Chronic Pain MEGA Thread

[ocean]

This thread will be for offering support and assistance in any way we can to those suffering from Chronic Pain.
As many of you know, Chronic Pain can lead to substance abuse or dependence.
I wanted to create a place for CP sufferers to be able to discuss all of the nasty things that come with their illnesses or injuries.
Besides substance abuse, there are a number of mental issues that come with having a CP issue-
Hopefully having others with like minds, share and discuss, can help us to find new ways of approaching the management of Chronic Pain.




Please consider TDS Guidelines while posting here.
This thread is NOT the place discuss current drug use in a glamorizing way, or to play a game of comparison.
While discussions of medication is allowed, we're asking you respect others possible addictions and be delicate in how such things are discussed so triggering does not become a problem.
'Other Drugs' has a Pain Management Mega Thread v7 as well, you can find a plethora of information on medications and such there.

 

[Help me please]

If all goes as planned I have 16 more days of tapering off the dr prescribed opiates. I am on morphine sulfate now but was on oxymorphone with norcos for BT pain. I have a knee issue. Had surgery which made it worse. Pain was controlled by the drugs but in June I decided I wanted off all of them so I could reassess my pain. Most days it feels annoying but tolerable and some days like someone hit me with a metal baseball bat!

I've gone back to icing, massaging, using icy hot, ibuprofen, etc. If it is not under control by January I will have my knee replaced. I have a fear of drugs. I need to find a surgeon that will do the replacement under a spinal anesthesia since I won't do a general.

 

[Z Y G G Y]

I haven't felt my pain since I have gotten on methadone. I mean I feel like 10-20% of it most times but at least I can sleep and function. I hope it continues working. It is the only medication that makes me feel normal and controls my pain. I tried many different meds before and I wasn't very functional. Now I feel great. I can work, do school, take care of myself and my family, pick up the phone, keep a clean house. Being able to do these things can easily be taken for granted, but I wasn't able to do them before either due to side effects of meds or pain. Now I am finally getting my life together. Feels great. I Don't feel gross about myself or guilty that I am not doing what I am supposed to. I can finally help out my SO on a level that is necessary for us to have a good life, finally. I am so glad I was able to get the help I need, even thou its through a clinic, I really don't care. It's doing what its supposed to.

I am so thankful to my husband and mom that they never gave up on me even in moments when I totally lost it. They stood by me and took care of me when I most needed it. Now I want to return the love they gave me. I have a life time of being thankful ahead of me. I will return the favor by doing as much for them as I can. Without them I would be dead, homeless or in jail right now but instead I have everything I need and an awesome, healthy baby on my arm.

It's worth getting through the tough times so that we can experience the happy times.

 

[karona]

I have a pinched sciatic nerve in my back. Sometimes the pain goes all the way down to my shins. I was being prescribed a couple different pain killers and a muscle relaxer.

After a couple injuries. Actually a few over the past couple years or two. Doctors do not want to prescribe me anything for it. Saying that since i am young i shouldn't be on painkillers/addiction yet. I also have L1 and L2 compressed. And no cushion in between.

What should i do? I am tired of having to obtain pain killers illegally and due to a certain situation should not have lower back surgery for a couple more years. As they want to fuse the L1 and L2 together.

Input would be great. I'm starting to be frustrated after years of this BS.

 

[Dr Pepper]

^You need to see another doctor.
Just because your young doesnt mean you should be forced to suffer constantly. Happened to me and i might end up having HEP c from a dirty needle, too soon to tell, keeping fingers crossed. Im off the smack now and going to try and get legit meds soon.
How old are u btw?

 

[Help me please]

I have a pinched sciatic nerve in my back. Sometimes the pain goes all the way down to my shins. I was being prescribed a couple different pain killers and a muscle relaxer.

After a couple injuries. Actually a few over the past couple years or two. Doctors do not want to prescribe me anything for it. Saying that since i am young i shouldn't be on painkillers/addiction yet. I also have L1 and L2 compressed. And no cushion in between.

What should i do? I am tired of having to obtain pain killers illegally and due to a certain situation should not have lower back surgery for a couple more years. As they want to fuse the L1 and L2 together.

Input would be great. I'm starting to be frustrated after years of this BS.

Find a pain specialist! Most orthos won't provide you with any relief past Vicodin. My insurance company told me to see my pain dr. I am taking myself off the opiates faster than my doctor told me to but I want off of them. He thinks I need them for life unless I have my knee replaced. I happen to have a very kind doctor though who thinks everyone has the right to live pain free!

