RN's w/chronic pain, using narcotics

SRbear · Sep 28, 2005

When I was asked to go for a drug screen, I told them exactly what they would find. Lost my job anyway. just told them too late.

SRbear · Sep 28, 2005

I spent 4 days last week going through withdrawal from oxycontin. I thought I would rather have pain every day then to be labeled a drug addict. Now that I think about it, I am not sure why. I have already lost my job, my self worth, my self identity, my ablility to earn a living. If not a nurse, what am I? I go to sleep and wake up in pain every day now, and think it would be ok if I never woke up. I thought that the pain was the worse thing I had to deal with, not the relief from pain.....with the labels and attitudes from nurses in general. I just need to let those who think they would never let someone who, like me, takes (took) a slow release pain med for chronic pain, take care of family members, or God forbid, drive a car, that there was not an IV I could not start, a tube I could not put anywhere, a patient I could not comfort, or a problem I could not solve as a charge nurse. I had no incident reports at work, or traffic violations outside of work. Am I angry.. yes...at myself, at hospitals, at nurses, at the docs, at the world.

Crumbwannabe · Sep 28, 2005

i spent 4 days last week going through withdrawal from oxycontin...brevity...am i angry.. yes...at myself, at hospitals, at nurses, at the docs, at the world.

srbear,

why did you do that to yourself? i understand, believe me, i started the same thing once myself. after a couple of days i called my doc, explained, and he helped me start over, prescribing a different narc. i left the imprint of my fist in a plaster wall to remind me of how too much pride can mess with me. one of my problems was thinking that i had no pride left which drove me to trying to be a stoic. and guess what...i really can't control everything, and if my legal pain control offends the witch hunters, too bad. i don't really care about their unsolicited opinions. the mrs. grundys of this world may benefit from a taste of the humility that daily pain teaches us. bastinado might be a good start.

i figured i would catch hell from someone for my prior post, and i am pleasantly suprised. i would advise anyone with a chronic problem to do what i did today, go to vocational rehab. i will be meeting with a counselor in a few days, and hopefully get some educational benefit. my aim is to turn 25 years of nursing into something that will be appreciated: veterinary assistant. the uk has veterinary nurses, and i can see it coming around the corner in the u.s. god grant that the bon doesn't get a hold of it.

it will be a weight off my shoulders to get behind the delusional world that health care professionals have constructed. i have no doubt that the "robin goodfellows" i have had the displeasure of working with are a bigger pain than the one i have now. i can see through the game now, after i've been out of the situation for a time. and to a chronic whose only mistake was keeping someone who trusted them from injuring themselves, i think that the schizoid little world of health care is the last thing we need to add to our troubles. i only regret that i wasted so much time of my life in that world. nursing certainly pays more than veterinary, but then so does prostitution. if a nurse is comfortable in that state of affairs, and clearly sees the game they are in, then by no means i would ever try to dissuade them. call it sour grapes if you like, but i think in some ways my injury spares me from something worse. sort of like the "thorn" in paul's side.

i agree sr, i have been, and am angry, too. but it's starting to go away. i've made about $700.00 in the last 3 months, had to go on unemployment, but i appreciate my wife in the way that a woman should be appreciated. that makes both of us quite wealthy.

TweetiePieRN · Sep 28, 2005

Tweetie, I realize the NPAs vary from state to state. I also ocassionally use narcotics. When I haven't used them for a long period of time, I suffer some of the side effects. However, after using them on a continued bases, I don't. I also do not drive when taking a narcotic. In some instances, I believe it is BON over reacting and fear of being accused of the same things BOM are. No one knows if a chronic pain suffer is taking a narcotic unless she/he shares the information. And to be honest, it is no one elses business, unless they are showing signs of impairment.
Grannynurse :balloons:

Grannynurse, I agree with you on this.

Editorial Team / Admin · Sep 28, 2005

Tweetie, I realize the NPAs vary from state to state. I also ocassionally use narcotics. When I haven't used them for a long period of time, I suffer some of the side effects. However, after using them on a continued bases, I don't. I also do not drive when taking a narcotic. In some instances, I believe it is BON over reacting and fear of being accused of the same things BOM are. No one knows if a chronic pain suffer is taking a narcotic unless she/he shares the information. And to be honest, it is no one elses business, unless they are showing signs of impairment.
Grannynurse :balloons:

I am confused here. You are saying you will not drive when under the influence, but, you will take care of a patient while under the influence?

grannynurse FNP student · Sep 29, 2005

I am confused here. You are saying you will not drive when under the influence, but, you will take care of a patient while under the influence?

