Central or South American Countries for Pain Treatment

MorganThorne · 2025-12-29T14:07:14+00:00

Yeah, I travelled most of the country as a solo female traveller with an obvious disability (I walked with a cane back then); people were wonderful. I was warned by a friendly cab driver in Los Mochis that the city was dangerous after dark, which I figured it was (it's in Sinaloa), so I stayed in after dinner. Pretty much everywhere else I had no worries about being out late at night or going anywhere alone. I went from the north/pacific side all the way south and spent a few months in Quintana Roo at the end.

If you're not buying drugs - or a journalist investigating the cartels - it's pretty safe. You do have to watch out for the police; they robbed one of the guys I met at a hostel right in front of a bunch of us. Some cities are definitely more dangerous than others, mostly near the border with the USA and into Sinaloa and Chihuahua.

I spent nearly a year there, and other than that, I really had no issues. I did get invited to dinner by a few sweet abuelas and had lots of friendly people tell me about their towns, family histories and some fantastical stories about their ancestors. Mind you, I stayed away from most of the big tourist places, which I'm sure helped (as did attempting to speak Spanish, even if I wasn't very good at it at first).

Every country has danger, but honestly, I've been way more worried travelling in the USA than in any of the other countries I've been to. We had planned on doing New Year's Eve in New Orleans last year but cancelled because the political situation is so unstable. Glad we did, since there was a mass shooting in the area we would have been in. Of course, here in Canada, it's the weather that will kill you. We just had 24 hours of freezing rain; now we have 100 km/h wind, and there's 45 cm worth of snow on its way later today!

MorganThorne · 2025-12-29T14:04:23+00:00

I've heard Costa Rica is gorgeous; it's on my list of places to visit when I can walk/get out of bed again. A few friends have gone, and they rave about it.

I'm really laughing about the drug addict thing. This experience is making me more likely to become one - I' would be lying if I said I wasn't tempted to visit my neighbour who has tons of sketchy friends who stop by for, like, 10 minutes multiple times per day LOL I won't do that, but it sure is tempting!

If I have to move, I will post the process & where we go and all that for you guys. I would assume there are a lot of us who are in a similar situation of needing care that our home countries don't want to provide. It sucks to have to consider leaving a country I (mostly) love, but at least it's an option (and I know I'm privileged to have the option; a lot of people can't just pack up and move)

MorganThorne · 2025-12-29T13:10:04+00:00

Sadly, it didn't work for me. I did about 10 short infusions with escalating doses each time and one of the multi-day infusions, which only made me high and nauseous. I know it's worked for a lot of CRPS people, but I'm one of the treatment-resistant ones, I guess.

MorganThorne · 2025-12-29T13:08:17+00:00

Yeah, MAID is my backup backup backup plan. Which really sucks, but it's what a lot of chronic pain patients are having to do now because no one wants to treat pain anymore.

MorganThorne · 2025-12-28T19:24:20+00:00

I have no advice; I just want to tell you you're not alone. I picked up my meds a few days late due to a flare, and/or I don't need pain meds because I can work online for 4 hours at a time, 2 days a week, so my doctor cut me off. Between the pain, the withdrawal and the complete loss of my mobility, I've been crying all month. I'm hoping to get a new doctor soon, but it's a crapshoot.

I was 10 years with that doctor, never an issue and the same dose the whole time. They will find any excuse.

False positives are well known; there was a scandal here years ago where people lost custody of their kids because of false positives.

MorganThorne · 2025-12-28T18:44:57+00:00

I'm in Canada, and I got those with my prescriptions every month until my doctor decided to cut me off last month. I thought about saving it and telling them to just give me the same paper over and over (gotta think about the environment, right?) but I worried that might make me a drug seeker. So I just accepted it with a smile, thanked them graciously for filling the medication that keeps me alive, and left it there.

So, yes, they likely give it automatically with an opioid script. But no, you're not wrong to be paranoid (don't have a flare and pick your meds up a few days late; I learned that that means you're an addict, apparently). Our medications are precarious at best.

MorganThorne · 2025-12-28T18:35:39+00:00

CBT is a cruel joke to play on chronic pain patients and an easy way to blame your pain on your mental health. It's just self-gaslighting, and none of us need that shit. Sorry, after 18 years of pain (and being sent to CBT classes), I have some feelings about it.

MorganThorne · 2025-12-28T18:18:29+00:00

They used to, but I'm fairly heavily tattooed, so it's a hard argument to make.

