Greenlighter (but lurking for years)...Pain Management and buds...

nope

Greenlighter
Joined
Jul 28, 2011
Messages
35
Location
Dirty South
So, this is maybe my third post since actually opening an account, and it's in TDS for fuck's sake...

Quick background: Herbal smoker since 13, psychedelics out the wazoo in high school, then just back to only herbals (except small amounts of harder stuff maybe once or twice a year, no addiction problems...)

In 2009, I suffered from mis-diagnosed DVT (blood clot), as two doctors thought it was only persistent gout. I almost died at work from a pulmonary embolism triggered from blood clots originating in my right leg. The pain and stiffness in my leg - I thought it was due to gout - but it turned out that it was actually muscle death (peripheral myopathy). If anyone watches House, basically that's my diagnosis. Woke up in the hospital with a Heparin IV, morphine drip, and concerned family in the ICU.

I've recovered fairly well, can finally walk without a cane, and am losing the weight I put on while in recovery. The only thing that touches the pain is oxycodone potentiated by cannabis, been @ about 60mg a day for a year, down from 120mg following surgery. At my last doctor's visit, he basically said that due to new state laws, I would basically have to go to a pill mill to continue getting anything but NSAIDS from him; he'll still prescribe my Klonopin, but that's about it. He gave me my final 3 scripts for oxycodone at the first of the month, and I have to find a pain management doctor before the end of the year. Considering that without the pain meds I can barely walk, this is going to be tough.

All these pain management clinics drug test; I could be a raging alcoholic (even though I don't drink) and be a model patient, but if cannabis is detected they boot you out the door - no matter they're scripting morphine and oxymorphone like candy to people who have little to no medical history. The herb will never be out of my life; choices, choices...

This is potentially going to force me to start buying junk of unknown quality off the street; I've pretty much resigned myself to that fact. I've been a chipper since the surgery, but I can also appreciate the pain-killing qualities of sub-recreational doses due to the chronic bleat of pain coming from what's left of my leg. I've never run out of pain meds, I don't get any type of "high" from them - just pain relief. Besides chipping once a month and cannabis; I've been a model patient.

When I woke up this morning, it just kind of hit me; How long until I become a junkie? I just don't see any other option. I know that sounds fucked up and pre-deterministic, but part of me feels like I can control it, even though I know there's a good chance I won't be able to. All because I refuse to give up cannabis on a moral level and as a matter of principal. I lived in a state with MMJ for 10 years before moving back to the Southern US, and here all my old friends just smoke cigs, drink like a fish, and some are now coke-heads (like in a VERY bad way). I don't do any of those things, but I'm all gravy with snorting junk once in awhile because I'm already physically dependent on opioid medication.

I've lurked here for years - since the beginning, really - and I know this is by far NOT the most fucked-up thing I've read in TDS, but the plans I've been formulating for a month now seem to be going in a direction I know is dangerous, but I somehow don't care.

Anyway, I'm not really expecting encouraging responses; I mean, who in hell would condone what I just said? Guess I'm just venting...Is it wrong to see pure opioid agonists and cannabis as medication, not "dope"?
 
The problem is that the urine test is used not only to check for illegal drugs, but also to make sure you are taking the medication they prescribe you by confirming the presence of active metabolites in the urine. Clean urine would only show them that I'm NOT taking my medication as prescribed, and then they would kick me out for diversion. I REALLY hate the DEA and FDA for causing this; hope the doctors in New Zealand don't treat you like a prisoner, living under the constant threat of a random urine test just because you need pain medications. It's getting really fucked-up here in the states.
 
No joke, hence that's why I'm saying I know it's probably going to go down that way, probably for the worse. I feel helpless to stop it. It's like knowing the day of a future fatal car accident. It just scares me...
 
so theres a few not so great option i can see

1, stop smoking pot. unlikely right?
2, take a chance at the pain mgmt clinic, maybe you wont get tested, maybe there will be an understanding doctor
3, buy your meds on the street....dont buy smack of unknown purity ffs.
4, deal with your pain without opiates. im going to see a pain psychologist soon, maybe thats something you could look into?
 