 

[Ixchellian]

From having my spine accordioned and knees smashed due to my prior occupation, opiates only worked for the first couple weeks.
Muscle-relaxers for my jacked-up posture does jack-shit, except knock me out & make me depressed.

I had to stop riding bikes & doing PT, which totally ruined my calves and 6'er. not to mention a sex-drive.
Those stupid epidurals made things *worse*.... like by a lot. Before those, I probably could've stayed in; but after I was basically incapacitated from the pain & heavily titrated-up morphine.
Surgery has been out of the question.... and I rather don't like the idea of being left paralyzed from the waist-down from a proceedure with a 20% failure-rate.

What *DID* work?

1. Trigger-point injections. Those stopped the muscle-spasms cold, and last for about a month.

1.5. Pool, as in the water kind. Floating takes a big load off things.

2. Lyrica. Zapped the nerve pain, and made certain pleasant things more doable.... along with acting like an anti-depressant. There's a lot of rumbling now about how bad Lyrica w/d's are, but on the scale of lesser evils..... Being in less pain, happy(er), and able to do some stuff again, vs. a world of pain that morphine & heroin wouldn't touch, muscle spasms so bad it'd be hard just to uncurl myself in bed, and the attendant depression of said afflictions?....

Pah.... too easy a choice to make...... even though I still really like morphine & heroin, the pregabalin has also curbed the cravings greatly.
Maybe it's just me, but those are the only two-1/2 biggies that've worked at making life a little more bearable... along with being able to get off the big white horse I've been riding for so long.

Note: I have noticed that while I was living at altitude in Colorado, I did have less overall pain than while living here at sea-level. I dunno if it's the dry climate and whatever that makes my RA not act up as bad, or what.

 

[karona]

I have to travel to see a specialist. Don't help they took my medical card and waiting for another one to come in.

Pod tea helps out a lot just don't kick in fast enough. Btw, does lyrica have to build up in the body for a little while before it starts working effectively?

Shit im not even 30 and feel 60 sometimes. Think i'll drink that gallon of p tea haha. Or order bunch of 200mg xr trams. They work pretty bad ass 4 me anywho.


Hm. I think this is a nice thread. Maybe even vent some.

 

[paranoid android]

Ive been doing okay more or less lately pain wise. Well my joint pain is flaring up today but thats just the humidity. I havent been abusing my morphine so thats a good thing. The trigeminal neuralgia seems to be fairly well under control lately thanks to the morphine and gabapentin. The increase in gabapentin seems to be helping i think. That and good old cannabis for the trigeminal neuralgia as well as the other pain i have.

 

[ocean]

I have to travel to see a specialist. Don't help they took my medical card and waiting for another one to come in.

Pod tea helps out a lot just don't kick in fast enough. Btw, does lyrica have to build up in the body for a little while before it starts working effectively?

Shit im not even 30 and feel 60 sometimes. Think i'll drink that gallon of p tea haha. Or order bunch of 200mg xr trams. They work pretty bad ass 4 me anywho.


Hm. I think this is a nice thread. Maybe even vent some.

This is the kinda thing you should take to the Other Drugs link I posted in the first post.


I have fibromyalgia and PCOS- I was on medication for it, but stopped all but a muscle relaxer. I find that the most difficult part is trying to not complain. My husband and mother have Chronic Pain disorders as well and being surrounded by others with pain, and in pain daily myself- keeping a positive attitude can be difficult but is necessary to living a normal, enjoyable life
I beat myself up a bit with guilt when there are days I just can't hear another word about my loved ones being in pain- but it can be too much to bear. My husband understands this- my mother, not so much. Sometimes I want to scream "I AM IN PAIN TOOOOOO!" but my pain goes ignored....... 8(
Anyway- I've been working on that and have been feeling a lot better depression wise b/c I have begun to cut off my over sympathizing. (This sounds a little heartless but truly, I'm not. I just gave too much and now work for balance)
Enough of my little rant.........

PA- Glad to hear you haven't been abusing your morphine.

 

[paranoid android]

I had the worst fucking pain i have had in a very long time the other night. I woke up and had pain coming from my neck that was so bad that i started puking my guts up from it. Then it started to trigger off my trigeminal neuralgia big time and i started screaming from the pain litterally. My mom heard me (my cunt of a dad and i use the word dad loosely was in the next room and not only didnt hear me but didnt care ) and came running in and sat with me until the pain started to die down. It's been a long time since i actually screamed from pain. Since i was puking i couldnt take my morphine and i didnt have any syringes so i couldnt do up a shot. The next morning i took a metoclopramide and some dimenhydrinate and i kept them down long enough to work since the pain had stopped by then.

