CNCP, Part IV

"The results of this study support the findings of earlier surveys...that there exists a group of CNCP patients whose long-term opioid consumption can be beneficial and remain moderate without them suffering from the consequences of problematic opioid drug use."

-- "A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Cross-Over Pilot Study to Assess the Effects of Long-Term Opioid Drug Consumption and Subsequent Abstinence in Chronic Noncancer Pain Patients Receiving Controlled-Release Morphine" by David T. Cowan, BSc (Hons), PhD, Dame Jenifer Wilson-Barnett, MSc, PhD, Peter Griffiths, BA (Hons), PhD, David J. A. Vaughan, MBBS, FRCA, Anjalee Gondhia, MBBS, FRCA, and Laurie G. Allan, MRCS, LRCP, MBBS, FRCA

Pain Medicine Volume 6 Number 2, 2005

CNCP, Part III

"Although it is important to carefully select and monitor the use of opioids for treating CNCP, under prescribing opioids for the reasons cited has likely resulted in needless suffering for some patients..."

-- "Changing Residents’ Beliefs and Concerns about Treatinh Chronic Noncancer Pain with Opioids: Evaluation of a Pilot Workshop," by Craig S. Roth, MD, and Diana J. Burgess, PhD, Pain Medicine, Volume 9, Number 7, 2008.

What you must keep in mind that 2008 was the height of the OxyContin craze.

CNCP, Part II

"Experience gained from observing the longterm effects of opioids in surviving cancer sufferers suggests that fears of problematic use were often unfounded."

--comment on treating with opioids;  "A Survey of Chronic Noncancer Pain Patients Prescribed Opioid Analgesics," by David T. Cowan, BSc (Hons), PhD, Jenifer Wilson-Barnett, SRN, FRCN, FKCL, DBE, PhD, Peter Griffiths, RGN, BA (Hons), PhD, and Laurie G. Allan, MRCS, LRCP, MBBS, FRCA

CNCP [Chronic Noncancer Pain]

"Two (2.5%) patients reported a general increase in physical function on cessation of opioids. In a recent reappraisal of opioids in CNCP, it was questioned whether palliation or rehabilitation should be the main issue to consider when prescribing[12]. It has been suggested that increased physical function should be a mandatory requirement for opioid therapy to be considered successful [3,27]. However, it should be remembered that persistent pain can cause significant impairment to physical function. Furthermore, if the choice is between minimal function accompanied by severe pain or minimal function accompanied by mild or no pain, then surely, for most patients, the choice would be the latter."

-- "A Survey of Chronic Noncancer Pain Patients Prescribed Opioid Analgesics" by David T. Cowan, BSc (Hons), PhD, Jenifer Wilson-Barnett, SRN, FRCN, FKCL, DBE, PhD, Peter Griffiths, RGN, BA (Hons), PhD, and Laurie G. Allan, MRCS, LRCP, MBBS, FRCA, Pain Medicine Volume 4 Number 4 2003

Medical News

Yesterday, I took my first dose of Horizant, which is just an extended release version of gabapentin. In exchange, since the drug causes weight gain, the Neurologist (the same one I've had for over ten years) said that it would make her feel better if I joined Weight Watchers.

She, of course, heard the thundering hooves and saw stripes, not mangy Mustangs. First, she was considering that I might have cancer somewhere, but then was convinced when I told her the doctors did a thorough exam, including ultrasound, well, she then abandoned that idea. However, she was rather stuck on the fact that I had low levels of calcium in my blood. She mentioned that certain kidney diseases cause a loss of calcium in the urine, and she signed me up for a 24-hour urine catch, which sounds as bad as it is. However, if I have kidney disease, it's better to know sooner rather than later.

"I really love this kind of stuff," the Neurology says, smiling at me.

Finally, we arrived at the real reason why I was there: because of the nerve pain, or better known as paresthesia.

Of course, the neuropathy has no known cause. We ruled out iron deficiency and hypothyroidism. The Neurologist order a nerve conduction test, which I will have during September, but she offered no guesses as to why my nerve pain is so bad, and furthermore, why it manifests all over my body (with except of my face, my hands, and my feet), instead of taking the typical route, and just harassing the feet and the hands, like what happens in diabetes. 

Man of Mystery

"Why, then, would any of us leap into marriage, knowing that the future is unknowable, knowing our spouse is a mystery we can never fully understand?

I suppose it’s faith. Belief that there is something deeply good in the mysterious heart of the infinitely knowable other. And hope that this goodness will be enough to face the future together. Sometimes that works out; sometimes it does not."

--The New York Times, by: Kerry Egan, "Married to a Mystery Man"

What It Really Looks Like

I submitted a work to the "On Campus" column at the New York Times. I was told from an automatic email that I will be contacted by Wednesday if they planned on publishing my essay.

Of course, after I sent it in, I realized that if you look closely at the NYT, there's a paragraph break every two sentences, sometimes there is only a sentence in a paragraph. I assume this is so it's easier to read, giving the impression that the work is shorter than it really is.

So, I had a big, block paragraph starting my essay, and perhaps, that will be held against me. It was also over 1,700 words, and although the NYT says it will consider any length, they held that usually an article is 500-1000 words, leaving mine enormously big. I wanted to shorten it, of course, but had no idea what parts should be left out. Plus, as the English instructor once told me, removing parts of an essay is painful. And of course, I would have liked his feedback, but that's not possible (although I'm sure if I sent it to him, he would respond in some way, probably with his usual break down, sentence by sentence), but it would be odd for him to edit a work that is solely about him in English 156.

I left out the parts of English 156 that I didn't like and did not include the rabid remarks from my classmates about bipolar disorder, the very illness that was intertwined in the essay. Instead, I spoke highly of the English instructor, leaving the reader wondering why the narrator and he never got together romantically, although that was the desire of the student. If there was a happy ending to tell, I would have written it. But none exists. I realize that a student falling in love with her English professor is not exactly extraordinary news, I'm sure it happens all the time, but I was hoping to provide a different perspective to the situation anyway.

I have ideas for submitting to the NYT's "disability" column, although I haven't started editing my essay yet (I wrote it in 2013, and I'm planning on just taking the best bits out). The newspaper has re-opened submissions for their "Modern Love" column, supposedly their most popular article. I don't see why I can't keep writing and sending my essays in as I receive each rejection.

While a lot of students have gain affection for one of his/her professors, few can accurately describe what real psychosis looks like. I plan on just writing about my psychotic episode that gripped me in 2011.