Misc The Pain Management Mega Thread v. 7

[kleinerkiffer]

I was in a car accident years ago and as a result of that I have a crushed spine (T3,4,5,7- 5 being the worst) and also herniated discs (L4 L5) which one specialist thought was the cause of my peripheral neuropathy.
I have really had to fight from the very start to get this treated.
After the accident they cut me out of the car and took my to hospital, where they told me there was nothing wrong with me and to go home at 9pm, despite my telling them I was in extreme pain.
I was lucky to have a close friend who works at that hospital come in and take me to the toilet and notice their was blood in my urine.
After I went home, she kept insisting the doctor re-check my x-rays. At around 2am the doctor finally did and he noticed I had a cracked pelvis, crushed spine, broken wrist and foot, and herniated discs. Not sure how he missed it the first time. I was wrapped up and taken up to a bigger hospital to be treated.
I was told coldly that my spine would never heal, nor my wrist and the discs.
The peripheral neuropathy didn't start straight away but when it did, it was horrible to live with. My doctor at the time had no idea what was causing the constant pain and burning in my feet and I had all sorts of tests and x-rays. This went on for 2 years and I was begging my doctor to please help me as it wasn't a pain that came and went like my back pain, but it was all the time. I already had insomnia but I was up all night putting ice packs on my feet.
Finally, after 2 years I went onto a forum and put in my symptoms. About 2 minutes after I posted, I got the reply of peripheral neuropathy. Finally! I got my doctor to arrange the tests and it confirmed the problem. I had to fight hard to get it treated but I am now on neurontin which has changed my life. After all that time, the burning sharp pain went down to pretty much nothing and I am so grateful for this.
However, I still had my chronic back pain. That does vary. I find in summer it is a lot less painful than in winter. This has been so hard to treat. I had been with the same doctor for over 10 years and because I was in there fighting for the pain in my feet on so many occasions, he was getting exhausted with me.
I had been on mersyndol forte for many years to treat the pain and in the winter, it just didn't even make a difference. Eventually he put me on Fentanyl 50 patches which completely got rid of my back pain. I could do pretty much anything with no pain. However the side effects were horrible and I had to weigh up if it was worth staying on them.
My doctor then moved his practice further away from my home and I decided to find a new one. I came across a lovely new doctor who put me on Endep. That was a good anti depressant and helped with sleep, but it did absolutely nothing for the pain.
I went to see a specialist while on them, asking for an alternative because at that point, I just wanted to get off the patches, and so he put me on Targin 40. It was very expensive to see him and I needed to find a regular doctor so I went back to the lovely one closer to home and I was kept on Targin for all this time.
The Targin slightly helps with the pain, but the side effects are quite harsh. They make me nauseous and slightly dizzy. At this time, I decided to take matters into my own hands and got into trouble. I had taken Valium a few times in the past and it not only helped with insomnia but muscle pain, and anxiety which Ive had forever. Because of my experience with my old doctor, I decided to go to medical centers to get Valium so my new doctor wouldn't get exhausted with me as my old one had. I am now on the naughty list because of this and now it will be a struggle to treat the pain in the winter time.
I don't want to stay on Targin. It is a slow release drug that I must take daily. What I would prefer is a quick acting pain medication that I take only when I need to. I can cope with the normal chronic pain, it is the crippling pain in my spine and my discs in the cold weather that is so hard to manage and I'm finding Targin just doesn't help all that much, even mixed with panadine and anti inflammatory which Ive given up taking.
I would love to get some advice on this. If anyone else has the same or similar issues could you please share your pain management program with me?
Thank you.

I merged your post with the Pain-Management-Mega-Thread

 

[BigG]

Yeah, I've been considering the factors. I read that benzodiazepines can be givin upon waking, so you don't have a negative emergence. I had ketamine once. It was awesome, to say the least. It was very peaceful. I will definately do my homework throughly, before the procedure. I will have a very long talk with my psychiatrist before/if this happens. If this happens, I will enjoy it

We use ketamine at work quite often for trauma such as a person trapped inside a vehicle where there is a need for general anesthesia but intubation is impractical (since ketamine doesn't suppress respiration in the way drugs such as propofol or sodium thiapental do). It is always given along with 10mg IV midazolam to erase the patient's memory of the unpleasant "emergence phenomena"...

