Non narcotic pain relievers
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Indiana
Posts: 503
Non narcotic pain relievers
Hi friends,
My son has had a lower back injury from a skiing accident a year ago. It is aggravated by sitting. He wants to go to the doctor and I understand that, but given his past, I worry about his tendencies to abuse anything they would prescribe. Is there anything non-narcotic that doesnt have abuse potential?
My son has had a lower back injury from a skiing accident a year ago. It is aggravated by sitting. He wants to go to the doctor and I understand that, but given his past, I worry about his tendencies to abuse anything they would prescribe. Is there anything non-narcotic that doesnt have abuse potential?
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Join Date: May 2010
Location: USA
Posts: 13,560
Ask the doctors office if they can make a cream for him. My doctors office is doing this right now. It is a blend of Lidocaine, and some other non-narc pain relief. She said she has gotten several people off painkillers, and it's working well. And, bonus, it's cheap.
Good luck!
Good luck!
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Join Date: Feb 2016
Posts: 12
There are many options for treating back pain that don't include narcotics, but that being said, sometimes they are necessary to adequately treat pain. Just because a person has a history of abusing drugs doesn't mean that he/she cannot take painkillers when they really need them. There just needs to be taken some precautions. First of all, let the doctor know the full history. This is important both so the doctor knows what to look out for and also because the patient might have an increased tolerance, so the dose would need to be adjusted.
When a patient has a history of medication abuse a doctor can take steps like prescribing limited amounts of medication at a time, or by prescribing the drugs in a form that's less likely to be abused. Patches, for example, release medication slowly and thus don't provide the same kind of euphoria as a pill might. The doctor could also give him extended release pills that don't work well when people crush them and try to inject or snort.
He can also drug test the patient to make sure that he has the prescribed medication in his system and nothing else. This actually works because it's almost impossible for someone abusing pills to not go through the prescription much too fast, in which case they'd test negative for their medication at the next visit and the doctor would know there was a problem.
He can also call his patient back at random times and ask to bring his prescriptions in to be counted.
I hope your son won't need any narcotics to treat his pain, but if he does, please know that it won't necessarily lead to a relapse.
I've been clean for two years but I still occasionally need to take medications for a chronic pain condition, but my doctor is careful and I'm determined, so I have succeeded in only taking it as prescribed.
When a patient has a history of medication abuse a doctor can take steps like prescribing limited amounts of medication at a time, or by prescribing the drugs in a form that's less likely to be abused. Patches, for example, release medication slowly and thus don't provide the same kind of euphoria as a pill might. The doctor could also give him extended release pills that don't work well when people crush them and try to inject or snort.
He can also drug test the patient to make sure that he has the prescribed medication in his system and nothing else. This actually works because it's almost impossible for someone abusing pills to not go through the prescription much too fast, in which case they'd test negative for their medication at the next visit and the doctor would know there was a problem.
He can also call his patient back at random times and ask to bring his prescriptions in to be counted.
I hope your son won't need any narcotics to treat his pain, but if he does, please know that it won't necessarily lead to a relapse.
I've been clean for two years but I still occasionally need to take medications for a chronic pain condition, but my doctor is careful and I'm determined, so I have succeeded in only taking it as prescribed.
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Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: New York
Posts: 775
I am someone who has trouble with abusing medication and severe back pain. I find plain old Aleve to be really effective. Like explained above working with a good Dr. is always the best plan. It really is up to your son to be honest with his Drs. It's good practice for the future. This must be his lifestyle if he is to succeed in his recovery
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