The Pain Management Mega Thread v2.0

[Roxicodone King]

I just have to vent and figure this is the place to do it. I am a pain patient, and recovering addict (over 4 years). Because of the abuse and and being exposed to opiates most of my life (and every day for the last 15 years), my tolerance is UNGODLY. I have been on the same dose of Opana ER for 3 years now, after I found a great pain doc who also treats addiction. Last year my doc moved far away and after a long search was able to find another DR willing to script me the same high dose. Well, because of certain medical problems, I am unable to take the new formula of Opana, so my DR was willing to script me to the 15mg generic old formula, but since and equaivalent dose to what I was taking would be thousands of pills, she had to lower the daily dose (and I have to see her every 2 weeks instead of every month). I didn't mind since it would only be til Sept, when generic 40mg comes out. Well, the lower dose (I am on 30% less than I was), has been tough on my pain level. Then last week I go in to her office for my appointment and she tells me she is no longer comfortable prescribing at such high doses, and I have 2 weeks to either find a new Dr who will script me at what I've been on for over 3 years, or I have to start taking MORE cuts.....25% next appointment, 25% MORE the appointment after that and then and undetermined more after that. So pretty much, I am in a ton of extra pain right now, barely able to function, and now she wants to cut me down dramatically. My original Dr. is horrified (his words) but there is not much he can do, and obviously i am not going to be able to find a new Dr to script me at incredibly high doses (Especially with my history). So thanks to the Gov't and my doctor being scared of the gov't, I am going to lose most of my quality of life. The last time I was at such low levels of pain meds, I was in a wheelchair for a year, while we titrated up on the opana when I first started. I hate American medicine.

 

[buttershots21]

I am at the end of my rope, sitting here bawling my eyes out, with no one to turn to and seeing no way that this is ever going to get any better. If this is posted in the wrong spot, feel free to move it.

I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia almost two years ago. In those two years, I have been on many different medications, and most don't do a lot for the pain relief. I get no noticeable relief from Savella or Cymbalta, but I take it anyways for some hopeful placebo effects if nothing else, and to be a "good patient" that is doing what the Dr. ordered. I have tried Lyrica and had horrible side effects so I went back to Neurontin. The Neurontin helps with the burning sensation and helps somewhat with sleep, but the side effects are horrible. I feel like I'm half drunk all the time in a bad way, not a good way. It messes with my vision and my balance and coordination, and after being on it for three or four days in a row, it makes me feel sick to my stomache, tired, run down, and just blah in general. I take Vitamin B-12, D-3 and Biotin. My hair and nails look great, big whoopie doo, but doesn't help with my symptoms. I've tried Flexeril, Roboxin, Scelaxin, and am currently on Zanaflex for my muscle relaxer, and none of them have been very effective. I tried Ambien for sleep, and was having scary episodes where I would do something and have absolutely no memory of doing it. I currently take Rozerem for sleep, and it doesn't work. I take melatonin for sleep, and it works now and then, very hit or miss. I also take MSContin 15mg ER twice a day, and Percocet 10/325 four times a day. The pain relief I get with those is not nirvana by any means, and often I have to take more than Rxed to get to a comfortable pain relief level, but it has been by far the most effective of all my medications in reducing the pain, my chronic anxiety, my IBS, and my sleep issues. I was on Norco 10/325 for a year, but got switched to the Percs.

So now that you know the short version of my story, here's my problem.

I went to my Dr. today for an unrelated matter. I was in the ER last week for what was probably a muscle or esophegial spasm that caused heart attack like pain. I was going in to follow up on this and at the end of the visit, she asked me how my visit at the pain clinic went. I told her it was basically a waste of time, the PM Dr. spent a total of 10 minutes with me. He told me that my back wasn't bad enough for any treatment they provide and that he agrees with a diagnosis of Fibromyalgia but that they don't treat for that so they were denying my plea for pain management and treatment.

So she says, since I now have a firm diagnosis of Fibro from two Dr's (herself and the PM Dr.) that she is going to give me a taper schedule and she is taking me off the Morphine and the Percs. Hence why I'm sitting here bawling my eyes out and just wanting to kill myself before the pain has a chance to take over my life again. I struggle hard enough with the day to day challenges of this disease and now it is going to get ten times worse.

Nothing has been solved, no effective treatment, no end to this dark tunnel, no relief. I'll be lucky if I can convince her to at least put me on Ultram. What am I supposed to do? Right back to square one, except this time I have no hope of a solution to the problem. And now I'm going to get to deal with the added horror of withdrawals, no matter how good the taper is, and months of my body being in additional pain as it tries to rebuild it's natural painkillers. I can barely hold a job now, there's no way I'll be able to work without pain relief. That's why I started seeing the Dr. in the first place!

