So, I’ve been gone. The Girl and I went to my parents’ farm for a week and, I’m not sure, but I think my mother was either trying to kill me, or kill herself.
We went home for my mother’s 80th birthday. My mother has had a “bad back” for as long as I can remember. She has degenerative disk disease, which means she gets a lot of low back pain and sciatic nerve pain. Like most of us with this condition (I have it too) it comes and goes. Even when it “comes” it usually isn’t non-stop pain and you can find a comfortable position to sleep a few hours anyway.
Well, magnify that pain by 1000 and it is about 10% of the pain she is in. She has chronic pain 24-7. But, here’s the great part: she wants to pretend she can still do everything. She has been trying a number of pain medications and they all make her sick to her stomach. She was trying a new one when I was there, and it was not working. However, she still INSISTED that she had to make caramel rolls while I was home. While making these (which starts by making bun dough from scratch) she would start to make the dough, then run into the bathroom to vomit, then she would come out and mix some more, then back to the bathroom to vomit. She did this over and over and over again, until she had completed her task.
I BEGGED her not to do this, but she wouldn’t listen. She told me that no one ever died from pain. To say the woman is tough is an understatement, but she is also completely insane.
She has been to her doctor a number of times, but they can’t find anything that is causing her the pain she is in. I told her it was time to go to Mayo, and called there trying to figure out how one goes about doing that. I got her the info and she promised to call. When I followed up with her to see if she had called, she CHEWED MY ASS.
She told me she did NOT feel well enough to call and yadda, yadda, yadda, there’s nothing they can do anyway. She truly believes she will get better on her own.
And did I mention that she is the primary caretaker of my dad, who is 84? Dad does pretty well, but he has congestive heart failure so is on oxigen 24-7 (or is supposed to be) and takes some breathing treatments and lots of meds etc. Mentally they are both sharp as tacks (dispite being in total denial about the pain thing.)
Oh, did I mention that she also can’t sleep? Sometimes she gets only 1 or 2 hours of sleep at night.
Yeah, this well definitely get better on it’s own. No need to see a specialist. I see nothing wrong with living like this, do you?
I tell ya, I love the woman dearly, but I might have to kill her.
Yes, I am just venting. I’ll probably delete this later, but for the love of god, WHY would you not seek immediate treatment for this???? ARGGGGG!!!
OK – thanks for listening.
1 response so far ↓
gabi // September 22, 2007 at 5:23 pm |
One of my patients, in her 80s, hip replacement and all sorts of arthritic back issue has been prescribed 5mg prednisone daily to be taken at bedtime.
I was somewhat taken aback because she doesn’t have rheumatoid arthritis which is an auto-immune.
I’m not all that sure of how long she is supposed to be taking the prednisone but it was prescribed by a rheumatologist. I know the dosages can be lowered to 3mg and possibly even lower. At the lowest dosages the medication does not seem to be associated with adverse side effects.
There’s a while heap of not so happy side effects of corticosteroid administration but the major anti-inflammatory effects are impressive. Within 48 hours there was a significant decrease in pain. I don’t think the dose is high enough to keep people awake at night but I’m not sure.
I’d investigate the possibility of short term use and tapering to lower dosages once there is a response.