Hi there! I've been lurking (mainly in the Chicago forums as I'm from Wi and Chicago is kinda close) for a long, long time as this is my go-to place for all my drug questions.
So, this is my question.....
How can I lower my tolerance enough for post-surgical meds to be effective? I have a connective tissue disorder that basically leaves my joints needing total replacement surgeries. Many TKR's too. I'm looking to get my first knee done fairly soon here, most likely this fall yet? It depends.
I've been taking prescribed opiates now for 11 years. I always got them from my PCP up until this past January when he decided to not treat chronic pain patients. (Seems to be the trend lately). So off I went to Pain Management. Yuck! The start of the most horrible 8 months of my life. I was told immediately that unless I had terminal cancer that there was no way I was getting any more than 100mg of morphine per day. That wouldn't have been a problem had I not already been on 300mg when I walked through the door. I was being tapered against my wishes and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it. Except fire them and move on to another PM doc. Which I did. This doc seems to want to treat me but still agrees that I was on way too much as far as milligrams go. Regardless of if I was or wasn't really doesn't matter, because I was and that's what my body was used to. I took 120mg of MS-Contin and 180mg of Oxycodone and that controlled my pain very well.
What I am on now is 48mg of long acting Hydromorphone (Exalgo) plus 15mg of IR Morphine (only get 45 tabs per month).
Oral 4mg and 8mg dilaudid is uneffective.
Oral 15mg Morphine is uneffective.
Oral 15mg Oxy is uneffective.
30mg+ and by plus I mean 60-90mg of Oxycodone is what I need to get any pain relief. But my new PM doc refuses to give me any Oxy.
As much as I hate saying this, I have looked elsewhere to find what I need. Sadly, I've only been able to get my hands on Vicodin and those are about as effective as a tic-tac. Yes, I've even toyed with the idea of just getting myself some heroin and being done with all of this nonsense.
In the meantime, I'm wondering about if I was able to find some "Subs" would it be a good idea to taper off my meds now and try to go 3-4 weeks opiate free before I have this dreadful surgery? Using the subs for extreme withdrawal times. I don't want to go to a sub doctor and be labeled an addict. What I really would like to know is how long does it take for your tolerance to increase after coming off the meds for a while and then going back on them. Is it similar to an alcoholic? I've always heard that you can be sober for years and if you pick the bottle back up you're right where you were before you got clean. Is this true with opiates too?
I've looked into MMJ and might try to see if that helps with pain. I actually have some, but am too afraid to try it because I will get kicked out of PM. Which the whole PM thing really get to me too. I figure why go through all of their rules/regulations, sign a contract that only you have to follow cuz they can pretty much do what they want, take regular urine screens, etc. For what? I might as well just go to the streets and do what I want. I just don't have any connections where I live other than for a little marijuana and those crappy vicodin.
I just don't know what to do at this point. It's not like after I get this knee replaced all my pain will disappear anyway. I need to have both knees replaced as well as both shoulders and hips. I just don't want to live in fear of being "off" on my pill count, deciding what pain deserves relief as I can only have 2 morphine/day and I need to take 6 for them to actually help.
So, I thought maybe just bite the bullet, wean off the meds and then try to get some relief after the surgery because they sure don't seem willing to give me kill a damn horse doses.
Thanks for any advice you can give me about tolerance.
~T
So, this is my question.....
How can I lower my tolerance enough for post-surgical meds to be effective? I have a connective tissue disorder that basically leaves my joints needing total replacement surgeries. Many TKR's too. I'm looking to get my first knee done fairly soon here, most likely this fall yet? It depends.
I've been taking prescribed opiates now for 11 years. I always got them from my PCP up until this past January when he decided to not treat chronic pain patients. (Seems to be the trend lately). So off I went to Pain Management. Yuck! The start of the most horrible 8 months of my life. I was told immediately that unless I had terminal cancer that there was no way I was getting any more than 100mg of morphine per day. That wouldn't have been a problem had I not already been on 300mg when I walked through the door. I was being tapered against my wishes and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it. Except fire them and move on to another PM doc. Which I did. This doc seems to want to treat me but still agrees that I was on way too much as far as milligrams go. Regardless of if I was or wasn't really doesn't matter, because I was and that's what my body was used to. I took 120mg of MS-Contin and 180mg of Oxycodone and that controlled my pain very well.
What I am on now is 48mg of long acting Hydromorphone (Exalgo) plus 15mg of IR Morphine (only get 45 tabs per month).
Oral 4mg and 8mg dilaudid is uneffective.
Oral 15mg Morphine is uneffective.
Oral 15mg Oxy is uneffective.
30mg+ and by plus I mean 60-90mg of Oxycodone is what I need to get any pain relief. But my new PM doc refuses to give me any Oxy.
As much as I hate saying this, I have looked elsewhere to find what I need. Sadly, I've only been able to get my hands on Vicodin and those are about as effective as a tic-tac. Yes, I've even toyed with the idea of just getting myself some heroin and being done with all of this nonsense.
In the meantime, I'm wondering about if I was able to find some "Subs" would it be a good idea to taper off my meds now and try to go 3-4 weeks opiate free before I have this dreadful surgery? Using the subs for extreme withdrawal times. I don't want to go to a sub doctor and be labeled an addict. What I really would like to know is how long does it take for your tolerance to increase after coming off the meds for a while and then going back on them. Is it similar to an alcoholic? I've always heard that you can be sober for years and if you pick the bottle back up you're right where you were before you got clean. Is this true with opiates too?
I've looked into MMJ and might try to see if that helps with pain. I actually have some, but am too afraid to try it because I will get kicked out of PM. Which the whole PM thing really get to me too. I figure why go through all of their rules/regulations, sign a contract that only you have to follow cuz they can pretty much do what they want, take regular urine screens, etc. For what? I might as well just go to the streets and do what I want. I just don't have any connections where I live other than for a little marijuana and those crappy vicodin.
I just don't know what to do at this point. It's not like after I get this knee replaced all my pain will disappear anyway. I need to have both knees replaced as well as both shoulders and hips. I just don't want to live in fear of being "off" on my pill count, deciding what pain deserves relief as I can only have 2 morphine/day and I need to take 6 for them to actually help.
So, I thought maybe just bite the bullet, wean off the meds and then try to get some relief after the surgery because they sure don't seem willing to give me kill a damn horse doses.
Thanks for any advice you can give me about tolerance.
~T