The doses used for general anesthesia are high compared to average recreational use and it is administered IV but I've never understood the recreational value of ketamine if its judged so unpleasant that an IV benzo must be given to erase the unpleasant memories of the experience......doesn't make sense to me.....

 

[littlebird4]

i have degenerative disc disease...basically worn out disc. had to jump through all the hoops before insurance would even consider that i
could get fusion surgery. it worked. but sooo much time, pain and money before relief. seems like insurance companies rule out lives sometimes.

 

[StratMan172]

Posting in here because I can't make a new thread for some reason...

Im just going to start off from the beginning, hope this doesn't get too long. At age 10 my knees started having severe problems, i have a congenital knee disorder and my knees dislocate whenever I take a bad step. I'm 26 now and have been on opiates starting with vicodin, going to abusing iv dilaudid, and stabilizing at a methadone clinic.

I currently take 70 mg a day but some days I'll take up to 210 mg, leaving me to run out for a few days. On top of this I've been on a benzo prescription for 10 years on and off. I was prescribed xanax liberally and started taking up to 20mg a day with my methadone (and phenibut at the time)

after experiencing serious withdrawals from that I got on a taper with Valium, got cut to 45 mg of Valium from the xanax and have been taking a methadone /Valium combination for a year now. I generally get to the point where I have to drop my benzo intake from 40-60 mg a day to 10 if im lucky, otherwise 2 or 5 mg. So while I never run out on Valium there is generally a week of heavily reduced dosage. At some times it intertwines when I am out of my methadone and am having slight withdrawals. I go into a severe depression at times. Suicidal thoughts occur, no planning or any intention to act but thoughts that the emotional pain is overbearing and i just want it to end.

My biggest worry is a seizure, so really im curious about people who have had withdrawal seizures from benzos and while I know I'm in a serious fuckin predicament and have to get a grip on it

i guess I came here to look for anyone that had any input. I get my methadone refilled on Tuesday and see my doctor that Tuesday as well and can talk to him about things. I'm very scared if i tell him that I am having a hard time coping with tapering he will pull my script.

It's clear that cutting my Valium dose is heavily affecting me but if I'm still taking some (and I've been on it for a year so it's very built up in my system) am I still at a risk of seizure?

Thanks for any feedback

 

[SKR]

^Any abrupt cessation of your Valium would be risky in regards to seizures but I think you know this. Just about everyone in this thread knows the monthly cycle of high dose weeks to low to no dose weeks to WD......i never run out myself but that last week is a close call, oh and I'm meaning I supplement illicitly to ensure I don't run out......and I still fucking just scrape through sometimes.

 

[Runtoparadise]

^ Heya, welcome to our little community.

I doubt you'd have seizures from benzos while on the big bad 'done.

As long as you have some Diaz in your system, due to it's super long half life even if you're dosing every second day with some amount of mgs you'll be ok.

Rtp

 

[SKR]

i have degenerative disc disease...basically worn out disc. had to jump through all the hoops before insurance would even consider that i
could get fusion surgery. it worked. but sooo much time, pain and money before relief. seems like insurance companies rule out lives sometimes.

I take it you're in the US? We certainly have a public healthcare system most of us should be proud of in comparison to most countries and most certainly the US. I'm pleased to hear your surgery worked that's a perfect outcome given the situation. And yes insurance companies and banks rule our lives. Maggots, why don't the nutters blow them up instead of children, that's martyrdom. Not a nice world. Take care.

 

[BigG]

^Any abrupt cessation of your Valium would be risky in regards to seizures but I think you know this. Just about everyone in this thread knows the monthly cycle of high dose weeks to low to no dose weeks to WD......i never run out myself but that last week is a close call, oh and I'm meaning I supplement illicitly to ensure I don't run out......and I still fucking just scrape through sometimes.

