How Bad Must Shoulder Pain Get Before Taking Narcotic Pain Pills?

At what point amid intense shoulder pain should you give in to narcotic painkillers, risking their sometimes alarming side effects? Narcotics can work wonders for some people, but in others, create side effects that are more troubling than the pain they're supposed to suppress.

My mother recently experienced a lot of shoulder pain due to a severe case of carpal tunnel syndrome. Yes, carpal tunnel syndrome can actually cause pain in the shoulder. Preceding this she had had knee pain from a torn meniscus and had arthroscopic surgery. This all meant that my mother was taking daily doses of powerful prescription narcotic pain pills.

It wasn't long before the narcotics began creating side effects. I warned my mother not to take any more pain pills. These drugs are very potent and can cause a huge host of alarming side effects, including confusion, constipation, vomiting and stomach upset. That's just the beginning. Narcotics can also cause depression and anxiety.

I told my mother DO NOT TAKE ANY MORE PAIN PILLS. There has got to be a way to get through pain without narcotics or other potent numbing drugs. After all, people got by before narcotic prescription drugs were even invented. My mother agreed to this plan, which went into effect two days after her carpal tunnel syndrome surgery.

Carpal tunnel syndrome surgery can leave residual pain, and my mother apparently had it in her shoulder. At one point she asked me how intense the discomfort would have to be before she could take a pill. This was after she was seated for 30 minutes with an ice pack on her shoulder.

I explained that if she could sit through the hurt for the past 30 minutes, she could sit through it for a few more minutes, to take it a few minutes at a time, to grit her teeth and just let it run its course. There was no way I was going to give her drugs that resulted in nasty side effects.

To help my mother cope with the hurting shoulder, I reminded her that she was fed (having had breakfast not too long before), and safe, with no danger around. I pointed out that she was warm (I had just put a blanket on her) and not doing anything that was causing damage to her shoulder.

"The pain will not injure you," I said.

The development of side effects coincided with when she began taking Norco, a potent narcotic, of which depression is a possible side effect. The various narcotics my mother had taken never seemed to stamp out the discomfort anyways.

My mother sat through the discomfort until I got her up to do some shoulder exercises to relieve the pain naturally. She got through it, without taking a narcotic pill. Yes, it can be done.

Consider that pain from post-surgical carpal tunnel syndrome can be managed naturally.

Update: The shoulder pain persisted and seemed to get worse. An MRI revealed tears in the rotator cuff region. Nevertheless, when pain can be tolerated in the absence of narcotic drugs, this option should be taken.