Wednesday, September 30, 2009

how do you spell relief?

How do you spell relief?

p-h-a-r-m-a-c-e-u-t-i-c-a-l-s

I went to my family doctor yesterday about the pain in my hip/leg/butt. I now remember what muscle is the culprit - the piriformis. It is spasming and irritating the sciatic nerve. After sitting in the waiting room for 45 minutes, I was in significant pain and discomfort, which the doctor must have seen on my face because he wrote me 3 prescriptions for pain relief. One of these is for a delightful concoction of acetaminophen, caffeine, and codeine called Tylenol 3. Now I can still feel the pain but I just don't care very much about it. I can see why people get addicted to this stuff and will make very sure that I take them sparingly.

The other two prescriptions are for muscle relaxants to take at bedtime. By the time I was heading to bed last night, I was starting to think that the muscle was releasing all by itself. However, by the time I got up and couldn't bend over to put my socks on, I knew it was just as bad as before. The doctor told me that the piriformis is one muscle that, when it lets go, it does so suddenly and completely. I'm looking forward to it.

3 comments:

Geri said...

My husband has availed himself of the services of a chiropractor and a massage therapist for his piriformis issues. My experience with Tylenol 3s was pain relief and the worst constipation I've ever had in my life. Use sparingly and take in lots of fibre and liquids. Hope the muscle relaxes really soon.

Lynn said...

Tylenol 3 is some GOOD stuff!!! My mom was on it and it was the only thing that worked for her. When I had my c-sec, I had percoset and that was also some good stuff!!! LOL Yes I can see how people can get hooked. But I also can see how if you use it sparingly, the results are just fantastic. Hope the muscle releases soon.

TracyKM said...

It's interesting how different people react to different drugs. T3 makes my stomach too upset and I don't get near enough pain relief (ankylosing spondilitis and regular old OA too). I tried Celebrex, the 'wonder' drug, but it didn't help much either. I'm getting much better relief from naproxen. I've also tried muscle relaxers before bed, but wake up feeling lousy. One day I took one in the morning after I was still stiff after 2 hours. Five hours later I had a sudden and unignorable urge to lay down and sleep! LOL.