That cycle you mention was one of my (many) reasons for wanting out of pain management TBH.....

It gets really old as the years roll on and it seemed like no matter what dose I was receiving (and I was receiving FAR, FAR more than most) the same thing was happening over and over....

My doctor was quite understanding at one point and would give me more if I fucked up badly but I found weekly scripts were the best balance between managing my meds and inconvenience of constant visits to the pharmacy.

Some people (like me) just dont manage certain types of meds well and i guess need to look into alternative ways to manage pain.

I do think the inability to use certain groups of meds such as opioids and benzos is a genetic thing to a degree......

If one is predisposed to gain an extreme amount of physical and mental utility from overconsumption of opioids then having constant access to them via pain management is both a blessing and a curse.....as time goes by it becomes more and more the latter and less and less the former

 

[SKR]

^Absolutely. I'm on Suboxone now and that has removed the ups & downs of Oxycodone use, but Bupe does nothing for my pain which was expected, I mean if 300mgs of oxycodone gives mild relief then what chance did a partial agonist really have? But Suboxone is a great stabiliser for those of us who's opioid receptors are hungry.

 

[Ganjcat]

hi guys I wanna ask how I should go about asking my doc for increased dose/quantity of codeine im prescribed for codeine I tried to make a thread that goes into this in more detail but couldn't find the pretix button anyway if you can just read a few of the details below if you want to help also much appreciated thankyou

hi so i get 100 codeine(30mg) and 30 tramadol 5
(50 mg) prescribed every so often for crohns disease but I have been taking more than I should lately last time I went to get a prescription the chemists were a bit funny because it was to early since my last pick up.

so now not a week later after my last pick up im down to my last 15 now I am planning to cut myself down gradually ive been on them for a few months my doc who I haven't actually had a chance to see in a while was sympathetic to my conditon as I had lost weight experienced many unexplained stomach issues etc had a tube down my throat that was done by an arrogant suregon who didnt even sedate me properly so I gagged on the tube while it was still in my throat so they didn't see anything from that (cant remember what the procedures called) and I refused to let those same doctors perform a colonoscopy at a later date because ugh I didnt trust them one bit not gonna go into it now but anyway back at my gp or doctors and he concluded I likely have crohns disease or ultravitus disease and prescribed me codeine then when I said they wearnt working as good tramadol 50 mg which I dont like as much but havent told him.

2-4 blurry months down the line my tolerance has grown huge but no more pain to deal with mostly the problem now us I dont get enough codeine to last me I admit I have been taking more than I should I just want to stock up so I can stay at home for a week or two slowely half my doses etc without worrying about running out or havimg a flare up obviously im sopposed to take them or pain im just worried if I ask my doctor SPECIFICALLY for increased doses or quantity of codeine he might doubt me but this is probably me being paranoid hes been good to me the only doctor who has been helpful and he should be glad to see the weight ive put on since being put on the painkillers so I was hoping some more knowledgeable individual like yourselves could give me some advice oh and I feel I should point out I never specifically at any point asked for codeine or tram he suggested them so thats why I dont want to sound dishonest if I suddenly start asking him for bigger doses after not seeing him for a while even though I have been on them for quite some time 6 months give or take I qas on 15 mg at start but the last 5 months ive been on 30 mg I was wondering if I didnt sound stupid if I could trade in the tramadol for more codeine if I ask my doctor Im just paranoid since I last went chemist about getting blacklisted I also suffer from anxiety but have learned to keep it mostly sonewhat manageable.

