Is there anyone who can advise me on the meds that I am taking or that I need to take?

What happened: in January of 02 I tryed to arrest a little dirtbag for sniffing paint and causing problems as his mother's house. Rookie and FTO go to main door to make contact, heard door slam, and ran towards back door. Me, having dealt with this asshole before, am waiting at the back door with his mother who is yapping like a chihuihua dog (why don't you ever do anything, he needs help. etc.) while explaining to her how she is enabling him by allowing him to live there and abuse aerosol products, the back door opens, I tackle his sorry ass and we go to the ground. I end up fucking up my left shoulder to the point that an ambulance was called (dislocated) and taken to the ER for treatment. Two days later the shoulder decides to dislocate on its own while playing with my 1yr old son on the living room and the ambulance was called. Went to the ER, shoulder was relocated, referred to an orthopedic surgeon. Did a couple of weeks of therapy (didn't work) and finally had orthrescopic (sp?) surgery and more thereapy. Finally convinced the DR to release me back to work around May. Got promoted to Sgt. and everything was well until I dislocated my shoulder until the  months of November (2x), once in January, and once in February. All of the injuries are on the job. Finally reported the last one to worker's comp. Went in for surgery on 05/19/03 to fix the damage. The Dr said that he had to drill into the upper left bone in the upper left arm so that he could reattach the Cartlidge? and had to remove a bone spur as well as stich up 6 of 7 layers of muscle and cartlige and ligaments. Got out of the hospital on the 21st and have been hurting ever since (badly)!

The question. The dr has me on Lortab 7.5's (1-2 every 4 hours for pain as needed) Is there anything better for the pain? This stuff doesn't even begin to take the edge off. My main problem is with the bone pain (hurts like the bitch) I even had to miss the south TX Shoot in Sinton because of this. The Lortabs make me want to puke. Can anyone provide any suggestions on what to ask the DR for in the way of painkillers? Apparently I am immune to morphine and they had to put me on a demerol drip in the hospital (I quit using that after it gave night sweats and wouldn't let me sleep more that 2-3 hours)

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Thanks,
Karl

(P.S. Talked to the D.A. last week and said that the little asshole wouldn't even go to trial as they are seeking to commit him to a menta hospital- I would rather that he end up in prison with a cell mate called Bubba!)

"The dr has me on Lortab 7.5's (1-2 per hour every 4 hours for pain as needed..."


1-2 per hour? You might be taking way too much. Lortab is hydrocodone, a synthetic narcotic similar to codeine and acetaminophen(Tylenol). The problem (as far as toxicity) is all that acetaminophen. Each Lortab has 500mg of Tylenol, the maximum dose is 4,000 mg per day. For a 70kg(~150lbs) adult, severe toxicity begins around 10,500mg/day. At 1 per hour, that's 12,000mg/day and really bad for the liver.

As far as other meds with a higher efficacy, you could try Perocet, which is oxycodone/acetaminophen. Much stronger.

If you've been taking that much, you really need to go talk to your doctor ASAP!!!

Hope that helps.

the problem i see is that your shoulder sustained injury over and over again, thereby producing alot of cumulative damage over time, and now you had some pretty extensive surgery to repair the damage...

pain pills can help alot, and hurt alot if you are not cautious, as pointed out in the preceeding post by medicman...

it is still only a short while after surgery but if you are in that much pain, see your md asap...you need plenty of rest and make sure you are set up with a really good physical therapist to strengthen up your shoulder properly...PT is an often overlooked part of the healing process..

did he give you any other meds??

have you tried any topical preparations?? while it won't knock out the pain like prescription narcotics, it may ease the pain a little...

for an injury involving bone and/or connective tissue damage, i like taking MSM - it is a derivative of DMSO - a potent anti-inflammatory agent...you can get the stuff at most health food stores - but with anything, make sure there are no drug interactions with the scripts you are taking now..

medicman,
I copied the doseage wrong. It should read " Lortab 7.5's (1-2 every 4 hours for pain as needed)". Does that make more sense? I might try calling him and letting him know that the Lortab isn't working and I need something stronger. 2-3 hours of sleep a night isn't conducive to getting the body the rest that it needs to repair itself. Thanks for the info.

Karl

Dr. Jess,
That's all of the meds that he prescribed me. I have been using an ice pack on and off and that sems to help somewhat.

I have already talked to my physical therapist and he isready to go whenever the Dr. says "go".

I haven't tried any other medications with the exception of ibruprofen (400mg everytime I take the lortab), Can I continue doing this or there any interactions that I need to be aware of?

Thanks,
Karl

Breacher have you ever tried Therma Care products? I once listened to a radio sports call in show where they discussed these heat pads, all the callers had good things to say about them. The company rep said that many pro golfers put one on right before they compete.  

If you can get your doc to write a prescription for them your insurance should cover the costs.

[url]http://www.therma-care.com/[/url]

Am-O-Tramp,
If they are ice packs, I got plenty of them. I also have this neat ice pack machine that is basically an 6-pack Igloo with a pump that pumps cold water into a "sleeve: that is placed on my shoulder.

Karl

Breacher, I leave the medical advice to the more qualified than I who have already responded.

