Gauge said:Larry <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...Quoted message said:I am not a doctor, but a patient that has had 5 (sorry I
can't compete with your 8, but close enough :-)).I'm afraid that I really do have to disagree with you on
this (respectfully, of course). I have had many
discussions with other patients on this topic, and have
also read many discussions on the topic at the Multiple
Myeloma Listserver. Please understand that I didn't record
the level of pain that each person experienced and I don't
have a tally ... I am basing my conclusions on my memory
of these discussions over the years ... and, of course,
upon my own experience.Did you have medication before this or did the doc simply
walk into the room and start drilling? What makes you
think that when you're comparing yourself to everyone else
that you're holding all other variables constant. E.g. a
dab of EMLA cream on the area before adding lidocaine and
demerol before the procedure starts can drop the pain from
a 10 to a 5.
No meds at all. Just Lidocaine, and lot's of it.
Quoted message said:
Quoted message said:It really does have a lot to do with the practictioner's
technique and upon the individual's threshold for pain
tolerance.The term "pain threshold" is pretty much meaningless until
it is actually define and a procedure is devised to
actually measure it. Perhaps there are a few people who
have a low density of nerves in the place where the
drilling is done. Perhaps anestesia helps some and not
others. Anticipation anxiety plays a large role in how
much pain the patient experiences too.Quoted message said:You are welcome to your opinion, but it certainly isn't
accurate (IMHO) to say "Bone marrow biopsies are famous
for being extremly painful."I;m not basing this on opinion. I'm basing this on
numerical fact. Go the the Leukemia and Lymphoma Societies
discussion board and look around. You'll notice that
everyone there who had a BMB has experienced large levels
of pain.Quoted message said:Take a look at
cancernetwork.comn0004p.htmOpen ↗
Well then I'm basing my statements on numerical fact also.
Take a look at
listserv.acor.orgmyeloma.htmlOpen ↗ , search on
"BMB" "Bone Marrow Biopsy", and "Bone Marrow" and I think
you will find almost as many people who feel the pain is
tolerable as those that feel it isn't. And I don't think
you'll find very many who describe it as excruciating ...
some will say "very painful" or something like that.
Quoted message said:Quoted message said:This is a study of an analgesic where patients were
surveyed on their experience during BMBs before and after
using it. Note the average "pain" score of 3.97 (scale 1
to 5) across 26 patients with no meds.It says
" 3.97 for previous procedures. The previous procedures
were sometimes conducted with ------->analgesics,<----------
sometimes without."By the way, 3.97 is nothing to sneeze at since that is a
7.1 on a scale from 1 to 10. Not to mention that people
can't accurately gauge pain with numbers in a non-
subjective fashion. And that's a 7 out of 10 with pain
meds. Pain meds don't work the same on everyone.
Never said it was pain-free or that it was something to
sneeze at. But
3.97 is an average across 26 patients. Seems
reasonable to me.
Quoted message said:
Quoted message said:Just curious ... have you had all 8 done by the same
person?The first was done by a an oncologist from my home town.
He just gave me a shot of lidocaine and started drilling.
It was a nightmare. I can tolerate pain pretty well but
that was overwhelming. It was the first time I ever
screamed from pain in the last 25 years. I had to have
anotherone the next day at Dana Farber. I begged them to
give me as much drugs as theyu could. They gave me
demerol. That was a different doc. The next six were done
by the same person with differing levels of pain, ranging
from 7 to 9. I did some research during this time to
learn how to lesson the pain. I learned that anxiety
increases the pain. I also learned that EMLA cream can
kill a lot of the pain. The last one was a piece of cake.
The third one was kind of funny since the doctor said "Uh
oh!" It was his first one and he thought he didn't hit
the bone. He actually did but he didn't know it right
off, hence the "Uh oh!" And, of course, I remind him of
that occasionaly. :-)Pmb
I have had nothing more than lidocaine every time I've had
one. Like I said, it's not something I'd volunteer to do or
go out of my way to do, but I find it tolerable. I've never
had to scream or yell ... the most I've done is wince. I
have more pain when the lidocaine wears off and I roll over
on it that night while sleeping. As I said, this has a lot
to do with the practitioner's technique and I think someone
else said it has a lot to do with the amount of lidocaine
used. It's a very interesting procedure as it results in a
wide variety of experiences.
Larry