I wish with all my heart that I could find a Dr. that would actually listen to me. I think I will be trying to find a new Dr, this is just the last straw in a long line of bull I've had to deal with. I have GAD with frequent panic attacks, but she won't Rx any type of benzo. I asked about Soma because I've done some research and have heard good things about it, but she just said absoulutly not. No explanation, just flat out no. When it all started, I asked about Medical Marijuana, which I don't really want, as I don't like the 'side effects", but she said no to that too, and gave me narcotics instead. I guess I may have to get my MMC just to get some sort of relief and some decent sleep.

Sorry about the super long post. I feel like I just fell into a pit of despair and I don't know if I can ever climb out. I'm even considering acting like a junkie just to get into a Methadone clinic, not even for being addicted to the high, but thinking that this may be the only way to get the pain relief I need

 

[doppelganga196]

Hi every body. Reading this makes me feel as if i should be thankful my pain isn't as bad as others. I'm not thankful though. I'm full of sympathy, full of pain full of anger & frustration at how much pain is affecting my life.

I have an epididymal cyst & it hurts all the time sometimes worse than others. I've had appointments with two urologists who both told me, stressed to me, that they don't like to remove these cysts unless the patient already has children because of the risk of leaving me infertile or subfertile, whatever. At first i was like, ok i dont care just rip this fucking thing out of my body. Now after being 50/50 for weeks, months i'm now too scared to have it done & am needing to go back to my doctor for some kind of pain releif.

The thing is after years of using & abusing painkillers i recently, after coming off a 3 month stint on antidepressants (i believe they had a significant effect on my personality) i very breifly started using heroin. When i wasn't using heroin, & i only took it half a dozen times or so, i was taking morphine along with codeine, sometimes as much as 600mg a day.

As soon as i got into heroin i thought STOP i need help. So i went to my doctor for help with addicition. He referred me to the addiction "experts" & i've since been on methadone.

At first it helped but only for the first few days. I'm STILL in pain & it's affecting my personality & my relationships with friends. My family has recently been VERY supportive & think i should have the op but i'm too fucking scared.

Tommorow (or later today) i'm going to see my doc. I know he is a good doctor but he's sooo jaded like he's seen it all & most of it he's bored with. Dont get me wrong he shows real professionalism compared with other doctors in the clinic but i can read people & like i said he's jaded.

I NEED something for breakthrough pain, preferrably a long acting analgesic instead of codeine & tramadol. I really think dihydrocodeine slow release would be the best med for me but i know i cant flat out ask for it especially with my recent drug abuse. I dont know how i can convince him i'm not just looking for another drug to try, i mean he's given me dihydrocodeine with apap before but that was low dose instant release 10/500 & they were useless with my tolerance.

I've tried gabapentin & pregabalin & HATED them. Not only did they not help but they sent me crazy; i started popping thme like mad even though they didnt help & going on days long benders until they were all gone & i once got soo messed up on them i knew i couldnt go home & actually wound up checking intoa hotel until i came down. No other drug has made me lose my self control like that, not even cocaine or benzos.

I can just see him turning me away when i go but i just want to live without this constant discomfort which is stressing me to the edge.

I'll post again after ive been to the doc. I just dont know what i'll do if i dont get a decent enough pain med, i swear ill wind up buying something illicit, not heroin but a supply of another painkiller from somewhere. It doesnt even have to be many just a couple a day long acting meds.

 

[Bostonterror]

I have chronic pain due to stage 4 breast cancer that has spread to the bone. I am on Fentanyl and Hydromorphone for break thru pain. I sleep a lot on these, they give me warm fuzzies, but also turn me a little zombie like. Prior to diagnosis in 2010 I never took any prescription or non prescription drugs.

So my question is has anyone used marijuana for chronic pain? It is legal in my state but I am uncomfortable asking my oncologist about it. Does it help for chronic pain? I know it is used for people on chemo to increase appetite but I do not know anyone who takes it for medical purposes. What does it help with?

 

[Doomed2pain]

I have chronic pain due to stage 4 breast cancer that has spread to the bone. I am on Fentanyl and Hydromorphone for break thru pain. I sleep a lot on these, they give me warm fuzzies, but also turn me a little zombie like. Prior to diagnosis in 2010 I never took any prescription or non prescription drugs.

So my question is has anyone used marijuana for chronic pain? It is legal in my state but I am uncomfortable asking my oncologist about it. Does it help for chronic pain? I know it is used for people on chemo to increase appetite but I do not know anyone who takes it for medical purposes. What does it help with?

are you looking at using cannabis alongside your current medication or instead of? I think it would help a little with your pain in combination but not as an outright replacement. I find that cannabis supplements my opoid pain relief but I don't think I would even get 50% of the relief if I used it alone.