I definitely respect your decision to keep smoking pot even though it could potentially cost you your pain meds. It's bullshit for sure that any alcoholic could roll in and get a script for opiates when taking opiates with alcohol can easily be fatal. But if they see any amount of weed in you, you're immediately labeled as a druggie that is going to abuse the medicine. Fucking ridiculous.

If you're absolutely not going to stop smoking then I'd say your only shot (probably a long one) is to talk to your doctor about it BEFORE you take the piss test. Let him know that you have been smoking weed for whatever medicinal reasons beforehand to maybe gain some trust. If he's still reluctant to give you anything, ask if he'll start you off with a smaller amount so you can maybe prove to him that you're not going to abuse them.

I would obviously advise against using street smack, but I do understand where you're coming from. Buying actual prescription meds on the street is going to be way too expensive so what other choice to you have, right? Something is definitely wrong with this..

I dunno man but best of luck and keep fighting the good fight!
 
Buying meds is a bad idea bro. Look at it this way. If things go back and you get caught you could end up in jail or prison with no meds or no pot. If I had to make your choice I would quit the weed. I am not condoning using illeagl drugs in any way shape or form ... but I will say this. There are weed alternatives that don't test. If I had to choose between.

Buying street drugs and keeping weed. (very expensive at your level, risk of jail/prison time, shady)
Or going to a doctor for your Pain pills and using (legal weed alternatives)
Well I would go with number two

I recommend you just get off the weed altogether and either find a new pain medicine perhaps ox for the long term and dilaudid for the break through pain. Or maybe methadone with dilaudid or even maybe Fentayl with dilaudid.
I speak from exp. I had a sugary when I was 19 im 28 now. I live in constant pain. I ended up getting on suboxon and learned to deal with the rest of the pain on my own. Its not a happy ending but I can function and im not a junkie. I ended up getting hooked for 9 years because the pain wouldn't stop. But at some point I just had except that it wasn't even going to stop no matter what I took.

Just don't give up hope and really think of cutting the weed out. Maybe the pain meds don't get you high but the weed sure does. Weed may offer pain management but there are THC pills now you can get prescribed completely legally that don't test positive. Perhaps talk to your doctor about them. I know there out there.
 
Thanks for the input, everyone. I actually talked to an old high school friend whose dad was a doctor, but just retired. His partner took over the practice, and even though it's about 80 miles away from here, I'm going to end up going to his partner and she knows about the situation and doesn't mind taking me on as a patient. There's such an immense crackdown on CII meds in this state that my current doctor is probably scared to keep me on my regimen, I guess because he has too many patients on pain meds already and doesn't want any extra scrutiny. My age (31) probably makes him think I'm "too young" as well. Anyway, there is hope now, as my friend's dad and the other doctor themselves both smoke, plus my medical records are rock-solid and would stand up to any scrutiny from an inquiry by the "authorities".
I've already been able to cut my dose in half over the course of a year, and I'm comfortable with 4 of the 15mg Roxi's daily; 60mgs really is not that high of a dose in the great scheme of things, considering my condition. The pill-mill option was not ever going to be viable for me, so I'm happy to make the drive south four times a year to see my new, small town primary-care physician who isn't seeing 100 patients a day. Crisis averted, by sheer chance if nothing else.
Peace to all, be safe, and thanks for listening (or reading, I guess). I don't feel so anxious now.
 
Yep, I lucked out in a big way...Thank god for baby-boomer doctors! It is nuts that these pill mills can pop up and then be gone the next week; I need a legal, stable doctor who isn't a cash-only, shady quack in a strip mall that gets busted and disappears. Doctors who have built up good reputations and practices are the only way to go for me. I shouldn't feel like I'm on parole when I go to see a doctor; I don't think I would be able to keep my cool when asked to piss in a cup to be seen, and also be subject to "random" tests as well. If I were to get a call for a random test, I'd just tell them I'm out of town until my next appointment - I mean, that's seriously such a stupid policy, I don't know why people put up with it.

