Opioids. Are they the Solution ?
Original Post: I had Polio at the age of 6 weeks and was paralyzed from the neck down. I was diagnosed with post-polio syndrome in 1994 and was placed on a ventilator due to respiratory insufficiency. Lately I have been having a great deal of left hip pain. My legs have become very weak and I am almost totally unable to ambulate. The doctor’s solution to my pain is opioid prescriptions. Is there anything else that could ease my pain without becoming addicted? I did not realize that muscle pain was going to be such a big part of my life.
Dr. Bruno’s Response: In our experience, you need to treat the cause of your pain, not be drugged into oblivion. You and all polio survivors, need to see a physiatrist (a phys-EYE-a-trist), a rehabilitation doc who does a medical residency learning to help people thrive with their disabilities. Physiatrists are nerve, muscle, and bone experts who treat injuries or illnesses that affect how you move and who have completed training to diagnose and treat pain, restore maximum function lost through injury, illness or disabling conditions and treat the whole person, not just "symptoms." They lead a team of medical professionals to provide non-surgical treatments for your medical problems and provide treatment/prevention plans that can be carried out by the patients themselves or with the help of the rehab medical team. This team might include other physicians and health professionals, such as neurologists, orthopedic surgeons and always physical and occupational therapists.
Check out this page - “PPS Healthcare Providers - A Guide” for more information on those professionals that can help guide you to the source of your pain.