constant pain

gordon_gekko

not sure if this qualifys as long term illness , most likely it doesnt

i had a bad fall back in october of last yr , the only concrete injury i suffered was a broken rib on my right hand side , i was also told i had severe chest trauma and bruising but there was no lung or liver damage

i only spent 1 night in hospital after the initial fall but the pain went from bad to worse as the weeks past , i was prescribed tylex and was on the maximum dose untill about the middle of january when i had to go back to hospital with heart palpitations , had various tests ( echo , heart scan ) after a week and having had repeat x rays and scan with regard my chest injury , i was told that there was no longer a fracture and that the palpitations were caused by the stress of being in pain so long ,i was told i could be in pain for up to a yr that chest injuries affect different people in different ways , i havent been able to lift above 2kg without being in severe pain, i also had high blood pressure
i was put on tablets to deal with the stress for about a month and have been off them now for a fortnight and have not had a palpitation in over 3 weeks

last week i saw a pain specialist in dublin who had been booked since before xmas , the orthopedic having reviewd my ct scan back then concluded that i didnt require any surgery but that it was best i see a pain specialist, he told me the pain specialist would most likely take me off painkillers and administer injections which would last a few mths
my gp seemed less keen on this idea as he said injections in this situation are a very invasive procedure

anyway i paid the pain specialist 150 euro and he just asked me questions , was perfectly nice but didnt even ask me to remove my shirt and have a good feel , the orthopedic squeez the living daylights out of me 3 mths previous , a case of cruel to be kind as they say

anyway , the pain specialist told me it would be another 6 mths before i would be fully better and that i would have to fight the pain , he told me to start lifting relativly heave items and to start playing sport again

the main thing that surprised me was that the pain specialist didnt give me injection to kill the pain and take me off pain killers , i have heard of people who are in constant back pain having to recieve injections into the spine several times a yr,
i am wondering did the pain specialist believe that my pain was not severe enough to warrant injections and are theese injections in some ways a case of the cure being worse than the disease
i spoke to a physio therapist recently who said he is not a fan of theese injections as they can cause permanent damage to tissue

i am only on 4 tylex a day now but have been on them since october , i thought perhaps that it is unhealthy to be on pain killers for so many mths but perhaps this is not the case relativly speaking

anyway i was wondering has anyone else been given injections to kill pain instead of painkillers after a certain length of time

Lil' Smiler

Hi Op, sorry to hear about your distress.

It sounds to me like the body is still suffering trauma from the fall & the brain is finding it hard to cope with. This is very common in Anatomy. It sounds like a case of "it's all in your head" to put it bluntly, but i completely understand where you are coming from, the body does strange things! It happens very often that somebody injures themself and after recovering from the injury they can't do something as simple as lifting something etc, they want to but the body just won't let them or do it because it has this defense mechanism.

Physiotherapists etc will aim to go against anything that is invasive like that. you have to remember that in comparison to your specialist, they are in a different field of work, have different ethos & ways of thinking. So a physio will be thinking of the muscles & anatomical structures that may suffer & will be thinking along the lines of a more practical or hands on way of treating the problem.

People with severe back problems do get Morphine injected into them or sometimes an Epidural if they just can't cope with the pain. The risk with this is that you and the body become reliant on the quick fix solution.

Have you been to a physiotherapist / physical therapist for any treatment? I know you said you talked to them but i don't know if you had treatment. Physical Therapists can do some techniques to the muscles between the ribs which break up the scar tissue & realign the muscle fibres. You have to remember also that because you broke the rib, the other structures in the body will be affected for compensating etc. The lungs will probably have suffered great trauma from the accessory units being broken & have the other ribs will have had to work harder to expand the chest.

I don't know if i've helped at all or just waffled on but do you think you could bear the pain til it goes? maybe couple it with some treatment, could get back massages to work around the back of the rib cage, then some treatment on the ribs by a therapist to strip through the scar tissue?

gordon_gekko

Lil' Smiler wrote: »

Hi Op, sorry to hear about your distress.