I should not have to live like this. This is making me depressed and im almost afraid to sleep due to the fear i may wake up in pain. It sickens me that due to stupid laws i can't get the amount of meds that i really need. Im going to my doctor next week and im laying it out the good the bad and the ugly. Im going to tell him that i am sick of it and that i need to get this under control or it will fucking kill me.

 

[Ixchellian]

Btw, does lyrica have to build up in the body for a little while before it starts working effectively?

neh, it started working for me almost immediately.

then again, I do tend to do things not according to directions....

 

[izzy66]

i've had rheumatoid arthritis so long i don't remember life w/out pain, stiffness, fevers, etc, etc.
i've taken every thing from aspirin to indomethacin, methotrexate to newer disease modifying meds, cortisone injections, etc etc etc. i gained a bunch of weight and had several bouts of pneumonia. the side effects far outweighed any benefits.
so i quit the meds, worked w/ a physical therapist, massage therapist, and even tried acupuncture, biofeedback, and other "alternative" therapies.
i did everything i could to avoid pain meds but eventually i had to have a serious talk w/ my doc. i had no life, wasn't able to work a full shift, and was becoming a really angry, miserable person.
doc and i decided to give methadone a try. i felt so ashamed like i was too weak to handle the pain and stiffness on my own.
i was so wrong. i had almost no side effects and the pain was diminished by 70-80% although the early a.m. stiffness is still pretty bad. the past 5 years have been the best/happiest of my life. i still go to physical and massage therapy. depression and anxiety are better although i can go off the rails into a manic episode if i don't watch out.
i'm convinced everyone can find a way to get their life back. what worked for me might not work for anyone else but no matter how bleak things look, keep trying.
-izzy

 

[panic in paradise]

its been a pretty fukin nightmarish couple years before opioid maintenance finally started happening, the difference in quality of life amazing, but im still getting adjusted(need ER), and diagnosed.

it just wouldn't be possible with out.

i take
7.5/325 oxy 4-6 day
40ml/mg humira every 10 days
mmj
promethazine or marinol occasionally
currently an antacid.

relaxation techniques are good, transcendence when its bad, "hemi-synch", the physical therapy/stretches my body needs, i have a tens unit i still use occasionally, i try and have the right food when do i eat, and pods usually two or three a day when i switch to them(much better, but not ideal)

so far i have a seronegative spondoapathy; ankylosing spondylitis, osteo-arthritis, bilateral sacroiliitis, leukocytosis, off and on anemia, Remicaid induced chronic dry pleurisy, off and on hypoglycemia, nausea, other odd details, and more diagnostics to do.

im so frustrated, they've found all this and theres more, but nothing solid. i have appointments this month and wish there will be something answered somehow! or more of a lead...


my heart goes out to all of you.

 

[stuckinsouthdakota]

Nothing works for my pain. I have about given up. I have not tried Lyrica yet. Maybe I should ask about that. I have close to 90 tumors on nerve throughout my body, I'm having surgery on my rib cage and my neck in October to remove a few. Life in pain, fucking sucks the big one. I hate it.

 

[LayedBack]

Sorry to hear about those who are suffering from no pain medication. I am 20 years old, my pain started about a year ago exactly. I have to say, being in chronic pain, and being so young, and being in america, is some real bullshit.

Because I'm so young, I'm supposed to just suffer. It doesn't matter if I spend my mornings and nights crying in bed and wanting to die. They will NOT give me opiates. I've tried neurontin, 5 nsaids, steroids, tramadol, darvocet. And while tramadol actually did help, it made me feel like shooting my brains out every second I was on it.

Fact is, I'd be willing to try anything. Do anything, to get out of pain. Pay any amount of money which I don't have.

I have nerve pain in both my hands that can be absolutely horrible. I have nerve pains in my neck so bad I can hardly get out of bed a lot of days. I have what I believe is arthritis in both my knees. (I've dislocated them both multiple times) Some times I can't walk from that. I would say I'm around a 5-8 out of ten most days. Some days better, some days worst.

I got fired from my job because I was in too much pain. I'm at the point where I'm afraid to get another job, because I know my life will be a miserable painful hell when I do.