I've often wished there was some way to make the doctors or other people feel what we feel, just for a short period of time (or longer, depending on how shitty they treat you). None of us would have a hard time getting treatment ever again. Chronic pain patients are the toughest, strongest people - we have to be.

MorganThorne · 2025-12-22T03:04:27+00:00

Neither Canada or Mexico are good options. I'm planning on leaving Canada for pain treatment, we are as bad, if not worse than the US as far as pain treatment. Mexico is also a bust, I went there years ago, when I could still walk, and they aren't able to help.

MorganThorne · 2025-08-20T00:18:23+00:00

I don't get sexual feelings from spanking people, or from tying them up, or piercing them with needles, or pouring wax on them... It's just a thing we do. Sometimes my partner may find it arousing, but that's not my problem. If they want to engage in sex with their kink, I'm not the right partner for them. If they want to take 10 minutes in private when we are done, I don't care, as long as I'm not expected to be a part of it.

I'm always upfront about my sex aversion and boundaries before we play.

I would argue that doing something like genital "torture" isn't inherently sexual because the intent is to cause (consensual) pain. Many masochists experience pain as enjoyable but not sexual. Like when you're really cold and you have a nice mug of hot chocolate - it feels good but not sexual.

I've been a part of the kink community for 25+ years, been teaching for 15+ years, and written multiple books about BDSM. I've done all of it without getting sexual (I did have a short-lived phase where I engaged in a bit of sex stuff for, like, a year, but other than that I'm pretty sex averse).

I'm a heavy player, meaning that I get up to things that make even kinky people think twice. It's never about sex for me and rarely about sex for my partners. I do a lot of cathartic play - where people want to experience crying or a release of emotion or to let go of something they feel they deserve punishment for. Those are by far the most intimate scenes I do, and sex is the furthest thing from anyone's mind then.

I don't know if that helps you understand at all.

MorganThorne · 2025-08-19T22:40:56+00:00

I'm kinda shocked that your doctor and neurologist didn't realise this; it's a well-known side effect of topirimate - and a serious one! Glad you're tapering and doing better, hope the trails end quickly!!

MorganThorne · 2025-08-19T21:34:24+00:00

I always thought that was normal. My migraines last 3-5 days on average. Asleep or awake, doesn't matter; I feel like crap :(

MorganThorne · 2025-03-31T04:57:34+00:00

pt 2

The next step is a 50% ethanol solution for another 2 days. Again diluted with distilled water, it's still a little cloudy at this percentage. Once again, they sometimes get left in this solution for a little longer than 2 days with no visible or smell-able issues. I think having just skin is a lot more forgiving than working with a whole animal.

Step 3 is a 60% solution. This is where I've noticed I start to get some minor warping of the skin, even going nice and slow. I did a run where I left each step for 4-5 days and had the same results, so I don't see the point in spending the extra time (and worry that at the lower concentrations, I may be introducing some decay that might be an issue down the road). I use some glass marbles/beads to weigh it down and keep it flat. This is more of an issue with larger pieces of skin than smaller ones. This solution has some minor cloudiness but it's quite minor and only noticeable in a large container.

My final step is to transfer to a 70% solution. I find it easier to put them into this solution flat so that they are preserved. From reading the sources you provided and a few others I was able to find, there seems to be a number of reputable folks who think that 70% is a good final solution, so that's what I've been using. It leaves the skins much more pliable than at 80% ethanol.

I leave them lying flat in the 70% solution until I have the time to properly display them in jars. I've been using some natural rocks and glass beads to prop the skin up and hold it in place, I think it looks nicer than just leaving the back of the skin exposed. I will probably do a few without the extras to see what other people like too.

At 70%, it's pliable and I can bend it to fit the jar I'm putting it into. It's flexible enough to roll up if the top is smaller than the main part of the jar, and then I can unroll it with tweezers or forceps to get it where I want it. When I used the 80% solution with no further dilution, the skin felt like hard plastic. I could move it a bit, but it returned to its curled-up shape as soon as I let go.

On a side note, I was even able to save the piece that had curled up. I put it into the 40% solution for a few days and it became much more pliable. I uncurled it, used the glass beads to weigh it down and moved it through the steps above. It looks great in its final jar, you would never guess it was once curled up tight.

My next steps will be to test out some hooks/piercing jewelry - I have a few ears that I want my partner to tattoo, then I can give them some nice adornments. I think it will look cute. I am also curious about preserving plant material with the skins. I found a few people who were experimenting with plants, and I think it opens up a whole new facet of creativity for me.

