[BamaSurvivor]

A while back (around 6 months ago), I was raped by two men while I was passed out from alcohol poisoning and later had to be tested for a lot of things, including HIV, Hepitis, etc, etc... Everything came back fine but two things. God, this is so embarassing. I came back positive for genital herpes and HPV (genital warts). I take my Valtrex, so my herpes outbreaks are few and far between. But my HPV is getting worse, way worse.

I called my OBGYN and he said that sometimes HPV cases are so bad, the warts multiply rapid and it's best to have them removed before you have to have a large section of your vagina removed. He gave me the options, and one was a cream I could try on my own for 6 weeks, 3 days a week. It's pretty much acid and it's supposed to burn the warts off. I applied the cream for only one week because the pain was too much for me to handle. So now I have to go in and have my OBGYN remove them by either A.) Laser or B.) Cutting them off. Here's the problem...

I'm a recovering addict and my sponser finds it's best that I not take any sort of pain medication because I could become addicted easily. I don't take Tylonal or anything like that because my drug tolerance is so high, those have no effect on pain for me whatsoever. So I was wondering: When I go in for surgery, I'm going to be in A LOT of pain afterwards. Do any of you know of any medication or 'home remedy' that could help with the post-surgery pain that isn't classified as addictive? I'm really scared and dont want to experiance all of this pain when I never asked for this disease. *sigh*

[adieuolivaw]

SURVIVOR: Sounds like this might be a good question for Larry Hoover in the Drug Forum. He knows a lot about herbal remedies.

Actually, ibuprofen is pretty good, if you religiously take a double antacid with every dose. And you might need some antacid between doses also. Otherwise, you're asking for stomach trouble sooner or later. Of course, it's not Vicodin, which it seems to me any humane doctor would be willing to prescribe.

My own feeling is that, after your sponsor has had her warts removed and gone without pain medication afterward, she might be better equipped to speak on the subject.

This is my personal experience. I had a spinal laminectomy, took pain meds through day 5 (day 1 being day of surgery), and then took ibuprofen from then on. I knew I had to do that in order to avoid abusing the pain meds. I would not follow the orders of anyone who told me not to use the pain meds that any compassionate doctor would prescribe. Your surgery is known to have a very painful recovery period. There is nothing smart about putting oneself through needless pain. It's draining on both body and mind. Time enough to be strong when you have used the pain medication for a while, when the pain lessens, and when you feel you can start substituting one ibuprofen for one Vicodin or whatever. If you are rigorously honest with yourself, you will know exactly when is the right time.

Stock up on those lovely cooling wipes before surgery. And be sure to bring home a sitz bath. Ask the doc if there's something gentle and healing you can put in the sitz bath water.

I hope you're getting the counseling you need, Survivor. So glad we can be here for you also. Lean on us. No need to be embarrassed.
Hope your surgery goes well.

Adieu

[wanttoheal]

Before you go for surgery, please consider going to a qualified herbalist. This most likely can be helped if not cured by natural medicine. You can PM me if you are interested in knowing more. ((((((((((((Survivor)))))))))))))))))

[BamaSurvivor]

Thank to Adieu and wanttoheal. My first thought on not having pain medication after surgery was the same as yours Adieu. I wanted to tell my sponser to have it done with her and see how well she handled the pain, but I somehow was able to keep my mouth shut. I'll copy and paste in the drug forum to get info from Larry. Thanks

wantto, I considered going to an herbalist but my OBGYN said as far as the warts go, herbs more than likely won't take them off, it'd just help keep them doormat from growing any bigger. Sooo stuck!

Please consider talking to your doc about being a recovering addict and about your concern regarding pain meds. There are pain meds which are non-addicting. Additionally. perhaps they can use a local injection and creams, and less oral meds. Just be completely up front with your doc. They face this issue frequently.

Take care. emmy

P.S. Isn't wonderful to have a place to talk about this stuff!!

[Larry_Hoover]

I received the whispering of angels, and came to see what I might contribute.

Pain is a real challenge to treat on your own. I'm sorry you have to balance one aspect of your health against another one like this. As for which treatment would be more painful, I don't know. I'd probably choose the laser, myself. It cauterizes the wound at the same time as it's created, reducing the risk of infection dramatically.

Anyway....I've done the 12-step thing, and I was in the position of using narcotics for a medical condition while attending NA. I guess it helps that I don't like them, but I had to use them following joint surgery. They have an excellent publication with guidance on the use of medication while in the program. It helped me with my decision-making.

If you're adamant about not using opiate pain medication (even with supervision, as by having the meds held by a trusted associate), then you're going to have to rely on ice packs (possibly hard to manage, depending on the location of the lesions), and turmeric. It's the only natural substance I know (other than opium) which addresses serious pain.

About a year ago, I fell and broke the bone inside my elbow. It didn't heal right, and I was just assessed for surgery. Part of that assessment was finding out where it hurt, so they had to hurt me to make the complete assessment. Well, it hurt so bad I was back on percocet. Totally forgot about turmeric. I was supplementing ketoprofen with percocet. Then yesterday afternoon I remembered turmeric. I dumped a heaping teaspoon into a glass of water, stirred it up, and chugged it down. Within a half hour the pain was gone. And it's still gone, 16 hours later. That's typical for my own response to turmeric, lasting a good 24 hours or so, usually. I don't get that sort of response to any other pain med, ever. I used Vioxx and Celebrex and all those others (I have a lot of joint problems), and turmeric beats them all, hands down.

I can't promise this will work for you, but it works very well for me.

Turmeric contains a very potent COX inhibit called curcumin. I've recently seen curcumin extract capsules sold in a local pharmacy. I just use the whole ground root, the same stuff that goes into a curry. I don't know if the extract works well, or not.

Be very careful of one thing if you use turmeric. It can stain nearly anything it touches....countertops, clothes, skin.... I take mine over a stainless steel sink, and rinse everything thoroughly right away. It tastes a little funky, but it's not gross or anything.

Good luck,
Lar

[hamstergirl]

Is tumeric a spice or something? I have constant pain in my right hip and buttocks and it's not responding that well to morphine. I'm currently using pain wipes, but it would cost 40 dollars a month to use one a day for a few hours of relief.