Congratulations on your promotion, and condolences on your injury. Will this mean you will be pulled off the street??

Narcoitcs dont take care of the inflamatory process after surgery.  Vioxx 50 mg daily for a couple days should help, take it just once daily and continue to use the lortab as needed. Nausea from the narcotic is not unusual, a bit of an antihistamine should help that. Elavil( an antidepressant) is quite effecive as an adjunct for controlling pain. Since the pain is still so bad there may be some infection, I would call the ortho and update them on your status and ask for some Vioxx 50 mg tabs to take for a short time and some Elavil 10 mg tabs to take at bedtime.

ps: we could have used the little scumbag for a live target ballistic experiment. Perhaps he will escape from custody, make the mistake of heading towards Sinton and never be seen again?              Lebrew

Breacher...
Prepare for a [b]long[/b] recovery period. Shoulders are like knees, they take ages to heal. I've dislocated both of my shoulders, and have blown out my right knee. The knee was the only thing that required surgery, but the shoulders didn't heal any faster than the knee did. You will have significant pain, and if it's keeping you up at night, [b]then[/b] you should see your surgeon about it. A stronger pain med will most likely be needed, from the sound of it. As Dr. Jess said, make sure you're going through PT, and if you're not already, talk to the surgeon about that as well. The sooner, the better. I was in PT, 5 days after my knee operation. It sucked, but it helped speed the recovery time. Good luck, I don't envy you.

All of the above sounds like good advice. Go see your doctor and the PT.

Ibuprofen is a good idea and shouldn't be a problem with your current meds. I personally prefere naproxen(Aleve), 2 pills every 12hr. Vioxx and the other new COX inhibitors like Bextra and Celebrex work well but studies have shown they are really no more effective that ibuprofen. The big advantage is that they are a lot easier on the ol' GI tract.

Fentanyl Patch.  

NSAID also (Ibuprofen, Naproxen, Valdecoxib, Rofecoxib).


Check with your Dr. now.  Will not help the healing process to have you in pain most of the time.

AFARR

Therma-care is a heat producer and contra-indicated for this type of recovery.  Breacher should be using ice to reduce inflammation and therefore decrease pain.

Heat can be recommended to loosen stiff muscles and increase flexibility in non-injury situations.  (Golfers loosening up lower backs etc.)  This may prevent injuries and reduce pain and soreness but would actually INCREASE swelling and pain after injury.

Breacher...I'm gonna have to recommend talking with your Doc about changing out your meds and to be hard on yourself about the first two steps of the RICE rule... (Rest Ice Compression and Elevation)  Get some REST...and keep using the Ice.

Of course...I'm NOT a physician and my medical experience is getting old.  I haven't treated an actual patient in a clinic for 7 years.

Liberty86:
I'll be off the street until I am "deemed " by the Dr. to be at maximum medical recovery. It sucked coming back, getting promoted, and hurt over a 4 month period. I worked all the way up to my surgery date, though, (actually last scheduled work day was Thursday and my long weekend was coming up)doc let me work that far 'cause I really couldn't screw my shoulder up much worse. I really hope to be back on the stret within two months. Our department has an "all or none" policy when it comes to injuries. You are either recovered or you ain't and there's no leeway for light duty.

Lebrew: I have had Vioxx before but Celebrex seems to work better, I had them at different times during my injury so that may account for the difference. Funny that you should mention that the little scumbag might escape from custody. The day after my initial injury in January 02 he escaped from the PD where he was taken to be seen by the judge so that bond could be set on the charges. They did't even bother to call me about it(I live approx 600 yards accross a dry creek from him) and he was trying to make it home. He got cought, orange jumpsuit, legirons and handcuffs still on, under a house a few blocks from my house. If I'd of only known...

RobarSR60: Already BTDT. the first time we did arthroscopic surgery and I was out about 4.5 months (Dr wanted to try 6 weeks of PT first after 2 weeks in a sling not doing anything)

medicman/AFARR: already have a call in to the Dr. Just waiting on a callback...

lastbscout: I know about RICE, Ir's the REST part that I have trouble with, I spent two days in the hospital before they would release me and it's going on a week now since the surgery. I absoultely HATE sitting on my ass doing nothing but I am sitting here with an icepack on my shoulder [:D] while I type.

Thanks to everyone for the replies

Karl

one caution about NSAIDS - can be a bitch on the stomach - i can barely take the minimum dose of ibuprofen because it wreaks havoc on my tummy...

as mentioned before, at this stage ice is the best bet -once the inflammatory stage has passed, then you increase circulation to encourage healing...(magnets, ultrasound, acupuncture, PT)

one thing that i would suggest - go to a massage therapist...no deep-tissue stuff(and stay away from the shoulder), just a relaxing massage which will hopefully make you feel alot better!

All-Righty!

The Dr. called and changed the medication to Darvocet instead of Lortab. I feel much better!
Thanks guys!
and Doctor Jess. I tried the "relaxing rubdown" idea to the wife. It was a resounding NO GO [:D] [:D]

Thanks again for the advice,
Karl

Get well soon!  by the way, Thanks.


where in Tx are you

Citabria7GCBC,
Check your IM

Thanks,
Karl