Doctors are far too possessive of their painkillers

[Pancho]

I'm sitting up here in extraordinary pain - I have an ear infection of some sort. Horrible, horrible pain.

Bloody doctor wouldn't give me a prescription for any decent painkillers. "just some co-codomol, will do", I said. But nope, she wasn't even going to let have that.

[andygates]

You can get co-codamol OTC. 

[Pancho]

Yeah but only the really feeble stuff. Like I say, the doctors keep the good stuff for themselves.

[kyuss]

My doc was only too happy to hand over the good stuff when I had sciatica. I now have a very impressive supply of Diclofenac and Tramadol, best thing being I can take them both at the same time. Serious numbification.

[Noodley]

My doc was only too happy to hand over the good stuff when I had sciatica. I now have a very impressive supply of Diclofenac and Tramadol, best thing being I can take them both at the same time. Serious numbification.

My dad has a supply of pain killers which could lead to 12 years behind bars had they not been prescribed.  He thinks they are mostly "bloody nonsense".  I have a ready supply to help me when I make an arse of things.

[hellymedic]

Ear pain is the worst pain I have known. I was literally banging my head against a brick wall, it was so bad.
The pain was totally untouched by Mum's Distalgesics and I dared not nick anything stronger.
I found some local anaesthetic ear drops in the medicine cabinet, which I'd learned were a Bad Thing, but I used them anyway. Bliss, instant relief!
I was a 22 year old student at the time.

A few years later, I treated a colleague, who was on duty, with a few drops of local anaesthetic plus appropriate antibiotics. He was a very happy man when he left the department and felt fit to continue working.

I am told local anaesthetics on inflamed eardrums are Norty and increase the chance of perforation.

I think very strong painkillers are needed for a bad earache but a few surreptitious drops of lignocaine mean you can knock out the pain but keep the patient alert.

Get well soon.

I sympathise!

[hellymedic]

Yeah but only the really feeble stuff. Like I say, the doctors keep the good stuff for themselves.

There's nothing stronger than ibuprofen at this address...

[hellymedic]

I'm sitting up here in extraordinary pain - I have an ear infection of some sort. Horrible, horrible pain.

Bloody doctor wouldn't give me a prescription for any decent painkillers. "just some co-codomol, will do", I said. But nope, she wasn't even going to let have that.

Sounds like she's never fucking had fucking earache!

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

The last time I had ear problems I had to get a friend to come round and prevent me from sticking a skewer in my ear to see if I could burst my own eardrum and relieve the pain. It's miserable pain.

You could try aspirin and paracetamol, and a heat pad. I hope you feel better soon.

[Adrian]

If none of that works you could try trepanation

[Pancho]

I now have drugs and can feel them coursing through my body and numbing my fingers. Joy of joys. Better than sex.

The term "ear ache" simply does not do justice to the sheer agony of an unreachable, untouchable dagger deep inside one's head.

[hellymedic]

I'm pleased things are improving.
I don't really apologise if my intemperate language in the night caused offence.
That pain was the worst I've known in 50 years. It's not to be belittled.

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

I think pain in the bits of you in your head are always worse, because there's just no room for things to swell into. Toothache, earache, sinus pain - all of them have had me considering drastic self-treatment - such as bursting my eardrum with a skewer.

[Pancho]

OMG. Not cured. The pain is now astonishing. Forget skewering eardrums, I want to cut my own head off.

Appt with ENT guys on Tuesday. I really hope they can do something.

[ScumOfTheRoad]

Pancho, sympathy from this end.
My mum had trigeminal neuralgia, and it was really awful.

[gonzo]

Sorry to hear that Pancho. If you want some medication free relief; kick a brick wall really, really hard. For at least a brief time, the pain in your ear won't be too bad!

[hellymedic]

Oh dear!
I hope you get sorted soon!
A weekend is a long time when you're in pain...
GWS!

[Regulator]

My pain has gone.  The dentist pulled the wisom tooth with the abcess under it this morning - instant relief.

I too know what the pain of earache is like.  I have chronic rhinitis and a deviated septum which cause eustachian tube dysfunction and each time I get a cold I get an ear infection in my right ear.  It's 3-4 days of pain and then blessed relief as the drum perforates.  I've had 9 perforations in 7 years and it looks as though I'll have to have it patched before I can dive* again.






*Funnily enough, despite the esutachian tube dysfunction I have no problems diving  - go figure...

[tiermat]

As someone who suffered most of his teenage years with bad earache problems I can sympathise with Pancho and Hellymedic.

I can also confirm that having a fistula is more painful, and really really shouldn't be treated with Co-Codamol, like what my GP at the time suggested.  Do you know that, for me, the effects of Co-Codamol last EXACTLY 7 hours? that was how much sleep I was able to get before I woke again in agony.  Of course the constipation effect of said drug didn't help at all, boy was I glad when they switched me to Diclofenac.

[Regulator]

As someone who suffered most of his teenage years with bad earache problems I can sympathise with Pancho and Hellymedic.

I can also confirm that having a fistula is more painful, and really really shouldn't be treated with Co-Codamol, like what my GP at the time suggested.  Do you know that, for me, the effects of Co-Codamol last EXACTLY 7 hours? that was how much sleep I was able to get before I woke again in agony.  Of course the constipation effect of said drug didn't help at all, boy was I glad when they switched me to Diclofenac.

Mmmmm.... diclofenac.   I have a stash in the medicine cabinet.

As an aside, last night was the first decent night's sleep in weeks - and the pain has gone completely.  I love my dentist!

[Chris S]

Much sympathy from the Norfolk corner. I was plagued with ear abscesses as a kid - the pain is dreadful.

When our kids started suffering from the same thing, I couldn't watch them - it brought back too many memories as they squirmed around in pain, whimpering and crying.

Now I'm middle-aged, I have toothache to plague me... 

GWS, those who are suffering.

[hellymedic]

Sorry to hear about your teeth Chris. I've not had toothache in my middle age but I suffered badly as a child. (I was 8 when I discovered the uselessness of Panadol. At least aspirin was OK for kids at the time...)
Sympathy.
H

[Chris S]

Sorry to hear about your teeth Chris. I've not had toothache in my middle age but I suffered badly as a child. (I was 8 when I discovered the uselessness of Panadol. At least aspirin was OK for kids at the time...)
Sympathy.
H

Thanks. Sadly for me, I inherited my Mum's tooth genes. She'd lost all her teeth by the time she was 21 - and like hers, mine were originally made of cheese - now they are mostly amalgam.

My dentist is (thankfully) very patient with me. All he has to do is tap my teeth with his nasty shiny mirror-thing and he's having to peel me off the ceiling  .

Ah well - probably only a few more years and I'll be wearing falsies - and into a whole new world of discomfort.

Happy Days 

[hellymedic]

My grandparents retained their teeth well into advanced old age, not, mainly due to good teeth but due to the continental habit of fixing rather than extracting teeth. (When told she needed all her teeth out, in London in 1940, one grandmother walked out, found another dentist and retained some teeth for another 50 years.)
Mum has fairly ropy teeth, Dad's are better, mine are cheese + amalgam + gold + porcelain.
Dentist agrees some of my teeth are on borrowed time.