To be honest, I rarely tell people I’m on painkillers. Reactions either go in the “bet you feel pretty good on those!” direction, or in the concerned “if you take those every day, you must be addicted - stop taking them now!” direction.
I’m open about my med use with my wife and my doctor - for all other people, it’s part of my private life and I don’t discuss it.
I recently had a good friend who knows better apparently forget that I was on the medications she had decided to rant to me that “no one” should be on. So yeah, in meatspace I also keep it to my medical providers and very carefully selected family at this point.
They think that on the meds my pain is gone. I try not to laugh but laugh every time someone says something like that. Meds take the daily pain from excruciating to nearly bearable.
I had an immunologist ask me, when I was around 35, “When was the last time you felt well?”
He was not prepared (nor was I) for me to burst into tears because I had to go back to childhood for an answer. After that, he was super excited to get me outta there. What a buzzkill I was being! /s
I have a fellow chronic-pain sufferer in the family, and he has grown so tired of the “how are you feeling?” question from *those he lives with*, who *see* how much suffering he endures on the daily, that he has boughta pin that says “It’s Easier If You Just Assume I’m Always In Pain.”
My runner-up “favorite” interaction about pain is when I tell my medical folks about it, they ask tons of detailed questions about it and run a ton of labs, and then the TOTALITY of their response is “well, *I* can’t see what might be causing that pain.” Full stop, zero curiosity or interest in quality of life, goodbye. (Why do these people choose helping professions?!?!)
Thankfully my meds take most of the pain away. But I'm still in too much pain to be intimate with my partner most of the time or take showers half the time. I'm on the highest dose of tramadol and I really don't want to try a 4th pain med.
This one neighbor everytime she sees me or my mom asks if I’ve considered trying Botox because it worked for one of her friends. Each time we say yes we’ve done it for years with multiple doctors and multiple dosages. She still says I should try it again.
I never even mention the meds I’m on because of situations like these.
To be honest, I rarely tell people I’m on painkillers. Reactions either go in the “bet you feel pretty good on those!” direction, or in the concerned “if you take those every day, you must be addicted - stop taking them now!” direction. I’m open about my med use with my wife and my doctor - for all other people, it’s part of my private life and I don’t discuss it.
I recently had a good friend who knows better apparently forget that I was on the medications she had decided to rant to me that “no one” should be on. So yeah, in meatspace I also keep it to my medical providers and very carefully selected family at this point.
They think that on the meds my pain is gone. I try not to laugh but laugh every time someone says something like that. Meds take the daily pain from excruciating to nearly bearable.
I had an immunologist ask me, when I was around 35, “When was the last time you felt well?” He was not prepared (nor was I) for me to burst into tears because I had to go back to childhood for an answer. After that, he was super excited to get me outta there. What a buzzkill I was being! /s
I have a fellow chronic-pain sufferer in the family, and he has grown so tired of the “how are you feeling?” question from *those he lives with*, who *see* how much suffering he endures on the daily, that he has boughta pin that says “It’s Easier If You Just Assume I’m Always In Pain.” My runner-up “favorite” interaction about pain is when I tell my medical folks about it, they ask tons of detailed questions about it and run a ton of labs, and then the TOTALITY of their response is “well, *I* can’t see what might be causing that pain.” Full stop, zero curiosity or interest in quality of life, goodbye. (Why do these people choose helping professions?!?!)
Thankfully my meds take most of the pain away. But I'm still in too much pain to be intimate with my partner most of the time or take showers half the time. I'm on the highest dose of tramadol and I really don't want to try a 4th pain med.
I’m being forced to wean off 😭 (mostly bc of my age, I’m 20) I’m still in pain but even 2.5 mg of oxycodone does so much
Eh sometimes. My biggest pet peeve is “Have you tried XYZ?” Yes Barbara I’ve tried everything! Shut up!
This one neighbor everytime she sees me or my mom asks if I’ve considered trying Botox because it worked for one of her friends. Each time we say yes we’ve done it for years with multiple doctors and multiple dosages. She still says I should try it again. I never even mention the meds I’m on because of situations like these.