Tuesday, December 7, 2010

The Pain Killing Addiction

Just recently I had a small procedure on my hips in which I was in the hospital for one day; I didn't even have to stay overnight. The doctor I had been seeing informed me that I would be very sore for a few days and might not be able to walk for at least the first 24 hours. Once I arrived at the nationally acclaimed Boston hospital I signed papers for what seemed like days. All of the papers stated the risks of the procedure from the minor bruising to the rare possibility of death or deadly infection. After signing my life away I was given a general anesthetic and rolled into the operating room. The last thing I remember is giving my mother a hug and a
kiss, and suddenly I was awake in a different room.

Once my mother was allowed in the recovery room I was surprised to not be feeling any pain. The recovery nurse had mentioned that the pain from my procedure would be painful in the next few hours. I waited for about 2 hours to attempt to get up from the bed. Once up from the bed the pain hit. The tears ran down my cheek and before I knew it I was on the bed laying down again. The recovery nurse had place morphene into my iv. I was shocked at how numb I was and how fast it had all happened. After a few more hours the nurse decided to discharge me to go home. She handed my mother a paper and mentioned that the pills she prescribed would cut the pain.
On my hour car ride home the pain was still numb and I was so dizzy and groggy it was insane. I knew that the procedure was painful as it had been reiterated to me over and over again. Once I got home I looked at the papers from the hospital. The last paper was a prescription for Percocet. I was really shocked to see that the nurse prescribed 25 Percocet for a small hip procedure. I was never asked if I wanted to pain medication to take home. Personally, I have a high threshold for pain, as I was in school the next day.

The hospital I had my procedure at is nationally and even in some aspects world known, my doctor a specialist in hips. I was almost disappointed at the fact 25 Percocet were given to me on my way out the door to cut the pain. I know a handful of people who have gotten addicted to pain medication due to instances like mine. If hospitals and doctors are going to dish out pain killers like Percocet then they need to closely monitor their patients because of the ease of addiction to pain killers. Luckily, I was able to get by my pain with some Motrin but I feel for other patients who self-administer the high dose pain medication to themselves because one can so fastly become masked to the real pain in their body and slowly become an addict. I was surprised to see that none of the papers I signed in the hospital mentioned addiction as a side effect of anything involved in my procedure. Since I was prescribed Percocet I feel that there should be a disclaimer that the medication you are receiving can be addictive and state all the possible side effects of the medication. I would have been much more comfortable discussing this prescription with my doctor and assessing if I really needed such an invasive pain killer after such a procedure.

1 comment:

  1. I agree, the whole system of doctors and hospitals giving out pain medications, and even other addictive medications such as aderall and ritalin shouldbe more tightly controlled and monitored. I have not only heard of people in a situation like yours getting addicted but I have personally seem friends of mine fill those prescriptions for no reason other than to sell them. This is just keeping the cycle of pain medicine addiction going. As you suggested, it would be a great idea for doctors to discuss pain medications, how much should be given, and monitor when they are filled by pharmacies. I understand this would take time, effort, and money but it is for a good cause. And the least that hospitals could do would be to put a disclaimer about the addictive quality of medications on the release forms as you mentioned!

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