It sounds to me like the body is still suffering trauma from the fall & the brain is finding it hard to cope with. This is very common in Anatomy. It sounds like a case of "it's all in your head" to put it bluntly, but i completely understand where you are coming from, the body does strange things! It happens very often that somebody injures themself and after recovering from the injury they can't do something as simple as lifting something etc, they want to but the body just won't let them or do it because it has this defense mechanism.

Physiotherapists etc will aim to go against anything that is invasive like that. you have to remember that in comparison to your specialist, they are in a different field of work, have different ethos & ways of thinking. So a physio will be thinking of the muscles & anatomical structures that may suffer & will be thinking along the lines of a more practical or hands on way of treating the problem.

People with severe back problems do get Morphine injected into them or sometimes an Epidural if they just can't cope with the pain. The risk with this is that you and the body become reliant on the quick fix solution.

Have you been to a physiotherapist / physical therapist for any treatment? I know you said you talked to them but i don't know if you had treatment. Physical Therapists can do some techniques to the muscles between the ribs which break up the scar tissue & realign the muscle fibres. You have to remember also that because you broke the rib, the other structures in the body will be affected for compensating etc. The lungs will probably have suffered great trauma from the accessory units being broken & have the other ribs will have had to work harder to expand the chest.

I don't know if i've helped at all or just waffled on but do you think you could bear the pain til it goes? maybe couple it with some treatment, could get back massages to work around the back of the rib cage, then some treatment on the ribs by a therapist to strip through the scar tissue?

thank you very much for your detailed reply

your correct in saying my lungs were affected ,i am an asthmatic anyhow for almost 2mths after the fall , i suffered from breathlessnes , each evening for about 3 hrs , i had to literally manage and ration my breathing , when you have to think about how to breathe , you know your in trouble, my breathing is much better now but if i had a busy day in terms of talking to lots of people , i would still find myself short of breath and my blood presure would be up again

the only part of your post i disagree with is where you say its all in my head , too many doctors dismiss patients opinions simply because they do not have any letters after there name , i was seeing a consultant who didnt need to ask me how much pain i was in , he knew without asking me and was able to tell me how much pain i was in , suffice to say i no longer see this obnoxious arrogant MR

that is interesting how you make the distinction between how a physio may want to treat a problem in comparison to a doctor, orthopedic or pain specialists to be precise
do you tend to side with one over thee other or is it a case of them both having valid arguements , my own personal opinion is that the physio,s view could tie in neatly with there whole agenda , agenda being , they have a service more non scientific than a doctors ,i could be wrong completly though , just a hunch

btw, no doctor has said this to me but if i will never fully be the same again , would they have told me , please be honest , i want to know

thanks again

Lil' Smiler

It's perfectly fine for you to disagree with my opinion. Maybe it came across wrong but when the body does suffer a severe amount of trauma (& problems with broken ribs are very common to fall under this because if the under lying stuctures and the intercostal muscles being damaged) & is already taking a long time to recover, usually 6 - 8 weeks for fractured/broken ribs, that the body just uses this defence mechanism and sometimes tells it's self it's in pain when it's actually just trying to protect itself.

That's just my opinion anyway, I'm not saying i'm right and you're wrong, everyone knows their own body better than anyone else, so I would say you are right yourself.

Was anything done about your breathing? Were you given exercises to help build the lungs back up. It sounds like they weren't taking in the normal capacity that it does upon inhalation. Are you still having trouble with breathing?Maybe get it checked out, there's many tests they can do for it.

Well I'm a Physical Therapist myself so I know how I'd aim to treat someone who had uffered from broken/ fractured ribs. The muscles work differenty to compensate for some muscle not working to their full capacity so a large amoun of scar tissue will have formed. The fibres of the Intercostal Muscles between the ribs will have shortened and tightened if they are not being used to their full capacity. So say you broke you 9th rib, the IC's between 7,8,9 and 10 will have to work harder. There might also be what is called Trigger Points in the muscles which are a tight bind in the muscle and it causes referral pain to other places in the body.

