MONROE, NC – A North Carolina woman has invented a new pain management protocol for herself, and she has experienced incredible success with controlling her debilitating pain.  Anne Erskell hails from a Charlotte suburb and has accrued at least four different pain syndromes over twelve years, though she has yet to show any significant laboratory or imaging abnormality.

Thanks to multiple primary MDs, PAs and NPs who prescribe narcotics liberally, for years Ms. Erskell has been blessed with a dizzying surplus of narcotics with which to experiment at home.

Erskell, 43, was hospitalized last week and reached by GomerBlog for comments.  “Sorry it took me a while to get back to you, but I have been in a ‘fibro fog’ for a couple of weeks.  I had to double up on my fentanyl patches, and I ramped up the Soma from thrice daily to four times.  My sliding scale basically goes like this: when my pain flares up, I count on my Dilaudid tabs.  My doctors knows me well; they are the best doctors in the world, I’m sure of it.”

“They make sure that I have plenty of both 2 mg and 4 mg Dilaudid on hand.  I mentally rate my own pain, then take the appropriate Dilaudid dose.  If my pain is a 1-4, I take 2 mg and reassess.  If it is a 5-7, I take a 4 mg tab.  If it is 8-9, I take a 4 mg and a 2 mg, which totals 6 mg.  If it is a 10, which it frequently is, I take two of the 4 mg tabs, or 8 mg total.  I reassess after 20 mins and repeat the process.  If it is still a 10 or even 10+ at that point, I call 911 and get to the ER to have my port accessed and get a PCA for a few days.”

“It is elegant simplicity in action.  It just dawned on me one day that diabetics dose their insulin based on what their blood sugar value is, so why shouldn’t chronic pain patients use the same method?  Pain is the 5th vital sign, for heaven’s sake!!  It is much more important than a blood sugar value.  I hope and pray that all patients suffering with chronic pain will embrace my method for a happy, healthy life.”

Erskell then drifted off into a “fibro fog” that happened to coincidentally closely follow her jack-hammering of the PCA button, which she was able to reprogram without a bolus time restriction.