I am writing this because many of us have chronic pain conditions or have a close relative or friend with chronic pain.
There is a side effect from chronic pain that people often do not bring up. The medications for chronic pain almost all cause constipation. Not mild stuff, serious and painful constipation that can last for weeks at a time. That is WEEKS without a bowel movement.
I had my medications changed about 6 weeks ago. It has been brutal. I have had serious problems that all the high fiber foods and supplements and miralax have not TOUCHED. I ballooned 30 pounds in less than a month.
The pain doctor told me about a brand new medication. Pain medications operate on specific receptors throughout the body. There are even receptors in the digestive tract, or gut. This new medication is called Relistor.
NOTE: This is NOT the medication called restoril. Restoril is the brand name for temazipam, a relative of valium and xanax. It is used for anti-anxiety purposes, and also as a muscle relaxer sometimes. This shot is Relistor. Be SURE the doctor's writing is very readable if he gives you a prescription for this.
Relistor is an injection of a medication that acts specifically on the receptors that medications use. But it ONLY works on those receptors in the gut. It doesn't keep the medications from working elsewhere.
It IS expensive. It is also fast. I did my first dose today. In about 3 minutes I was in the bathroom. I went and went and went. (I was truly "full of it", LOL!) The process was not any fun. It hurts to have that much move out from that far up in your system. I spent about 2 hours hurting. I also was really hot and at first thought I was going to vomit. But I now feel better than I have in several weeks. The shots are not done daily. They are for every other day in most cases. But they can be increased if you don't respond well enough to every other day doses. Insurance did cover it, at least mine did.
It will take more than one dose to clean me out. I hope not to have to do this long term. But it IS nice to know the option is here. This medication is so new many DOCS don't know anything about it. So I hope it is info that no one else needs. But if you or a loved one has this problem, I hope you remember this.
If you read all the way through this, I hope it wasn't too gross a topic. Sadly, it is a fact of life. I can remember my grandma being senile and very ill and in pain and refusing pain medications because it hurt to poop, even with medications to help that.
There is a side effect from chronic pain that people often do not bring up. The medications for chronic pain almost all cause constipation. Not mild stuff, serious and painful constipation that can last for weeks at a time. That is WEEKS without a bowel movement.
I had my medications changed about 6 weeks ago. It has been brutal. I have had serious problems that all the high fiber foods and supplements and miralax have not TOUCHED. I ballooned 30 pounds in less than a month.
The pain doctor told me about a brand new medication. Pain medications operate on specific receptors throughout the body. There are even receptors in the digestive tract, or gut. This new medication is called Relistor.
NOTE: This is NOT the medication called restoril. Restoril is the brand name for temazipam, a relative of valium and xanax. It is used for anti-anxiety purposes, and also as a muscle relaxer sometimes. This shot is Relistor. Be SURE the doctor's writing is very readable if he gives you a prescription for this.
Relistor is an injection of a medication that acts specifically on the receptors that medications use. But it ONLY works on those receptors in the gut. It doesn't keep the medications from working elsewhere.
It IS expensive. It is also fast. I did my first dose today. In about 3 minutes I was in the bathroom. I went and went and went. (I was truly "full of it", LOL!) The process was not any fun. It hurts to have that much move out from that far up in your system. I spent about 2 hours hurting. I also was really hot and at first thought I was going to vomit. But I now feel better than I have in several weeks. The shots are not done daily. They are for every other day in most cases. But they can be increased if you don't respond well enough to every other day doses. Insurance did cover it, at least mine did.
It will take more than one dose to clean me out. I hope not to have to do this long term. But it IS nice to know the option is here. This medication is so new many DOCS don't know anything about it. So I hope it is info that no one else needs. But if you or a loved one has this problem, I hope you remember this.
If you read all the way through this, I hope it wasn't too gross a topic. Sadly, it is a fact of life. I can remember my grandma being senile and very ill and in pain and refusing pain medications because it hurt to poop, even with medications to help that.
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