tjp613

If a person is given addictive drugs by his doctor to manage chronic pain, it is almost certain (?) that they will become addicted, right? So then when they get all messed up because of the addiction....what then? If they end up in recovery how do they then manage their pain???

What a mess!

URMYEVERYTHING

Not all people get addicted as not all people have an addictive personality, however, chronic pain can be treated with non-opiates and injections now. Unfortunately, I have treated and seen plenty of innocent people living productive lives prior to an accident, placed on painkillers and are now bona fide addicts. The pain is too severe so they medicate to rid the pain noy to numb any emotional feelings. You are right.. it's a mess. I have seen these people require detox and wean themselves off the painkillers to still end up in chronic pain in the end. My heart goes out to these people. They didn't look for addiction, some didn't even have any intention to become one but by circumstance they became one. Truly sad.

ElegantlyWasted

Awesome question... My knee hurts from biking... How bout some OXY Doc???? Rush Dr. Shopping all over S. Florida for the stuff??? I know I should never go there. Just mixing vico with beer was incredible (incredibly bad for me).
Acupuncture and localized cortisone injections???

littlebird77

I sometimes wonder if after an accident or chronic pain that the emotional pain is greater then the physical and the addict tries to mask it. My mother and a friend of mine are both non-addicts and in a terrible car accident, and I am convince that the pain driven was more emotional. I don't know why that is though.

URMYEVERYTHING

I believe it's a mixture of both. Any tragic accident can cause PTSD or some severe emotional pain. However, most often say the physical pain is far worse and would give anything for the pain to just stop. It's debilitating. Now, you do have those out there that don't have chronic pain and manipulate.

justtired

This is what has a hold on my abf. He does have chronic pain. He was prescribed pain meds to help with that pain and they helped him have a better quality of life. He then started to abuse them and now he is terrified to admit he has a problem because he really believes that he will live in pain. That really would be a terrifying thought. And then it gets confusing as to what is true pain and what is addiction just telling him that he is in pain. I wish I had an answer for the "what then". From reading in the substance abuse forum, it does seem that usually the addiction does make the pain worse and when the addict finally admits they have no control over the pills, then they find other ways to deal with it like meditation and non-addictive pain meds. A lot of the time it seems that they find that these other non-narcotic meds work a lot better than they ever thought. I'm sure there are many people living out there in some level of chronic pain because pain pills just aren't an option. It's a very sad and unfortunate situation.

laurie6781

Most of you know that I have been in recovery for a very long time, both from alcohol and drugs, and as a codie.

What many of you don't know is that I LIVE with chronic sometimes debilitating pain. How do I manage it. Well, I have medication, prescribed by my doctors (they each know what the other has prescribed). I keep a log, of every time I take my medication, I also have a TENS unit. I get injections in my knees and now in my hips also. There is not much they can do about my back as the disks are denigrating from my osteoarthritis also known as degenerative disk disease.

If an addict is truly in recovery and has worked on themselves, then they can and do use said pain medications JUST FOR THE PHYSICAL PAIN, AS PRESCRIBED. I know of many in my boat, doing the same thing. I keep my log for me, to keep a check on ME, however I do take it with to my Dr appointments. Alll my Doctors (my primary and my ortho and my Neurologist) know I am a recovering addict, and know what each is prescribing for me (no double prescriptions, lol).

Been dealing with the chronic pain now for over 9 years and so far no problems.

It really is up to the individual ....................................... do they want recovery ............ do they want enough of a 'blanket' on the physical pain to function .............. and are they willing to follow their Doctor's orders to a T.

Yes their can be a GREAT life in recovery, even with chronic pain! Just depends on the individual.

J M H O

Love and hugs,

itisatruth

Yeah.....totally agree with all that Laurie said - it really is up to each person to manage their health care and be honest with their doctors and responsible with whatever medications they take.

Some people have legitimate pain and really need help. Others use pain as an excuse to overuse. My (r)AH has been somewhere in between. He had back/neck problems for years and it was this that began him down the road to years of relapses, detoxing, and rehabs, basically a living hell IMO.

His choice today, is to accept that he cannot manage pain meds, so he chooses to not take any. When he has pain now, he takes Advil, but even he admits, that his pain is not what he made it seem back then. In other words, he exaggerated his pain, and he didn't realize it (or accept it) at the time.

The thing is though, when a doctor would prescribe, say 1 Methadone every four hours AS NEEDED for pain, he would take the entire days supply at once, tell the doctor his tolerance had built up, and need more. Eventually, he would end up taking 16+ or whatever the doctors would give him. In contrast, I have a friend who has back problems. He is prescribed meds "as needed" and actually takes them only as needed.

If anyone, addict or not, needs addictive pain medication for pain it is imperative to 1) Be honest with all doctors involved 2) Be honest about the amount of pain and take as prescribed 3) Know that there is a huge difference between taking for pain relief and taking enough to get that "high" 4) Remember that there are non-narcotic ways to help with pain too and attitude does make a difference. Pain does not have to rule people's lives.

On a side note, my rAH knew all of these things all along - it just took him a very long time to really learn them for himself.

kj3880

As I am in recovery, and the genesis of my drug dependency was pain from disc degeneration and subsequent surgery, I have some experience with this: We learn when we do a good first step that we as addicts have NO CONTROL after we take the first fix. None. So when I am given a bottle of narcotic pain meds, I only have control until I take the first pill. After that, my disease kicks in, and I'm not responsible for it any more. I'm responsible for my recovery, not for having the disease of addiction. I can't allow a bottle of pills in my own hands. It doesn't matter, for this addict, how much step work and recovery I have. My disease will take over if I have a supply of pain meds available to me with no outside monitoring. For now, I've chosen to put off the surgery I need because I haven't come up with a good solution to the problem of pain management. I'm not saying this is true for all addicts. Maybe there are some who can moderate their use of narcotics. But for me, I never had any luck with it.

Love,
KJ

Learn2Live

Is hereditary and a lot of my family has it, including me. I have three herniated discs in my neck which can be debilitating.

My younger brother has it. He has had two major back surgeries, the first of which he had at age 23 and, yes, that is how he got addicted to painkillers. Both he and his wife had elective knee surgeries on two separate occasions in order to get more drugs. He abused drugs and alcohol prior to the surgery, having started at age 12.

His tolerance built up so much that he could take 25 Percocet at a time and not feel it. He continued his pill addiction, combined with other drugs and alcohol, for about 15 years. He was constantly complaining of the pain, and using the pain as justification to himself and others why he had to continue taking the pills.

He is clean now for about 2 years. We discussed his back pain and he tells me he has none. He doesn't need any painkillers.

I have not had surgery for my herniated disks. I tried physical rehab or whatever it is called but that made it much worse. There are three things that help me immensely and keep the pain away:

1. Stop smoking. Smoking causes spinal pain to be worse.
2. Learn yoga moves and practice them.
3. Keep my head up when reading books.

Oh, and like my Mom says, stop focusing on the pain and complaining about it.

You don't NEED painkillers to manage chronic, extreme pain.