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The Pain Management Mega Thread v2.0

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^ I'll go into deatil about that in my next post but right now i must leave the house but i'll let ya know. basically i'm " on the fence " about the surgery. For reasons i;l explain later.

btw Doomed, thank you very much indeed for remeberring that!
 
Hey no worries i just remembered you mentioning it a while ago so thought i'd ask. as for being on the fence I know how that feels, having similar feelings myself with the scs. success doesn't have great odds and complications and risks are quite high. so i am kind of scared, but if I dont have the proceedure i will always have the nagging feeling of what if it helped improve my quslity of life a little?

Maybe once I have seen the dr I wont feel as conflicted, that is even if they view me as a candidate. ah pain managemrnt how you like to torture me haha
 
Can xanax help at all in relieving mild aches and pains? (such as headaches or soreness from exercise)
 
Benzos have the added effect on muscle tension and relaxing the body (I believe lorazepam is best suited/used for this purpose) but benzos are not 'per se' painkillers.

In my experience the only effect on aches and pains from benzos like xanax is the distraction/disassociation that occurs from taking benzos (I compare it to the pain relief sometimes from medical marijuana- distracting ones mind from obsessing about the pain).

Maybe try taking some OTC pain medicines if all you have is xanax. Might be an effective combination (ibuprofen or naproxen) for minor aches and pains.
 
Benzos are not for minor aches or pains. People try and rationalize using xanax for everything. Got a headache? Don't take alprazolam, take ibuprofen, or another NSAID.
 
Benzos are not for minor aches or pains. People try and rationalize using xanax for everything. Got a headache? Don't take alprazolam, take ibuprofen, or another NSAID.

Agreed, but I have had it prescribed to me for acute muscle spasms post-surgery so I can see where some people might get the perception that they can have an "affect" on pain.

Drug rationalization is part of the game! It reminds me of the Chris Rock bit about Robitussin: "Knee hurt? Put on a little 'tussin! Let it get down to the bone!" 8-)
 
Oh yeah, doctors always try and prescribe me benzos for chronic pain, I'm like wtf, I finally got clean after a decade of benzodiazepine therapy, so just give me my opioids.
 
Okay doomed, & everybody else my chronic pain is from something called costocondritis, & the main thing causing me enough pain & discomfort is a epididymal cyst which is in my ballbag throbbing & twisting the night away on my right testicle. It's always been a problem for me; i always wear breifs not boxers, so as to keep my testes elevated During sex there's certain positions that cause a lot of pain due to the, ehem, motion, that is involved, especially doggy...

So last year i had it "aspirated" which is where they jab a 23 gauge needke into the cyst (about the size of two peas btw) & draw out the fluid; the needle didnt hurt much 'cos of the lidocaine, but fuck me when they drew back on that syringe plunger it was a weird pain that isn't possible to explain.

Then the little fucker recurred (came back like a week - 10 days
 
So doppel are they going to be removing the cyst with surgery then? I hope you manage to get it sort dude, that is a really sensitive area to have pain radiate from :S

Did you ever find out what the lowest dose of slow release dhc you could get here was? I was on the 90mg ones about 18 months ago (non-paracetamol), they didn't do much for me but my friend (gave her half a box) found them really helpful for a problem she was having with her shoulder after we damaged it training a few years ago.
 
geez doppel, that sounds painful. I had a recurring cyst, except it wasn't in my sac, it was at the top of my buttcrack. I thought I had it bad; those cysts are unbelievably pain, especially when the get infected. But alas, I now consider myself lucky b/c a cyst in the nuts seems much worse.

Hope the best for you man. Surgery probably seems scary as hell, but is that something you're considering?
 
geez doppel, that sounds painful. I had a recurring cyst, except it wasn't in my sac, it was at the top of my buttcrack. I thought I had it bad; those cysts are unbelievably pain, especially when the get infected. But alas, I now consider myself lucky b/c a cyst in the nuts seems much worse.