I did use codeine coincidentally a few years before my diagnosis after my friend introduced me I would take it for a mephedrone comedown and it was very limited how much I got it but he usually let me have a strip of 25 tabs of his dads I remember one day in his room after having a line before hitting the road I spotted a pack on his desk and just casualy asked if I could have some he was like yeh yeh help urself and Ifelt like a kid with a new console game lolthose days are mostly over for me now.

but it was a godsend when my doc prescirbed me a full stock of 15 mg 100 codeine for pain relief its just now ive got to this point they arnt as effective for pain or other purposes and the tramadol although having sone effects generally give me dry mouth and make me gittery worst than coffee as well as even more anxious than normal usually.


ps sorry for any grammar errors or inconveniences dont we all hate touchscreen?

 

[roxi2873]

Ganjacat I think you're an idiot because of what you posted in my loperamide causing precipitated withdrawal but I'm going to give you some advice. From what I can tell, basically you're afraid to ask your doctor to just give you more codeine instead of some codeine and some tramadol. This is what you should say or something similar:. Hey I noticed that the codeine seems to help my chrons symptoms a lot better than the tramadol. I don't really like the way the tramadol makes me itch really bad and makes me nauseous. I think I'd rather just have a little more of the codeine just incase of a bad episode of the chrons flares up and just discontinue taking the tramadol. Or something similar to that is what I would say. Since tramadol and codeine are literally the 2 weakest opiates there are I don't think the doctor would get suspicious about you abusing opiates and being a drug seeker. Now, if you were to go in and say hey that codeine and tramadol isn't working anymore I need something like Opana or Dilaudid to help with the chrons, then yes I'm sure you would be labelled as a drug seeker and red flagged. I really don't think your doctor is going to get weird about just asking for more codeine instead of tramadol. Lots of people don't like the way tramadol makes them feel, it's pretty common. I hope this helps...

 

[Slow_Mobius]

err I aint reading more of ur mumbo jumbo so you wasted your time on that wall of bollox lol just cus I picked your thread up for being pointless and stupid just like.....

Roxi gave you good advice. Its quite literally as simple as being honest with your doctor. Please don't keep treating him/her like a tool when they're doing you the courtesy of answering your question despite the fact that you flamed one of their threads

 

[Runtoparadise]

err I aint reading more of ur mumbo jumbo so you wasted your time on that wall of bollox lol just cus I picked your thread up for being pointless and stupid just like.....

Also, codeine has a ceiling effect. I think I read you were taking 15mg codeine pills.

As was pointed out, that & tram are weak opiates & it sounds as though there is substantial room to up your dose.

The reason that no one responded was that we're not here to tell you how to obtain drugs, & your post was difficult to read with no punctuation or paragraphs.

Rtp

 

[777prp]

Dear Mr. Iamthesuck, I have had 12-22 migraines a month for a while now. If you can get your Dr to write a script for vials of imitrex rather than the auto injector, you can pull up into the syringe far less and stretch it out farther. Five vials come in a box. And, if you're lucky, they can treat 15 migraines. I'm sorry you are suffering with migraines. My life has pretty much been ruined by them. An interesting change has occurred recently. I have, over the last 2 yrs, developed an orphan disease which causes severe burning feelings in my hands. Because of this I had to take Gabapentin. I had fought my neurologist about taking preventive drugs whose side effects include depression or cognitive impairment as I've had some extremely unpleasant and alarming experiences. But this time I didn't have a choice, because of the pain. And voila! My migraines gradually lessened to 2 a month. In hopes that you can pull something out of this info to help you.

 

[Runtoparadise]

Bump

Where has the family gone? I miss hearing how everyone's doing, even the newcomers!

Never known this thread to be so quiet guys?

Rtp

 

[ShroomySatori]

I have a great vision in mind for my life but I don't know if I will make it. Pain doesn't set me back so much now that I am an oxy head, it's just the problems that the years of being in pain caused and all the damage that was done before I got it 'under control'. It just sucks because normally I'm pretty smart about decisions and stuff but it was such a frenzy of panic and pain that I couldn't think straight. I can't think straight without the oxy I'd describe myself as manic and unstable. I got like that because I think it's sort of a defense mechanism to keep me from experiencing the physical agony. My brain goes haywire. I lost years of my life and that part I am fine with but I just want to live a normal life, there is nothing too special about what I desire. I have personal goals to test my mind, I want a better career that is in line with my education and most of all a very loving relationship. It takes effort and strength that I don't know if I have any more. I think I have it, but I was in pain for so long that I lost touch with reality, and now I feel like a ghost... time passes me by and I don't feel like I am in as much control as I used to be.