Can you buy some to try out before asking your dr?

 

[Jabberwocky]

I know a number of people who use cannabis infused rubbing alcohol - like produced to help with their arthritis (transdermal stuff I mean). I find that a bit of puff helps suppliment my opioids when I'm taking them for pain (have had, past tense mostly) better than simply taking MORE opioids. But I agree, on it own cannabis is often not enough, especially when it comes to moderate-severe pain. Then again, you might find the following interesting.

this is a little off the current topic, but...

call me crazy, but when I was four days into w/d from my bupe (@8mg/day) early last week, I had RLS like never before. Horrible. At the time I really wanted to put off doing any opioids that night though. I remembered reading something on Heroin Helper about how well Ibuprofen actually can work for such pain/discomfort (better than 5mg hydrocodone/500mg APAP or 30mg codeine/325 APAP according to Dr. H's site). 800mg later and the RLS totally stops!!! OMFG I can't tell you how happy I was.

I know a lot of us here are in more pain than a little Advil can really do much to help, but once in a while, I think there are a LOT of us (such as myself) whom are too inclined to jump up and say, "Only an opioid will do!" And lets not forget Aleve - that works better for certain tail bone issues I have than anything else (although opioids certainly don't make it worse ). Shit, even at the time I knew I didn't need anything more than Advil after oral surgery (my surgen is superb though) - actually Vicodin was my first opioid love to be honest, thanks to getting those wise chompers outta there...

Anyways, just some thoughts. I reallllly should be in bed. Like an hour ago...

 

[gromit12]

^This

I really, really agree with you. Well put.

 

[tricomb]

I have chronic pain due to stage 4 breast cancer that has spread to the bone. I am on Fentanyl and Hydromorphone for break thru pain. I sleep a lot on these, they give me warm fuzzies, but also turn me a little zombie like. Prior to diagnosis in 2010 I never took any prescription or non prescription drugs.

So my question is has anyone used marijuana for chronic pain? It is legal in my state but I am uncomfortable asking my oncologist about it. Does it help for chronic pain? I know it is used for people on chemo to increase appetite but I do not know anyone who takes it for medical purposes. What does it help with?

Look, you have stage IV cancer that has metastasized to the bone. You should not be feeling any discomfort about asking for alternative treatments, experimental as well. Definitely look into cannabis extracts, I don't know how useful it will be for it's anti-cancer properties at stage IV but I would be trying everything possible. It's great for pain management in conjunction with opioid therapy. Be sure to invest in a vaporizer or find a way to consume cannabis extracts orally. You should also do some research about local co-ops, in California, there are plenty of co-ops setup for compassionate care that often deliver to cancer patients and do not attempt to charge an arm and a leg. It helps with appetite, pain, sleep, many many many things. Look into it.

 

[phenethylo J]

I have chronic pain due to stage 4 breast cancer that has spread to the bone. I am on Fentanyl and Hydromorphone for break thru pain. I sleep a lot on these, they give me warm fuzzies, but also turn me a little zombie like. Prior to diagnosis in 2010 I never took any prescription or non prescription drugs.

So my question is has anyone used marijuana for chronic pain? It is legal in my state but I am uncomfortable asking my oncologist about it. Does it help for chronic pain? I know it is used for people on chemo to increase appetite but I do not know anyone who takes it for medical purposes. What does it help with?

It does a great job at helping me and even allows me to go down on my opiates.

Marijuana is great for pain and the other crappy issues you get from cancer and chemo. Some cannabinoids do have cancer fighting properties. It is your body and your pain you have every right to ask your doctor especially concidering what you have and how marijuana can help.

 

[Fire&Water]

I am limited to "X' many mg's of oxycodone hcl 2 x every day/month, through my pain specialist he asked me to try 2-4 mg's of
buprenorphine to combat the problem of needing to dose a 3rd time (when the pain returns after taking my 2 x a day dose) -
I does help alot, it also helps the rebound effects of IR pain meds' (similar to the way ER meds' work)
I found that it works even better than ER meds', as more than 1 that I have been prescribed has not dissolved in the digestive tract. A little on the disscusting side, I am aware, but after I noticed 2 ER pills in my stool by accident - (I thought it was just a shell at first) but since I wasnt getting any pain relief, I had to investigate w/ rubber gloves & needle nose pliers.
I told my doctor about it, he said he had never heard of anything like that. At my next appointment he did not try to push a different ER med on me...I am thinking he read up on what I was telling him (another reason I trust him)
On my own I have discovered that if it feels like my 2nd dose is not going to last into the night, a puff or two, or tincture of a
strong sativa also helps tremendously, if caught in time, it kicks the meds' back in (to an extent) & takes my mind off of the pain.
I highly recommend (keeping an eye out for undissolved ER meds') as nasty as it sounds, It literally saved my ass.

