OMGosh the medical world is gone crazy....So I am discharged yesterday I go over my meds today... they gave me so little pain meds that will get me through tomorrow. While in hospital I got 2 pain meds every 4-6 hours plus a extra booster if needed. They send me home with 1 pain pill every 6 hours and a 3 day supply. I call the number they gave me for the surgeons office it connects to a construction company. I called the number for the nurses office it goes to radiology in the hospital... finally get to the nurses office and it is closed until Monday. I called another doctor on the discharge papers they have no clue who I am. I call the neurologist surgeons office whom I am to follow up with in a few weeks, well they have never seen me yet, and the family practice office I have never been too. The doctor who discharged me and wrote my prescriptions has no number to call he is inpatient only...so I sit here head pounding, pressure like crazy and have no one to contact. I called the neurologist office back and got the nurse to call in enough pain meds until Monday. Geez! I'm suppose to be low stress and calm. Right! I just got to get through the weekend let this heal a little. My problem is when my head pounds, the pressure on my eye is bad and I can't see well...very annoying. I am light headed trying to figure out is it the Plavix, the blood pressure meds, the pain meds or what?...I just want to be able to function well and focus. What is normal after the procedure? How am I suppose to feel?
We went through this with my daughter who had a clipped ruptured aneurysm. Going home was so hard because the good drugs through the IV are no match for the by mouth versions they send you home with. We had worked with our neurosurgeon who let us have two types of pain meds that we could tag team every few hours (Vicodin, Dilaudid, and then would use Excedrin in between). The first two weeks were so hard for her. Pain was really hard and her sleep was completely wacked. It was like having a new born again. It takes a while, sometimes a long while to be able to focus the way you want to. You have to remember this is a marathon not a sprint and patience is your best friend. Rest a lot and have someone advocate for you with the doctor's office to help manage your pain more effectively.
Hi Camille,
That sounds really crappy - you have my sympathy - it is very difficult to adjust to the period after hospital, when your access to pain medication decreases, but often your need increases because you are moving around and generally coming under more stress than just lying in your hospital bed! I think you need to be a little kinder to yourself, firstly... you are going to be tired, your focus will suck and you'll generally feel like a less effective version of yourself for a little while. And that is normal, there's not really a way around it - you've had a fairly serious disturbance inside your brain, so it takes a wee while to fully recover.
I found that the best way of getting where I needed to be on the medication front was to go to my own GP (what I think in the US you would call your "family doctor") and get the clear understanding of what was available and what my levels of pain were and my needs were... I found that was a much better way of getting the prescriptions I needed to manage my pain at home (for me, the key drug was dihydrocodeine - which along side normal pharmacy-bought acetaminophen/paracetamol was enough to control the majority of my pain) - as like you, I had a few difficult experiences of phoning around and trying to talk to the right folks at hospitals, etc.
Good luck finding a pathway that works for you, but do remember to be nicer to yourself and cut yourself some slack.
B.
As Bruce said, go to your regular General Practicioner (GP) as soon as you can. Once you are out of the Hospital and Surgery there isn't much those people can, or will do. While the brain surgeon saved my life, my GP saved my sanity. There is nothing the hospital can prescribe that the GP can't for both your pain and anxiety. Save yourself a lot of headaches (pun intended) and get on the phone with your GP Monday 1st thing. Best of luck.
I am so sorry that you are going through this, but I totally understand! The doctor's can't give straight answers, I have not had 1 pain pill since this all came about in June (not even in the hospital, they would only give me an aspirin & a Benadryl, which did nothing for me), my neurosurgeon says that he can't write scripts, but doesn't understand why no one has me on any kind of pain management! I am even wondering if they are going to be doing the proper procedure on me! I hope that you're doing well.
Finally got ahold of the nurse she was mad they did not follow through with the steroids which reduce the swelling and therefore the pain...I know the surgeon said steroids for 2 weeks after but what do I know right??? The discharge doctor discontinued them. I start back on those tomorrow so hopefully relief to come!
Thank you all for your input
Camille