Shannon Larratt is Zentastic

Whew, I am really tired. It's been a long day.

I have been thinking about the various things that I've taken for pain and what works and what doesn't. Here's my list, sorted by the amount it reduces the pain (“actual pain”), the amount that it helps me deal with the pain (“effective pain”), how much it alters my mood, whether it helps me sleep, and what I think of the general side effects outside of those categories. Anyway, these are my thoughts on it… Plusses are good, minus signs are bad.

	Actual Pain	Effective Pain	Mood	Sleep	Side Effects
Codeine	+	+	0	+	0
Oxycocet (5mg/325mg)	++	++	+	++	0
Oxycontin (10mg)	++	+++	++	++	+
Oxycontin (20mg)	+++	++++	+++	+++	+
Marijuana	++	+++	-	+	–
Trazadone	+	0	0	+++	0
Fluorazepam	0	+	0	+++	0
Alcohol	0	+	0	0	-
Lyrica	+	0	—	0	—
Misc. Anti-Depressents	0	+	+	+	-
Misc. Tranquilizers	0	+	0	++	0

I was told that I'm eligible for a medical marijuana prescription. If I didn't hate the side-effects and unpleasant mood effects, I'd go for it in a heartbeat because it really does go a long way to stopping the pain. Oxycontin is also extremely effective (and not very expensive in comparison to things like the Lyrica which are much easier to get a prescription for), but it's hard to get a prescription and it's expensive through non-prescription channels. It bothers me that there's resistance to prescribe things like that, because, as the one doctor I dealt with put it, what does it matter if I get hooked if I'm going to be in larger and larger amounts of pain for the rest of my life and there's very little that can be done about it?

Although I understand there are many contexts in which narcotic painkillers can be abused, I'd love to see some of these drugs be easier to obtain… I think it's needlessly cruel to craft legislation to keep people who don't need a medication from it, rather than crafting it so people who need it can obtain it…

Anyway, long day, and I have to get up early to move the car…