Hope the best for you man. Surgery probably seems scary as hell, but is that something you're considering?

What you had is called a Pilonidal cyst, I've had the same thing, had it 2 times.
 
Just wanted to throw this out there: I am having a 2nd revision of my spinal fusion tomorrow. My first fusion was 2/25/11 last one was 1/31/12 and number three is tomorrow.

Ended up in a chemically induced coma post-op the first time, ketamine IV'd cause my med tolerance was out of control. Didn't have a problem last op because they went through the stomach but this one will be going back in from the back side and I am seriously concerned.

I will try and post something here later on in the week, just wanted to post here in the PM thread since I've read through both versions and it definitely gave me some support.


'
 
^^lol yeah I know what it was called. Had surgery twice to get rid of it...so I better! now it's the scar tissue left behind that's making my vestigial tail hurt even more. The cycle never ends...
 
^ My laptop crashed last night so i didnt actuallt finish all i wanted to write.

Basically, yeah they can remove the cyst, but i'm "on the fence" cos i've heard from two doctors & they both say (one was very stern getting the point across) that there is a risk (they didnt give the statistics/odds) that after the surgery as the area is healing you release these antibodys which can attack sperm & render you sub-fertile : ( !!!!

I'm now like 70/30 in favour of not getting it removed cos i'm only 23 , dont have kids & dont want to be bloody sterile. Its a ghastly prospect.......

As for the dhc, you can get straight 30mg dihydrocodeine & 60, 90 & 120 mg slow relase dhc. I had a lovely jolly old doc back in 2008/2009 who was happy to give me 56 of these now & then.

However like i said the past, probably since december, 6 months or so i let my opiate use get waaay out of control & wound up injecting smack for the first time ever. I'd smoked in the past but luckily didnt like it that much 'cos ive done poppy tea that is so smooth & long lasting, where as smoking h gives you that opiate feeling then gives a horrid comedown that even i.v doesnt give. To me at least.

So as soon as i knew i was heading for seriously dangerous territory i decided to put all my cards on the table with my doc & was sent to an addiction specialist & was put on 55 mg of methadone, which has been good for me. Ive not taken any other opiate in that time, i've been much more active & have been dating this really lovely young girl, so even tho methadone isnt good news its certainly the lesser of two evils.
 
Hi all! I searched the thread using several different combinations of words, but didn't find anything. I've been taking pain meds for years, for chronic pain due to endometriosis.
I've truly been lucky/blessed in many ways. I have a doctor who actually understands pain and is willing to prescribe medications accordingly, and switch medications when needed.
I recently had a pretty bad experience though... I was taking oxycodone immediate release (60-75mg every 4 hours for breakthrough pain) along with 100mcg Fentanyl patch. The oxycodone ir got to the point where it only lasted for 2 hours or so. my doctor and I decided to switch to immediate release oxymorphone. I was nervous about it, but excited at the same time. I had very high expectations of this drug.
Within a couple of weeks, it became apparent that I made a mistake. I am so lucky that my doctor allowed me to go back to the oxycoodone. since I've come back to it it has been lasting longer than it has for a while. But man, that was a rough 2 weeks.
I guess I would like to hear from anyone else who has been through a medication switch. What was the outcome, and was it different (wheather in a positive or negative way) from what you expected or hoped for?
Thanks for any responses.
 
I have been through numerous medication switch rounds now and even when you are swapped to the right dosage equivalency a lot of it depends on personal body chemistry most of the time.

But i really, really cannot believe your dr has you on all of that medication one for endometriosis, and two such huge amounts of oxy ir for break through pain. the general idea is to make it so the body have less highs and lows, being on such high amounts of an ir drug is going to make your pain worse due to getting a sudden huge dose then crashing, normal practise is to try and keep your pain stable with the extended release. i would try and reduce the ir oxy to get your tolerance down even though you are going to be in a lot of pain for a while it is better in the long run. I try and keep my bt meds as low as possible for this specific reason, and even though my pain is never lower than a 7 i just try and find other ways of managing like meditation, other medication such as nsaids creams that contain pain relief lidocaine patches tens machine etc.