 

[tricomb]

Hah, It's refill season and they are giving me 20 less oxy than last month.... awesome. I am ready to give up fighting them on this.... might just switch to norcos but don't want to give up my C-II status.....

I'm allowed to use as much oxycodone per day as I see fit, as long as I don't call in sooner than every 3 weeks.

I might transition myself off supplementation with morphine and try to get by on norcos. We'll see....

I'm pretty pissed they won't fill my carisoprodol.

 

[Fire&Water]

Hah, It's refill season and they are giving me 20 less oxy than last month.... awesome. I am ready to give up fighting them on this.... might just switch to norcos but don't want to give up my C-II status.....

I'm allowed to use as much oxycodone per day as I see fit, as long as I don't call in sooner than every 3 weeks.

I might transition myself off supplementation with morphine and try to get by on norcos. We'll see....

I'm pretty pissed they won't fill my carisoprodol.

That may prove to be a good combo' especially when the hydro' hcl hits the shelves...
How are you able to "call in" oxycodone ?

Edit: Soma is one of the safest plant based medications available. It does not help w/ my type of pain, but anybody I know that wants it, (after being prescribed once) doesnt need to ask twice ?

 

[tricomb]

I know, I've never got so much shit from a doctor regarding carisoprodol. In fact, I've never received any shit from doctors about filling my soma.... I'd been taking 1400-2800mg for YEARS.

My pain clinic has you call in your scripts every 3 weeks, you call the automated line, leave your name, medical record number, RX number and name of the script, and a phone number you can be reached at if they have questions. Then they call you back with a date to come by the clinic and pick up the paper triplicate RX.

 

[tricomb]

Copy Paste from a post I just made in another thread that is relevant here:

-hydrotherapy, diet and exercise, guided imagery and meditation, these are all things that have helped me soooo much, without these I would require 2-3x my current opioid intake

-physical therapy, TENS unit, biofeedback, group therapy (this reallllly helped me to learn that I wasn't alone, being able to be in a room with no judgement, surrounded by others who share your pain, some have it much worse than you do which makes you thankful for what you have, and also, the most important thing: Not having to explain to anyone how you feel! Because they are all chronic pain patients and it's not like talking to people who don't understand chronic pain, these people know just by looking in your eyes. Better than any psycho therapy I've ever had.

 

[Doomed2pain]

I made a few friends from online support groups with other crps sufferers and it helps tons.

Having a bad time pain wise as I am vomitting a lot this weekend and cannot keep my meds down, that and the damp weather has really done a number on me, I hate it when the crps affects my stomach. stupid sympathetic nervous system.

 

[brighton]

anyone tried capsaicin cream?
its a topical ointment made from chilli extract thats meant to help with pain.
oh for something that helps that isnt an opiate

 

[GABAking]

^haven't tried that one specifically. but I've trief lidoderm patches (5% lidocaine) with limited success. the diclofenac patches are pretty good, at least for my type of pain. still, neither was able to do the trick on their own

 

[BiggDirty01]

Just wanted to vent a little, I'm 6 weeks post-op my third spinal fusion and so far the results are far from what I had hoped after undergoing a 3rd fusion in just over 14 months. I'm headed to the surgeon Wednesday for a follow up and I am kind of at my wits end. I'm coming up on my 27th birthday soon and instead of living life, getting my masters, having a girlfriend....I'm stuck, broke from all my medical bills and having had to move back into my parents home temporarily.

My last surgery was the most painful of all 3, happening 3 months after my 2nd, and I literally do not see a light at the end of the tunnel unless there is something physiologically still wrong needing some kind of surgical correction (which I loathe to think of).

Anyways, just wanted to shout out to the crowd...this thread has been an amazing support system for me over the last year and a half,

 

[tricomb]

I wish you a pain free week, BD01

 

[Doomed2pain]

bd im so sorry to hear that the surgery didn't bring the relief that you hoped, I know how it feels when you go through a painful procedure for it not to help, in my case it actually made things worse and caused my condition to worsen and spread.

I am also 26 and had to quit my degree when my condition spread to my right hand and arm and meant that I could no longer do my artwork. like i used to, couldn't keep up etc also had to move back to my mum's house to be cared for etc

Just remember you are not alone and if you ever need to talk pm me.

as tricomb said, I hope you find some respite from your pain