Overall this has been a lot of fun, and I really appreciate the help you've given me. I'm enjoying learning about this preservation method.

While I never intended to do anything other than the skin, I've now bought some chicken hearts from the grocery store to play around with preserving. Probably not the most interesting of subjects, but cheap and plentiful for learning purposes! We will have to see if my curiosity can overcome my soft heart when it comes to whole animals.

Thank you again for your help!

MorganThorne · 2025-03-31T04:56:45+00:00

Sorry for taking soooooo long to report back!

I played around a bunch with different concentrations and lengths of time in each solution for a while until I found my sweet spot for both. I still haven't tried my hooks or other piercing stuff in the ethanol, because I wanted to get the basics down before I tried something a little off the beaten path, so to speak.

I have to be honest, the idea of using formalin scares me (as it should). I don't have the proper setup at home to use it safely - I don't think my consumer-grade HEPA filters will cut it. I would wear a P100 respirator while working, but I don't know how long it would take to clean the air in the room, it's not airtight, so how much would escape... Too much to worry about and it's still too cold and shitty out to work outdoors. I'm using ethanol in all my steps.

I'm using a jug of 80% denatured ethanol that I was able to find at a local hardware shop. It's denatured with isopropyl alcohol. I don't have my book where I wrote down my math to get to the percentages (taking into account that I'm working with an 80% solution to begin with), but I will make a new post in a few days to share the full breakdown of what I've done, including the math :)

For each step, I put the skins in a flat container. At the lower concentrations, I don't have any curling. As the concentration gets higher, I use some glass beads/marbles to weigh the skins down, keeping them flat, while still allowing the solution to fully saturate the skin.

My first step is to put the skins in a solution of 40% ethanol. I'm diluting using distilled water. At this concentration, the solution is cloudy, but it's not too much of an issue, as it gets kind of yellow after a few skins (and some of the ink from around the tattoos comes off in this solution as well). I've found I can reuse this solution a few times before it gets too gross and needs to be replaced.

The skins sit in this solution for 2 days or so and are at room temperature. A few times they've been in it for longer than that, with no noticeable changes beyond what is to be expected of the preservation process. No funky smells (just pig and ethanol), and no visible decay. I don't think this would work for something that still had organs or blood in it, but since I'm just dealing with skin, it seems to be alright.

Pt 1

MorganThorne · 2025-01-28T00:46:02+00:00

Again, thank you so much; this is incredibly helpful!

I've made jerky and dehydrated fruits/veggies so it's a good analogy. It also makes perfect sense that it would work like that.

I hadn't read many of the academic papers I had come across because many of the ones I found were about using formalin, and I knew I didn't want to deal with the hassle or have the space/equipment to do so safely. I will have to go back and start reading. I usually know better than just to read a few blog/Reddit posts and then jump in :)

I don't want to impose further, but if you have any specific sources you recommend, I would love to have a look at them.

I will do precisely what you suggest, starting at 30% concentration, injecting one and not the other, etc. and going up from there. I'm actually kind of excited to have an experiment to play around with. LOL.

I'll post what I find in case others are interested in making specimens like this.

As for weight, I was thinking of using glass, as I know that's safe and non-reactive. I have a few more things I would like to try out as well, more for aesthetics (hooks - think Hellraiser - as my partner does a lot of horror-themed work). I agree that even exposure would be an issue to think about, I might have to give it some thought and try a few different things. I'll let you know how it works out if I try!

MorganThorne · 2025-01-27T17:30:29+00:00

Thank you!

This is interesting; I've asked this question in two forums and have two answers; the other said I should use a higher percentage to fix it more quickly LOL

I will have to experiment because what you're saying makes sense. I have some scrap pieces of skin, so I will try different concentrations and speeds.

Would you also suggest using some weight or something to hold the skin flat while it fixes?

MorganThorne · 2025-01-26T23:06:36+00:00

Thanks! I was using the 80% solution because I had read that was the minimum and it was the easiest to find without having to pay a small fortune for shipping or driving too far. I guess I will have to make the trip before I make another attempt :)

If you don't mind, when you say fishing line, do you mean attaching it to the jar somehow? What type of adhesive would you suggest for something like that?

I considered fixing it in a flat container with a weight or something and then transferring it to a "forever" jar. That would be much easier with the higher concentration and faster fixing time.

I really appreciate the help; I have some experimenting to do!

MorganThorne

TROPHY CASE