Cannabis concentrates can keep me chill at times when I'm pain free. Otherwise I tend to be depressed or anxious nowadays. Also, the best days are the days when I micro dose either acid itself or its analogues al-lad and eth-lad. I strongly prefer lsd and it's the one I take the most. I started using it in low doses, I can't say micro dose because the effects are light. Because it helps me concentrate. I'm not sure if it actually does, or if it just allows me to see past things that prevent me from concentrating. A nice stimulation of the mind and it helps me to confront habitual tendencies. Also, it is strong enough that I have light visuals and it completely changes the course of my day, but I mean light in the sense that I can still function. Actually, I take it in order to function on a higher level. Anyways, I am struggling not so much with pain now, but the aftermath.

 

[SKR]

^Fuck yeah nice one Shroomy lol!

Distraction is a valid strategy against chronic pain for sure in my opinion so your bang on ShroomySatori!

 

[Bigazznugz]

Hey guys I just wanted to share some things. I have been on methadone for almost half my life and I am 30 smh.
I started onethadone because I caught a ridiculously expensive pain pills and briefly heroin. I got on it for the wrong reasons I got on it to get high and not have to worry about getting locked up.
So I started taking the ever popular "cocktail". It is made up of one .3 mg clonidine, at least 25mgs of promethazine and a benzo (usually kpins) I have been on this every day for almost 3 years.
I am pretty sure I am addicted to clonidine now. If I don't take one after 24 hours like clockwork I get a huge head ache. If I don't take clonidine I go into cold sweats at night, twitches, migraines, and insomnia and very high BP. I'm a healthy 30 year old male 140lbs.
I used to take 3 clonidines a day a few years back and I think I might have really fucked up my body's ability to regulate it own blood pressure. Anybody else see this stuff happen at there programs or is it just a Baltimore thing?
Much love,
Nugz

 

[DixiChik]

Sorry, PAIN PEEPS...I've got nothing left.

My heart aches for those who suffer...every fucking breath of their life...like me.

I mustered HOPE that Cannatonic MMJ oil would potentially help me. The 2/3 dropper under my tongue is doable, but I can't get it.

Sadly, my dear friend starts another round of Taxotere next week. He's dying. His wife can only watch now. Thank goodness the newly acquired MMJ is offering him/her sleep and escape. I can't expect them to shop for/ship to me.

Y'all have my email if I can ever help you.

 

[Runtoparadise]

Oh, Dixi, - sorry to hear you so dismal. Very unlike you ?

I know just how hard it is to get the right pain relief even without your gut issues.

I can't remember where you live, but it sounds quite isolated. I know you work from home & care for your mother,- but is moving to a state where medical weed or even a major hospital an option ever?

Shroomy, glad you have a vision for life. "Where there's life there's hope". I think we all want a career & a partner. Good on you!

Bigazz,- clonodine has helped my pain sooooo much, don't know anything about it's addictive nature. Kpins for sure. Try switching to Diaz.

Myself, I've just changed lawyers as I felt the original one didn't have the fight of the tiger.

I've had a teleconference with the principle lawyer of a firm (that again I have to travel to), but after explaining my chronic pain & then my mva aquired injuries to him I feel quite confident this is the fighter I've been lkng for!

So I'm happy about that. He's a former New York lawyer & also a former head lawyer for the traffic accident commission over here as well before going out & starting his own law firm.

Yeah, I know they get a good cut of any compensation I get for my right hand/arm, but I feel if the boss man is willing to take on my case (& says he's helped many with chonic pain), he might be the one who has the guts to fight for me! Hopefully!!

So happy to hear from a few of you, keep safe,

Rtp