How To Get A Patient To Take Pain Meds When Needed... - page 2

"... cat cages!" okay, so I like watching Dexter and similar shows/movies/books. Hmmm, maybe that's why I love working in the OR......

toradaol is a non-narcotic.. maybe explain it that way?

My hubby is kinda the same way. He cut the end of his finger off many years ago, on the way to the bathroom that night, he hit the end of the finger on the dresser in the dark. he screamed bloody murder, of course, and when I tried to just LOOK at it too see if he had made it bleed, he grabbed his hnad turned away and screamed no, no, your NOT touching it!! LOL.. I kept explaining he could show it to me from across the room if he wanted to, but I needed to see if it was bleeding. He is usally great, but NOT when ill.

Gotta love hubbys... unfortunately it is still illegal to kill them...unless you are not caught, of course....Could try the pirranha tank at the aquarium for disposal??

toradol is great stuff, sort of a compromise betw tylenol and narcotics, in my mind, anyway.
i worked in oncology and critical care for seven years and now at the va, and veterans for the most part hate to take pain meds. they are tough guys and at heart do not want to ever admit weakness, exp to women of any age, and i do a lot of pain education. here is what i know to be true:
research tells us that less than 1% of people who need pain meds for acute pain become addicted to them, and those 1% generally tend to be people who have had addictions already. that said it is unethical to withold pain meds from a pt who needs them, addict or not. (try telling this to a resident sometime ...)
anyway, my little pain talk includes the information that if pain is under control, they will sleep better, breathe better, move better, use the is better and use their healing energy to get well - rather than dealing with the stress of the pain, which is their body's first concern. i know somebody already touched on this and it is true. i also remind them it is easier to control pain at a constant 3-4/10 rather than letting it get to a crisis of 11/10 and trying to bring it down. severe pain is scary and i have been there. good luck.
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