Hello there,

I have a question that is totally unrelated to what I have been posting about lately. I have just today had a major snowboarding accident and am told I have a compression fracture of two vertebrae in my spine, the c4 and c5. I am in a lot of pain and was told I needed to start taking some pain pills. My question is would that be OK to do? I deal with pain very well but even with that and the pain management techniques I know I am still in tons of pain. I don't want to do something that will seriously compromise me but I don't know if I can take doing just nothing.

Your response would be helpful for my peace of mind.
Tyler

Hi, Tyler.

I'm sorry to hear about your accident and hope that you're well on the mend soon!

You're probably already familiar with using EFT for pain. Sometimes it works sufficiently all on its own or it may lessen the amount of outside "help" that you need.

Now, that said, I can't really give you any hard and fast answer about prescription main meds. Tylenol is certainly much easier than either aspirin or any type of NSAID, such as ibuprofen, on the gut. But I'm guessing that at least initially, the docs are going to give you something stronger than that.

The only experiential thing I have to go on is my Dad. He's another one with a sensitive gut, although he has no disease and he never takes either aspirin or NSAIDs because he knows they're going to solve one pain only to give him another. However, following a knee replacement, he was able to take percoset (spelling?) with no ill effect to his stomach/gut, other than it tended to make him constipated.

I hope that's of some help...

Best wishes for a fast recovery!
Nicole

Nicole,

Thanks for your answer. I am now on my third day and the pain seems to have decreased a little so I will be trying to go from here on out without any meds. I have used one or two pills these last three nights to help me get at least a little rest but have been successful in not using them during the daytime, (except for once). So far they don't seem to have caused any problems. If that is the case and I don't need any more I should be OK. The ER doctor says I will be unable to do much for about 4 to 6 weeks and that will probably be the hardest part. It is easy to see that my spine is noticeably out of place in at least two areas, (by both feel and looks), so once the fractures have had time to heal I will have to start working with someone to get it back in shape.

Thanks again,
Tyler

Hi, Tyler.

That's good - I'm glad to hear that the pain is already becoming more manageable!

I'm in your court, too; best to take sparingly - just because.

Would you be willing to share which pain medication you used? It might be helpful for someone else to know down the road if they're ever in a similar position to yours...

Take care,
Nicole

Hi Nicole,

Sure ... the medications I used were prescription pain medications so they require a doctors order. Also I should mention that although I have had bad reactions to NSAIDs, narcotics don't seem to affect me to the extent that they do most people. When I was in the hospital four years ago I was constantly surprising the doctors and nurses because morphine wouldn't put me out like it was supposed to. Anyway, what I used was the generic for Norco. I have also in the past used the generic for Demerol, which is more potent, without any apparent affects.

Hope that helps,
Tyler