Now because of all this. I have resorted to poppy pod tea daily. It's amazing how much better I feel on the tea. I rarely find myself in bed crying when I have a good dose of tea in me. The problem is, I don't WANT to have to spend all of my money, using drugs illegally to live.

Now that I am so addicted, I can't go to a pain management clinic because they will drug test me. So I'm kind of fucked until I find a doctor willing to give me hydrocodone or something similar.

Sorry for the rant, I've had a really bad week. I know I'm probably not as bad off as some people. Though I bet I'm one of the youngest If anybody ever wants to talk to me just shoot me a PM. I will listen and give support, because I believe the only people who understand chronic pain, are people who suffer from it.

 

[paranoid android]

^^^ Fuck that sounds alot like when i first had trigeminal neuralgia. I was only 21 when i first got it so only a year older then you. Doctors where completely unwilling to even give me tylenol#3's at first and if i mentioned opiates i was marked as a drug seeker 9 times out of 10. I had to almost physically threaten a doctor to get them to write out a script for 30mg codeine pills because even though i was in agony they didnt want to give me any opiates.

It was always the same old bullshit. "Oh your a young man you shouldnt be on narcotics" or "try carbamazeppine again even though it made you so sick you thought you where going to die" and the list goes on. You can't develop chronic pain until you are 60 years old or didnt you know that already

Thankfully i did find a doctor who had some compassion and i was put on opiates along with gabapentin for the pain. Sadly the dose of morphine im on isint enough alot of the time and i am not prescribed any strong anti-nausea drugs so pills are useless for me if i get a severe flare up and i don't catch it early enough.

To LayedBack keep bugging the bastards and do everything you can to get your pain treated. Since you have neuropathic pain various anti-convulsants such as gabapentin, lyrica, valproate (called depakote in the US) and carbamazepine can help. Cannabis especially indica strains as well as ketamine can also do wonders for neuropathic pain. Ketamine works better for the pain i have which is trigeminal neuralgia then opiates do but sadly enough it's impossible to get it prescribed in Canada.

I think i may mention getting prescribed methadone to my doctor when i see him. He's a alright doctor so he may refer me to a doctor that can actually prescribe the stuff. Stupid fucking Canadian law dictates that doctors have to have a special license to prescribe methadone for ANY purpose . What bullshit!

 

[stuckinsouthdakota]

They drug test at the pain clinic? That is stupid. What if you are using stuff you had a prescription for in the past? Do they just test for opoids, or do they test for THC, benzos, adderall, etc?

I have a genetic disorder most people who haveit, and have chronic pain on it are on Lyrica or Neurotin. Neourotin did not work for me at all. I'm not sure Lyrica will either. I am on an RX for ativan so maybe that's why I have not be offered it?! I don't know. I know they sure as hell aren't going to give me oxys. For a while when I was in severe pain so bad I was in the ER, they would give me an IV of Dialaudid (sp) and that worked amazingly. Of course, I doubt they would rx. that long term.

 

[i8hooked]

pain clinics

They drug test at the pain clinic? That is stupid. What if you are using stuff you had a prescription for in the past? Do they just test for opoids, or do they test for THC, benzos, adderall, etc?

Pain clinics typically test you for specific levels.
They are looking to see if you have a specific level of whatever drug that they have prescribed you.
They would, however test for illicit drugs such as THC and cocaine in order to determine if the patient might have a tendency to abuse the drug(s) prescribed.
Pain clinics are notorious for testing levels and also doing pill counts and can do so at any time the doctor sees fit.
If your levels are too high, low or otherwise non existent then you are subject to get the dreaded drop letter with the emergency room referral.

 

[i8hooked]

They drug test at the pain clinic? That is stupid. What if you are using stuff you had a prescription for in the past? Do they just test for opoids, or do they test for THC, benzos, adderall, etc?

I have a genetic disorder most people who haveit, and have chronic pain on it are on Lyrica or Neurotin. Neourotin did not work for me at all. I'm not sure Lyrica will either. I am on an RX for ativan so maybe that's why I have not be offered it?! I don't know. I know they sure as hell aren't going to give me oxys. For a while when I was in severe pain so bad I was in the ER, they would give me an IV of Dialaudid (sp) and that worked amazingly. Of course, I doubt they would rx. that long term.

Maybe you ought to get a referral to another pain clinic?
one that has doctors that arent afraid of offending the great and almighty Baboonga in the sky and will prescribe decent pain medicine