain-free by a long shot, but it is definitely managable - and more importantly, at least for me, was finding someone who took me really seriously and made the commitment to working with me.

So this is my rather long way of saying: I strongly second the idea of finding a nurse-practioner (or a dietician or another doctor or a voodoo priestess, if necessary) to work with you to figure out what will work for you individually. Don't feel guilty about dumping your doctor - he may be a wonderful, skilled doctor but he's not helping YOU. I really don't know if it's a male thing or a "doctor" thing but I think he's just not taking you seriously enough and he either just doesn't have the time or he doesn't have the inclination to "think outside the box" which is what you need after all this time. You've been suffering too long!!

[wcg.livejournal.com]

My thoughts exactly Kathy. CJ, I won't presume to tell you about your relationship with your doctor, but I think Kathy has a point here.