Harm Reduction The Pain Management Mega Thread Version 4

[BiggDirty01]

Ugh, saw my neurosurgeon today and lets just say he wasn't encouraged with my progress after 2 separate attempts to re-fuse my spine. I had imagined being in a better place after surgeries in February and May but my pain hasn't substantially decreased.

I'm still glad I was able to cut my methadone use in half over the last 6 weeks, but I am tied at the hip to my Oxycodone and my mobility is pathetic. I will be doing a CT scan tomorrow and hopefully answers to follow in the next week or 2.

Until then, same shit...different day.

 

[Doomed2pain]

i'm sorry it hasn't worked out how you had hoped big dirty, I know how devastating it feels to be expecting some relief and getting none, I was the same after my nerve blocks made the crps spread instead of helping with the pain, and also when I was expecting surgery only to find out I wasn't a viable patient. I'm in agony, the cold is really kicking my ass.

 

[michael]

the hurricane has screwed me over by delaying my scripts. luckily i have extras.

 

[brighton]

^ Thats organised!

How is everyone today?
Im going to the dentist tomorrow to have my sore jaw looked at again. I hope they help.

 

[tentram]

^good luck at the dentist.

i'm taking a few days off the morphine and using codeine with small doses of diazepam - muscle spasms have been increasing the last couple of weeks i've noted. i waited till i had wd symptoms, which were getting worse every minute, before i dosed today for whatever reason. it was a huge dose which gave me a high, in perfect time for my e-cig arriving today, so the next couple days are going to be interesting adjusting to the codeine only which is a minuscule amount of opiate compared to my usual morphine. i'll be getting out in the yard to keep as busy as possible through the day and help keep my mind off the pain so it shouldn't be to hard a process. i could do with lowering my tolerance especially as i'm looking to drop dosages in the near future.

Do you think it is a big difference between diaz and cloanz in how much it can relieving nervepain and stomach spasm?.

diazepam has better muscle relaxant properties than clonazepam imo. it's a very well rounded benzo across the spectrum, my favourite of all (yes, i've injected midazolam amps, valium is still better)

 

[macd610]

^good luck at the dentist.

i'm taking a few days off the morphine and using codeine with small doses of diazepam - muscle spasms have been increasing the last couple of weeks i've noted. i waited till i had wd symptoms, which were getting worse every minute, before i dosed today for whatever reason. it was a huge dose which gave me a high, in perfect time for my e-cig arriving today, so the next couple days are going to be interesting adjusting to the codeine only which is a minuscule amount of opiate compared to my usual morphine. i'll be getting out in the yard to keep as busy as possible through the day and help keep my mind off the pain so it shouldn't be to hard a process. i could do with lowering my tolerance especially as i'm looking to drop dosages in the near future.


diazepam has better muscle relaxant properties than clonazepam imo. it's a very well rounded benzo across the spectrum, my favourite of all (yes, i've injected midazolam amps, valium is still better)

I ran out of my bt meds a few days early this month. this has happened a few times before and everytime it does I tell myself that when I get my prescription I will take half my regular dose in order to get my tolerance down. I just can't do it though... by the time I get my script I feel so horrible that I take my usual 75 milligrams. I wonder, does anyone have an opinion as to whether or not I could get my tolerance down a bit if I could actually achieve my goal 1 of these days? I take between 60 and 75 milligrams of oxy codone IR 4 * a day.

 

[Doomed2pain]

to get your tolerance down you would need to take a couple of months off every opiate, that is how i used to do it, I've been in too much pain this year to do it though. last year i went cold turkey off the fentanyl for 3 months then went on morphine to get me medicated before it turned cold

 

[jones-in_J]

So i planned on starting pain management with a doctor who only normally takes clients 25+ since im a few months away from being 25 and have crohns disease

Unfortunately i just found iut that a couple months ago he got shut down and fled to soutb america for writong too many scripts..

Fucking great. Doctors near baltimore are scared to write shit for someone young like me despite my very real condition and the one doctor that was going to be awesome is gone now. Fml.

 

[Doomed2pain]

opoid therapy can actually make crohns worse rather than better due to the side effect profile affecting your digestive tract. have you tried gabapentin or pregabalin for your stomach my friend has the same condition and found them both very effective.

 

[jones-in_J]

When im on them it makes it better. Mayve in the long run it could cause damage... but i dont care i want opiod therapy.

No i havent tried those things though. But like i said id rather just get pain meds

 

[Doomed2pain]

pain management doesn't work like that, you have to try every option possible you aren't just going to walk in there and get handed strong pain meds. most of us here have been in pain management for years and still don't get strong pain killers.

 

[macd610]

pain management doesn't work like that, you have to try every option possible you aren't just going to walk in there and get handed strong pain meds. most of us here have been in pain management for years and still don't get strong pain killers.

