Hi there I thought I should share my experience of pain management in order to maybe prevent someone else going through the agony I went through two evenings ago. Here’s the story.Just over a couple of weeks ago you may be aware I had the misfortune to suffer a minor "off" which resulted in some majorly disproportionate injuries, namely 4 broken ribs and a broken right ankle.When discharged from my overnight stay in the repair shop I was given a script for the cocktail of drugs that the head mechanic in the body department had decided I would need to manage my pain for the next six days.Well I have never been a fan of taking pills of any shape or colour that contain names of man-made chemicals that sound like a made up language designed with the sole purpose of preventing the ants of the universe from finding out that they are really industrial cleaning products in dry tablet form.So it was with great reluctance, and the memory of the pain I was in before the nice nurse put the morphine drip in my hand and made the pain hide behind a fence in my brain somewhere, that I decided to do as I was instructed on the bottle 3 or four times daily.On the third day of taking the drug Tramadol I decided that my head should not have the volumetric feel of a helium balloon and that there should be more to my recovery than staring into space for hours on end during the  actual time that I was awake.So I made a conscious decision to drop that particular little white innocent looking sweetie out of my 6 hourly line up of drugs and see what happened.What happened was an obvious increase in pain but  I suddenly regained the ability to read more than one page of a book before having to go back to the start again and I could stay awake for more than twenty minutes at a time.This left me with the codeine, paracetamol  and the voltairin gang.Now one of these drugs, (popular consensus says its codeine) makes you constipated, something I have never before experienced and I hope to God never experience again.....So that’s it, I decided enough was enough, and decided it was time ditch the gang completely and see if Mr pain had got fed up of hiding behind the fence and decided to go home.What followed over the next 24 Hrs., was what I can only think that drug addicts all over the world must go through when they make the decision to get clean....let me tell you I have no idea why it’s called cold turkey, but what I can tell you is that it is not a pleasant experience and involves lots of sleep deprivation and your internal thermostat malfunctions between fever and shivers with alarming frequency.Anyway I got over that and my bodily functions returned to normal, Mr Pain re-emerged but he was obviously subdued and tired, and needed to re-think his strategy so I had won a battle and felt that I was once again in control of my own body.YEA RIGHT!To celebrate this fact I decided to knock the top off a couple of Stella’s and go out for a curry, my whole alcohol content for the evening spread from 4-30 in the afternoon until I eventually retired at 10 pm, amounted to two bottles of Stella, one kingfisher strong and a bourbon and coke !I slept soundly until I woke with a start at 2.20 AM feeling like my rib cage had given up its fight to repair itself and had decided to re arrange itself into a shape more commensurate with the shape of a boat hull, the pain level on a scale of one to ten was a fifty at least, I could only take shallow breaths and my mouth was drier than a witches tit.I had no idea what the hell was going on, at first I thought it was because I had overdone things, I had, had a busy day, I was in the hospital all morning getting poked and prodded, and having my internal organs photographed yet again, plus they sent me to the body shop to have some glass fibre repair work done on the leg, and all this time I was hobbling around on crutches wincing with every 300mm step. However my body was speaking up and was shouting…DRINK WATER YOU BLOODY FOOL…..so that’s what I did for the next two hours, I swear the clock slowed down for that period of time, my breathing was shallow, my heart rate sounded like a morris minor petrol pump and my skin was leaking like a sieve.I have since learned that there is a heightened importance to staying away from alcohol and spicy food when you’re recovering from injury because dehydration will amplify your pain , no one tells you this, what they do tell you is not to drink alchol  while you are on pain meds, and as I had come off the pain meds thought I could resume normal service.Now all you medical buffs out there can fill in the gaps and tell us the technical reason why this phenomenon occurs, and as for the rest of you, who have no issue with putting chemicals with names like hydrcholidepastapheonodyclphinidesodiumgrumpysuphilthate into your body, keep taking the tablets!

For future reference, hopefully not needed, this site will supply the good oil on all NZ prescription pills and potions.http://www.medsafe.govt.nz/

Missed you on the Coromandel Ride in the weekend.Best wishes for you and the bikes recovery. Trust the nurse isn't sick of that role yet 😉

Cheers Olin,can't complain,nurse Babzee is putting up with me well.I am getting stronger by the day,toay was a particularly good day,hopefully tomorrow will stay on track, hope to be back on the bike for the Christmas holiday if the ankle is strong enough afer the cast comes off.RegardsRincewind

Are those BMW OEM parts from your toolbox?My medically-minded other half has commented something along the lines of "Oohoowouchnice".

Sorry guys I missed your welcome post……..I arrive March 13th, in time for my grand-daughters birthday on the 15th, and assuming my son in law hasn't trashed my GS I expect to be in the twisties (also known as any-road-in-NZ) right away. My only real plans are theWorld Speedway event at Western Springs on the 23rd and a one week tour around the Nth Island. Other than that beers and camaraderie are on the agenda.Sadly I leave to return to the frozen north on April 7th.......Gonna be hectic but thats what holidays are for, are they not?Dont forget if anyone needs any parts I can ship then Im happy to help.My family lives in Botany Downs....Al Gill

http://www.webbikeworld.com/BMW-motorcycles/r-1200-gs-hand-guard-problem/The above link was how I discovered the mechanics behind why I binned my bike,whilst I am grateful at being able to fill in all the blanc spaces,I am never the less angry with both BMW and myself.Myself for ignoring a little light on the dashboard and electing to continue on with my journey, and also for buying into technology that i have managed to live perfectly well without for 50 Years.BMW for it's total failure in not notifying the original purchaser of the machine or it's subsequent 2nd purchaser, of the potentialy life threatening fault on this year/R1200GSA and others of the same ilk.It's hard to think how my relationship with this bike is going to be reconciled once it is repaired and returned to me with it's shiny new modified two piece hand guards,should i trust it,after all, it has caused me a lot of pain and inconveinience.Or should I forgive it,for on the other hand, it was not the bikes fault,ultimatley it was it's creator who gave it a dodgy part,and me who ignored it when it was trying to tell me it was sick.One thing is for sure, if i decide to keep it,you can bet your last dollar that I will never ignore another warning light !RegardsRincewind......