The only thing these urine tests catch is pot, so they can take their test and shove it. I'm not going to put up with being treated like a criminal. I guess that's healthcare in the US, at least as far as pain meds are concerned. But you can go to just about any shrink and get ADD meds without being tested, and those are just as dangerous, if not more, than opiates. Thanks again, I love that I can get opinions from around the world here - it puts things into great perspective.
 
Anyway, there is hope now, as my friend's dad and the other doctor themselves both smoke, plus my medical records are rock-solid and would stand up to any scrutiny from an inquiry by the "authorities".

You know NOTHING. Driving eighty-plus miles to see a physician specifically for pain meds? HUGE red flag for the "authorities." Also, you've insulted
the reputations of these physicians by implying that they smoke marijuana. Have you seen BOTH doctors actually smoke? Do you know that a
doctor can lose their medical license for just being accused of doing illegal drugs?

Doctors don't exist to serve your drug-seeking purposes, so please show some respect.
 
First off, Missykins, I know my friend and his father WELL - they are family friends, and I did not name any names <snip> And I'm not driving 80 miles for "drug-seeking purposes", I am going there as a legitimate patient for TREATMENT OF MY LEG!! Read the damn post! Did it not occur to you that I've ALREADY BEEN prescribed these medications before and I explicitly stated I WANTED TO AVOID THE PILL MILLS and go to a legitimate doctor? How about you show ME some respect by not replying flippantly when I spelled out that I am going about this the legal way. <snip>
 
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Even without Cannabinoids Opiods should provide a level of pain management. Each opiod constructs a relative unique, but also cross-tolerance with narcotic substance based painkillers. Chronic pain is a horrible situation. Cannabis is not a legal medicine south of the dixie line. Keep the demon of physical pain away with something that keeps you legally OK as a patient.
 
I have fibromyalgia which is basically nerve pain allover my body. Tried opiates - They killed the pain, but ofc they were very addictive and this forced me to quit and just endure the pain. But then I discovered Lyrica(Pregabalin). At the moment I have take Naproxen and Lyrica and that does a better job than the lesser opiates for me. But if it flares up I have opiates as backup to use occasionally and because my tolerance has dropped they hit a lot harder.
 
Thanks man, I always take them as prescribed...it's my recreational use of the harder stuff that worried me, but now that I'm setup with a LEGIT doctor I don't have to worry about substituting RX meds for unknowns and I can keep chipping (or not - it's not a ritualized habit or anything). Weed is always going to be part of my life even though I'm not even a heavy smoker/vaporizer either. I'm sorry I went off on someone, it's just their attitude caught me at the wrong time and I perceived it as very pompous on their part. Thanks for the assurance; I've seen friends go down that road and while most of them are functioning well, so many went off the deep-end with the H. Didn't want that to happen to me, but fortunately I'm blessed with self-control.

Edit - @Ody - I am aware that I don't need cannabis to make the opiates work; it's just that when I do take them in one form or another, I can reduce the amount of painkillers I take if I concurrently vaporize or better yet eat my caramel treats. The whole point is to get the opiate/opioid intake to a smaller mg. If I don't indulge myself in cannabis, then it takes about 80mg of oxycodone to reach the same painkilling abilities. As my surgeon and three subsequent doctors have told me, I will probably be on some form of CII for the rest of my life due to the severity of muscle loss and chronic pain. Not that it's something I am proud of, but I've always been able to use them as directed. I've tried all other forms of analgesia from acupuncture to yoga. As long as I'm not taking anything with added tylenol or ibuprofen, I really don't worry about my liver. These LEGALLY prescribed meds are the resaon I'm able to physically function and not be tied to a cane, or worse yet, a wheelchair. Small world, I used to live in Trinidad, CA for a few years while going to HSU, so I'm well acquainted with that cool, quirky town :) Turkey bag central!
 
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