Painkillers and me: One mother’s story

LITTLE BY LITTLE –

Sept. 13, 2023 – “The only thing they think they can do with pain is give you more painkillers,” she tells me.

She says the drugs have had a significant impact on her life and how she lives it.

“It changes so much, it fogs your brain up so you don’t think properly and the memory loss.

“I couldn’t remember anything.”

Helen says she realised there was an issue when she found her painkilling fentanyl patch, which was supposed to be changed every three days, was not having the same impact and she realised she was changing it every day.

“I knew there was something was wrong, and in the back of my mind I thought it would be the addiction side, but I was too embarrassed, almost ashamed of myself,” she said.

Her daughter Aimee Lord had also noticed, but did not want to say anything in case she upset her mother.

“When she said she wanted to see the doctors and speak to them about it, I said ‘I will go with you’.

“I was slightly relieved because the topic had been broached. I didn’t have to say it myself.”