Pain Management

[dragonheart]

I am new here and joined up last night and was wondering how many people on here have a problem like me with taking pain meds and how to get off of them.I have been on them for 7 years and take between 8 to 10 roxi 30's everyday.My question is how to deal with the pain and not take the medication.

[Sugah]

It depends upon what kind of pain you have, dragonheart. For me, getting and staying clean with chronic pain required a mind/body/spirit treatment. What is the nature of your pain? Knowing that might bring more specific suggestions.

(Just to let you know, it can be done. My conditions have not gone away--in some cases, they've worsened--and I haven't had to medicate them in six years)

Peace & Love,
Sugah

[dragonheart]

I have a total of seven bad disc,three in my neck one of which is pushing on my spinal cord,two in the middle of my back and two at the bottom which caused me to go numb on my right butt cheek and leg and so forth.I got most of that feeling back within a couple of months but it took me a year of therapy to be able to sit down and extent my right leg out.Part of my calve and foot stay numb and i get numbness and pain in my shouders and hands as well.I still work hard every day but i have a lot of pain on a daily basis to deal with.My neck hurts no matter which way i turn it,but even with all this i would still like to quit taking the meds or at least cut down and stay there.Any help please.

[Stubborn1]

If you really want to quit you should be honest with your doctor. Let him/her know you would try to wean down off of the pain meds to see if your pain is still chronic. Sometimes your body gets used to pain meds and at times I feel worse on pain meds. Try to wean down for at least two weeks and talk to him/her. If it is still pretty bad then tell her/him.
If the Roxi's are not working maybe she/him needs to switch pain meds or you could look into a morphin pump that is inserted into your back.
I personally like a tens unit. It puts out electrodes and you can use it through out the day.
I have chronic back pain and I have to be VERY careful with my pain meds because I can easily go over board. I get pain and pop a couple of pills.....then I feel good and do to much and hurt again and pop two more. I found that a pill case with the days of the week and the exact amount works well. If I short myself then I have to suffer.
All in all.......it's mind over matter. Weaning can be done gradually but you should really talk to your doctor. They understand when your body is no longer tolerant of the medication.

[Sugah]

I'm sure you know by now that opiates don't work that well after prolonged use. The body builds a tolerance, and you need more and stronger meds to get the same effect. If you're anything like me, who also wanted the high from them, it becomes near impossible to "get there" after awhile. Overdose becomes a very real possibility because we start to think that we have no limits. I've lost enough friends to know that's not true.

The first thing I'd suggest, if you don't already have one, is to seek out an addictologist or a doctor who understands addiction. One with compassion is a plus, and probably a necessary plus. Discuss your desire to be pill-free and keep an open mind. Ask a lot of questions about alternative therapies--acupuncture, biofeedback, and my favorite, meditation practices. Ask about vitamin supplements, diet, and exercise. If you've been in therapy for a year, you already know about exercise, but are you keeping it up at home? I have to stretch every morning or I would never get through till noon let alone all day.

Ultimately, I had to redefine my idea of "acceptable" pain. I found that one of the hardest things about living with pain were my thoughts about that pain. We live in a society where we treat every discomfort. (Please don't think that I'm suggesting that the pain you have is not significant. I have a few bad disks and some other back issues, so I've no doubt that you're in considerable pain.) I spent many years considering my chronic pain conditions a curse, when, with a shift in perspective, I could see that they, in fact, contained quite a few blessings. The greatest gift of my pain is compassion for other beings. Another gift--though it took me quite some time to accept it--is that I give others the chance to be helpful. There are things I just cannot do. I have to ask for help. And, I know you say that you work very hard--I do, too, though not so much physically these days--I had to slow down. As a result, I see things that other healthy people are often in too much of a rush to see. I've had to learn to work within my limits, and that took some doing. Right now, I'm working as a teacher while finishing my graduate degree--so that, hopefully, one day I'll be a full professor. That might not be your bag, but what we can do is limited only by the imagination. Be creative! We live in a world that's become more and more disabled-friendly.

Tell us more about yourself, dragonheart. What do you do for a living? Do you have family? Friends and neighbors?

Peace & Love,
Sugah

[dragonheart]

I have cut down on the meds many times and then start hurting a lot more and go right back up in just a few days.I thinks the problem is that i push myself to hard when i don't feel as much and it hurts me worse.I have been talking to my pain doctor and he suggests i change my career.I am a mechanic and make good money at it.I have a wife and two awesome kids and i am suprised she puts up with me some times.I think i will do what you said and change medication first so that will get me off the roxi's and go from there.Does this sound like a good idea or no?

[Sugah]

Oh, gosh. My father was a mechanic, as was my ex. That is hard on the body. My dad had it in his blood, though, and once he couldn't work on big rigs, he switched to domestic vehicles, then finally to small engine repair. He managed his pain, somehow, until cancer took him. My son has shown an aptitude for mechanics, and I keep nudging him into health care

Good luck with your transition, dragonheart. Update us and let us know how it's going, okay?

Peace & Love,
Sugah

[dragonheart]

I am still young and on top of all this,I have been dealing with a blood clot in my leg that almost killed me a couple of months ago and if i had gone to work another day or two it would have done just that.

[iljchia]

I have chronic back pain as well --- The TENS unit worked great with my back. I also took anti convosants because it included nerve pain. If the TENS unit works, you might want to look into a spinal cord stimulator rather than a morphine pump. This is like a more focused internal TENS unit. Medtronic is one of the companies that puts it out (if you want to google it). It medicates through electric current with none of the opiod side effects.

[dragonheart]

Thanks for the help and when i go back to my pain management doctor in January i will talk to him about some of these methods that you are telling me about.Has anyone on here take methadone and how does that work,thanks.

[jazpoppy]

Dragonheart,

I'm going on the Fentanyl Patch. Not the kind with the fluid in it, its a solid patch. I don't abuse pain meds anymore. I learned through counseling, NA, and basically suffering with pain that was not medicated, that I need the medication in order to have a quality of life, so abusing it isn't an option. I refuse to take oxycontin (or roxicodone, oxycodone, percoset) because I would abuse those as they don't work for my pain but they do make me feel buzzed. I can take methadone, which is what I'm on now, and I have no desire to abuse it. but I'm moving to the patch in 2 weeks because its more steady pain relief around the clock for 72 hours, and its not really abusable in the form I'm being prescribed, I wouldn't want to chew on any gooey jell or cream (in the case of the new patches I'm getting its a cream) anyways! Sometimes we have to have some pain medication for quality of life issues, but if your doctor can find a non-medication treatment for you that works (and be honest if it reduces your pain by 75% or more, STICK WITH IT) then thank God and stay away from narcotics, but if you cannot get a good quality of life without being on some type of narcotic consider an internal medication pump, or a Fentanyl Patch. Good luck to you!

Sincerely;

Jazpoppy

[MROBI]

listen and talk with a high quality pain dr. who should be working hand and hand with an addiction specialist. why do you want to get off the meds if you need them for pain. a diabetic wouldnt try to get off their meds.
you could have your dr. switch you to a longer acting med like morphine or methadone wich has a less chance of abuse and can work wonderful depending on how your pain is generated. and also the approach should be multidiscanaplary with pain mapping and injections and such. getting a good dr. is the hardest thing