No, you are not confused, I am. What I meant to say was that I did not drive when taking a narcotic on a limited bases. It is when I have taken a narcotic or been using a duragesic patch, for a period of time, that I do drive. I do not suffer from any of the side effects and the prescribing physician does not have a problem with me driving. He and I have discussed the subject at length. It has been my experience and the experience of many other chronic pain suffers, who use narcotics on a regular bases, that we do not generally suffer from dizziness and/or drowsiness or altered sensorium. The precautions, against driving or operating equipment or machinery, while under the influence of a narcotic, is based on the acute use pattern and its effects on the brain. I would not go to an ER, receive an inject of MS and then get behind the wheel of my care. I would drive my care after being on a patch for a period of time. And I would also take care of a patient. And I would challenge anyone to differeniate when I have a patch on and when I do not. It is not as simple as some appear to think it is, to determine when someone is operating under the influence.

Grannynurse :balloons:

teeituptom, BSN, RN · Sep 29, 2005

Do you want a doc performing surgery on you while in severe pain, needing to sit down,perhaps lie down for a few minutes to regain focus? I'd prefer to have my surgery done by a surgeon who is comfortable and not hastening the procedure to get it over with. Of course in the ideal world, health care providers ignore and overcome the pain with their stoic character.
Believe me, I'm there, and the pain is getting worse. I don't volunteer info to anyone, I am not cloudy due to narcs, relif of pain helps me to focus on what I should be doing. Believe me, no one is going to give you a gold star or blue ribbon for living in constant inescapable pain. You will simply realize that when the end of your life comes, you had never lived, to paraphrase Thoreau.
Or you may end up putting a bullet in your own head when you have no more reserve to live with it.
So my message is that when quality of life is poor at best you have nothing to lose by lying, cheating, falsifying or whatever it takes to get by those employers or agencies who would exclude you from the human race. And being in a position of having nothing to lose is quite liberating if you think about it. It takes a great load off if you accept that you can't improve your lot. (I am not talking about stealing drugs or forging scripts or anything of the sort. I am talking about prescriptions administered by competent physicians.)
What are the "good people" in a position to do about it if they catch you using a prescription at work? Make you more miserable than you already are?
Don't just stand and take it. Be a troublemaker if needs be, and choose your battles wisely.

No I wouldnt want that doctor working on me, also I certainly dont want a doctor taking pain control medicine working on me.

grannynurse FNP student · Sep 29, 2005

No I wouldnt want that doctor working on me, also I certainly dont want a doctor taking pain control medicine working on me.

With all due respect, I have a quick question for all: How would you know that the physician was taking pain medication, on a long term basis to control chronic pain, unless he shared it with you? Please share with me how you would reach such a determination.

Grannynurse :balloons:

jlamb · Sep 30, 2005

Hello, SRbear,
I am so very sorry about the pain in your life.
Yes, this is in violation just about anywhere. You are considered working under the influence and a danger to the wellfare of your patients AND yourself.
I hope you can find some peace and be free from this pain......

You can still work. I am a CLNC and have had a palliative care certification. There are many health care providers who have to take narcotic pain medication. I personally know quite a few who are since I have worked in a pain management clinic. It is not true that a person would be under the influence just because of narcotic prescription use. In fact, there have been studies that show there are more mistakes made by those who are in pain and are distracted by that.

teeituptom, BSN, RN · Sep 30, 2005

With all due respect, I have a quick question for all: How would you know that the physician was taking pain medication, on a long term basis to control chronic pain, unless he shared it with you? Please share with me how you would reach such a determination.
Grannynurse :balloons:

And do people who use narcotics, or alcohol, or Cannabis freely admit that they are using while driving a car and jeopardizing our lives. No not untill they are either busted or get in an accident then its too late.

same difference to me

grannynurse FNP student · Sep 30, 2005

And do people who use narcotics, or alcohol, or Cannabis freely admit that they are using while driving a car and jeopardizing our lives. No not untill they are either busted or get in an accident then its too late.
same difference to me

Sorry but I do not understand your response. And no, I am not currently taking a narcotic. My point, there are many people, who legally use narcotics and function well, in their given professions. You would be hard pressed to determine if I were using a durgestic patch, without my telling you. And you would be equally hard pressed to tell if someone else, who used a narcotic on a regular bases, was using one also, without them informing you.

Grannynurse

teeituptom, BSN, RN · Sep 30, 2005

Sorry but I do not understand your response. And no, I am not currently taking a narcotic. My point, there are many people, who legally use narcotics and function well, in their given professions. You would be hard pressed to determine if I were using a durgestic patch, without my telling you. And you would be equally hard pressed to tell if someone else, who used a narcotic on a regular bases, was using one also, without them informing you.
Grannynurse

When you out it that way, that really is a scary thought.