Jones...
Exactly. Everyone I know who is in somewhat successful pain management (including myself) has traveled down a pretty miserable and usually long road to get to where we are now. If we are truly after pain relief, we have willingly tried everything our dr's have suggested. It's easy, once we have experienced any relief with opiates/opioids, to start believing they are all we need; that nothing else will work.
For many of us, after much trial and error (and effort) our Doctors and ourselves have found that to actually be the case ...but it doesn't normally come easily.
To be blunt, there are hoops to be jumped through-but they're worthwhile hoops that are made to protect Doctors and patients. Certainly it sucks, but for me it became a bit easier (emotionally anyway) once I accepted these facts.
I don't mean to sound preachy. I KNOW how frustrating this process can be.
I wish you the best finding the treatment you need
Cat

 

[jones-in_J]

I have tried everything my doctors have suggested and it seriously still doesnt take it away. Still diharrhea 4/5 of the time and blood in there too sometimes. With pain meds they constipate you and its thr only time it doesnt hurt and im not running to the bathroom every five minutes. Immodium works for the diharrhes but hurts my stomach real bad cuz it stops me up too much

 

[tentram]

I ran out of my bt meds a few days early this month. this has happened a few times before and everytime it does I tell myself that when I get my prescription I will take half my regular dose in order to get my tolerance down. I just can't do it though... by the time I get my script I feel so horrible that I take my usual 75 milligrams. I wonder, does anyone have an opinion as to whether or not I could get my tolerance down a bit if I could actually achieve my goal 1 of these days? I take between 60 and 75 milligrams of oxy codone IR 4 * a day.

simply get your doctor to cut your dose down at an appropriate time, have a talk to them about your motives and what you're wanting to achieve. i've also been of the idea of wanting to lower my morphine dose for a few months and now that the warmer weather is here it's a reasonable time. my doctor was asking a few weeks back if i was ready but i wasn't. i'm going to have to bite the bullet sooner or later and get back in control of my situation. i have managed almost a week from IVing anything and struggled the last few days pain wise but it's under control for the most part now. i've been harping on about the whole lowering my dose bullshit too long.

 

[BiggDirty01]

I have tried everything my doctors have suggested and it seriously still doesnt take it away. Still diharrhea 4/5 of the time and blood in there too sometimes. With pain meds they constipate you and its thr only time it doesnt hurt and im not running to the bathroom every five minutes. Immodium works for the diharrhes but hurts my stomach real bad cuz it stops me up too much

Lomotil, a prescription medication for diarrhea, works very well and isn't like immodium (which is a relative of opiates).

Pain management with legit doctors is a long process, just like the others have said. Opioid therapy is not a long term solution and pushing the issue with a new Doctor is a guarantee to not get prescribed opiates.

Hopefully you find a PM Doctor in your area. Just expect that he or she will want you to try multiple alternatives before prescribing opiates (if they are a good PM Doc, and not a quack).

I understand you're suffering, but trust us you will want to approach a new PM Doctor with an open mind and a willingness to give the alternative treatments a legitimate effort.

Hope this helps some--good luck!

I hope everyone has a pain-free or, as minimal amount of pain as possible, and enjoys the weekend!

 

[phenethylo J]

God my ribs, chest, shoulder blade, and arm when I woke up this morning. It was this stabbing, ripping, crushing pain. It felt like a building collapsed on me. Thankfully once my morphine, hydrocodone, and gabapentin hit me it became bearable enough for me to get out of bed and eat breakfast. It is still there now but not near as bad as this morning. I need to stop sitting at the computer so much since that tends to make it worse sometimes.

 

[Doomed2pain]

lomotil works brilliantly i used to get it prescribed for my ibs and it really helped me. id give it a go if i was you it could be the answer to all of your problems without taking the extreme route of opoid therapy. if i could manage with out opiates i would do it in a heart beat.

 

[Jktm]

if i could manage with out opiates i would do it in a heart beat.

This is thinking that most people don't have until it's too late to go with other options. Hell, some healthy people WISH they had cancer or some type of chronic pain, just because they'd get an opioid script and think that they would get super fucked up all the time. They just don't realize how much of the "narcotic" effect of opioids are diminished when one is truly in a lot of pain.

 

[macd610]

simply get your doctor to cut your dose down at an appropriate time, have a talk to them about your motives and what you're wanting to achieve. i've also been of the idea of wanting to lower my morphine dose for a few months and now that the warmer weather is here it's a reasonable time. my doctor was asking a few weeks back if i was ready but i wasn't. i'm going to have to bite the bullet sooner or later and get back in control of my situation. i have managed almost a week from IVing anything and struggled the last few days pain wise but it's under control for the most part now. i've been harping on about the whole lowering my dose bullshit too long.

Thanks, Tentram. Very good idea...and I know exactly why it never occurred to me! I think pain patients in general have to go through SO much for a long time before our Doctors come to the conclusion that opioid therapy is in order. Then ( If we are lucky enough to get to that point) We go through much in terms of trying to find the right medication or combination of medications. THEN (I'm speaking for only myself now ) it takes time to achieve adequate doses. I think in the back of my mind I am afraid if I asked him to lower the dose and find that after time, it doesn't work, I'll have a hard time getting back on the original dose.
Pretty much, I'm scared of the thought of being undermedicated...although my Dr has never allowed me to suffer before (once we developed a trusting relationship, obviously). It's just that I went through such a long period of being treated like a drug seeker, having hydrocodone thrown at me that it's left emotional scars if that makes sense.
OK, thanks for listening and thanks again for the good advice, Tentram.

 

[Morphling]

Bloody fool of a doctor is threatening to cut me off if I don't buy insurance and let him experiment on me some more...it's so much cheaper for me to pay for the office visit + meds than all that mess! He's like oh, so all that shit and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of treatments failed...well, let's move down two vertebrae and get you a thirty grand stimulator! Well, to hell with all this fuckery, time for a new doc methinks.