His recollection of the meeting was a bit different to mine; he seemed to think I was in favour of changing to the new drug, Tapentadol. I don't remember that, I remember me reserving judgement and saying I'd have to think about it.
The doc had emailed me about the letter. He said he knew nothing about Tapentadol, but that he thought the changeover would be potentially difficult because of having to reduce the Oxycodone first.
I've done a lot of research into this new drug; I haven't found a single person who thinks it's worth changing over. They've tried it and found that, although there are fewer side effects, there's also less pain relief. The manufacturer's website says the only reason to change is if you can't bear the SEs of Oxycodone any more.
As I'm coping with the SEs, and anecdotal evidence shows no increase in pain relief, and given my ridiculously fragile mental state at the moment, I emailed the doc back saying I don't want to try it at the moment. I suggested we hold it in reserve for if we eventually find the Oxycodone is no longer viable.
The doc seems to have returned to his usual supportive, understanding self, so I'm hoping he'll be OK with that.
In the meantime, I'm drafting a letter of complaint to the hospital about the 'new look' pain clinic, where patients aren't allowed to talk to their consultants...
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