I would suggest trying to get a Physica Therapist to strip out the muscles and see how it works for you. Then again I'm one of those people that if i'm in pain, i will try anything I can that might help before I go to try out medication. Also, you have to remember that each person in the medical profession as such, has their own ethos. I would always try some form of practical work before suggesting somebody go to their gp for pain killers or something (depending on circumstance of course). A dr would mostly recommend whatever medication, an Osteopath would work on the bones...

If you do want to try the Physical Therapy route, you can locate a therapist from here http://www.iapt.ie/locatept.htm

gordon_gekko

Lil' Smiler wrote: »

It's perfectly fine for you to disagree with my opinion. Maybe it came across wrong but when the body does suffer a severe amount of trauma (& problems with broken ribs are very common to fall under this because if the under lying stuctures and the intercostal muscles being damaged) & is already taking a long time to recover, usually 6 - 8 weeks for fractured/broken ribs, that the body just uses this defence mechanism and sometimes tells it's self it's in pain when it's actually just trying to protect itself.

That's just my opinion anyway, I'm not saying i'm right and you're wrong, everyone knows their own body better than anyone else, so I would say you are right yourself.

Was anything done about your breathing? Were you given exercises to help build the lungs back up. It sounds like they weren't taking in the normal capacity that it does upon inhalation. Are you still having trouble with breathing?Maybe get it checked out, there's many tests they can do for it.

Well I'm a Physical Therapist myself so I know how I'd aim to treat someone who had uffered from broken/ fractured ribs. The muscles work differenty to compensate for some muscle not working to their full capacity so a large amoun of scar tissue will have formed. The fibres of the Intercostal Muscles between the ribs will have shortened and tightened if they are not being used to their full capacity. So say you broke you 9th rib, the IC's between 7,8,9 and 10 will have to work harder. There might also be what is called Trigger Points in the muscles which are a tight bind in the muscle and it causes referral pain to other places in the body.

I would suggest trying to get a Physica Therapist to strip out the muscles and see how it works for you. Then again I'm one of those people that if i'm in pain, i will try anything I can that might help before I go to try out medication. Also, you have to remember that each person in the medical profession as such, has their own ethos. I would always try some form of practical work before suggesting somebody go to their gp for pain killers or something (depending on circumstance of course). A dr would mostly recommend whatever medication, an Osteopath would work on the bones...

If you do want to try the Physical Therapy route, you can locate a therapist from here http://www.iapt.ie/locatept.htm

i was told it was the 8th rib i broke along with general chest trauma

the problem was that the original consultant who treated me completly downplayed the extent of my injury , this is not just my opinion , i went to a different hospital 10 weeks later and was told this by another consultant

im seeing a physio today actually


thanks again

Lil' Smiler

that's terrible!!

Let us know how ya get on! Good luck!

gordon_gekko

Lil' Smiler wrote: »

that's terrible!!

Let us know how ya get on! Good luck!

i saw the physio this afternoon
i wont name names but this person is based right beside the sea in county louth
they were recomended to me by someone who i know resonably well as having a very traditional hands on approach
having been to see this person , my own description would be unorthodoxx approach , they seemed to be not that fond of conventional medicine and no fan of doctors in general
what this person did today was , they baschially covered me in a cream with an incredibly potent smell and strapped my chest very tight and told me to only take off this strapping if it became itichy , they told me if i left it on for 4 days , that would be good and im to see them again a week from now
what surprised me about this was that i know for a fact that doctors do not strap people up anymore for rib or chest injuries , i understand that it can cause poor circulation of the blood aswell as hinder breathing ability
would you in your day to day work , use this methood ever

the person seemed to be very knowledgable about injuries and told me the minute they saw me without my shirt on that i was twisted looking

when i came home feeling a little bit constrained with the strapping , i looked this person up in the golden pages and discovered they were not listed as a physio therpaist , i think i might right the phsyiotherapist authority tommorow and see are they even licenced
i would be willing to give anything a try but im not sure i want to bee seen by a QUACK either