I cold turkeyed all my meds last summer in order to bring my tolerance down (was also on fent patches and ir oxy) and i am glad i did as my condition has deteriorated yet again so i had to go back on opiates but, im coping much better on lower doses even though my pain has yet again increased like it does every winter. im trying spinal cord stimulation next, if that doesnt work i am hoping to raise the funds to travel outside the uk for a course of ketamine infusions.

Im sorry you are in so much pain, i am pretty much housebound with my condition and bedbound for 5 days out of 7 on a good week, but I really would try and reduce your bt med intake and find other methods of pain management because that dose is monstrous.
 
I have been through numerous medication switch rounds now and even when you are swapped to the right dosage equivalency a lot of it depends on personal body chemistry most of the time.

But i really, really cannot believe your dr has you on all of that medication one for endometriosis, and two such huge amounts of oxy ir for break through pain. the general idea is to make it so the body have less highs and lows, being on such high amounts of an ir drug is going to make your pain worse due to getting a sudden huge dose then crashing, normal practise is to try and keep your pain stable with the extended release. i would try and reduce the ir oxy to get your tolerance down even though you are going to be in a lot of pain for a while it is better in the long run. I try and keep my bt meds as low as possible for this specific reason, and even though my pain is never lower than a 7 i just try and find other ways of managing like meditation, other medication such as nsaids creams that contain pain relief lidocaine patches tens machine etc.

I cold turkeyed all my meds last summer in order to bring my tolerance down (was also on fent patches and ir oxy) and i am glad i did as my condition has deteriorated yet again so i had to go back on opiates but, im coping much better on lower doses even though my pain has yet again increased like it does every winter. im trying spinal cord stimulation next, if that doesnt work i am hoping to raise the funds to travel outside the uk for a course of ketamine infusions.

Im sorry you are in so much pain, i am pretty much housebound with my condition and bedbound for 5 days out of 7 on a good week, but I really would try and reduce your bt med intake and find other methods of pain management because that dose is monstrous.

Hi, Doomed-

Thanks for the response. Believe me, I never could have imagined being on oxycodone, much less Fentanyl a few years ago.
I didn't mention in my last post that I had surgery to remove the endometriosis, and the surgeon screwed up big time, making the pain even worse. His solution was to pretty much mask the pain with hydrocodone. Then as the cycle goes, that stopped working and I was pretty much hung out to dry by him.
Got a new OB, who verified everything and ends up the surgery was even more botched than I had originally been told :(
Got a great dr. and he switched me to percocet, and when that didn't work, I started the patch.
It's been a slow process, and I admit it's scary to think about going through this until menopause!
Anyway, I thank you for sharing your experience, and wish you the best :)
 
Have you thought about maybe upping your fent patch to 125 mcg so that you don't need as much oxy ir? I found my pain was better controlled by upping whatever extended release med i was on (fent wad the best but i had an adverse reaction to the patches which sucked) i've just found that taking higher doses of ir meds doesn't help much in the long run, they wear off quicker than they should which makes the pain more erratic.

Im sorry your surgery messed up, my old pm dr caused nothing but problems for me, it's good that you found a new ob that is understanding. how long has your endometriosis been causing this much of a problem? Have you ever tried a tens machine? They can be really helpful and the small portable ones are relatively inexpensive, you could probably loan one from the hospital to try out before you invest in one?
 
Just got my pain meds upped, so now I will need to get around 50% of my pain relief illicitly, instead of 75%. A step in the right direction forsure.

I dont want to be buying the meds I need to get out of bed illegally, but "I am too young" to be prescribed what I need. I need to fight for my lousy percocet script and won't put me back on long-acting opiates, as "I am too young".
 
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