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OD Moderators: Keif’ Richards | negrogesic
Misc The Pain Management Mega Thread version 3.0
- Thread starter tricomb
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helium-4
Bluelight Crew
Pharmacies do run out of certain medications all the time, and I promise you it isn't some conspiracy to prevent you from getting your pain meds. You have the right to do exactly what you did by getting your prescription paper and taking it to another pharmacy. I deal with the unfortunate truth of having to run to another pharmacy once in a while as well. The first pharmacy I went to today to fill my amphetamine salt script didn't have correct dose pills in stock. You know what I did? I did exactly what you did. I went to another pharmacy who had the medication. I got it filled, and was asked what is my home address. Checking patients identification for purchasing controlled substance is a practice really any decent pharmacy does just FYI, and its not to offend you, rather to make sure people really in pain can get the medication they need. They can check your ID, they can ask you for your birth date, your street address, etc to confirm you are actually the patient on the prescription paper. Acting nervous, acting mad because of problems filling prescriptions, etc. are reasons for pharmacists to be even more cautious about dispensing schedule two substance, particularly opioid medication, so try not to get to worked up. Pharmacists can potentially loose their job/licenses if they don't act appropriately, especially when it comes to schedule two substances. I know you are in pain, but a little patience goes along way.
Before anyone says, "oh but amphetamine salts have been in short supply across the country... thats nothing like the guys oxy/apap 5/325 script." Pharmacies serve multiple patients who may have purchased most of the supply not leaving enough for a full fill or leaving none, generic oxycodone/apap 5mg pills are a rather common painkiller (schedule two substances are rarer to have loaned to you from the pharmacist, they prefer to fill full scripts when it comes to schedule two drugs - it is however up to the pharmacist on how they want to proceed). Maybe they had a problem with their supplier (it may not be coming from manufacturers direct, or have anything to do with manufacture delays). Who knows, the pharmacist may not have ordered enough. We obviously can't know what the real cause is for there to not be enough oxy/apap 5mg/325 generic pils, but getting worked up doesn't solve anything. Honestly it could be making your pain worse. Just so you know in case you didn't pharmacists have the right to refuse any medication refills. Their career is important and can be effected quite easily, so try not to be so quick to demonize pharmacy staff. They are just doing their jobs like everyone else, but unlike a lot of jobs, they have a potential for their career to be stripped out from under them, on top of having the DEA press criminal charges on them. This can happen from even 1 single schedule two substance being lost among countless other tiny miss steps. Its not all counting pills and scanning papers, if the wrong medication is dispensed they can kill someone. So why not give them the benefit of the doubt that they are just doing their jobs and not trying to prevent you from getting your medication.
You're right, I gotta not make the post personal. Edited for anti-social amphetamine partnered speak. I haven't had much sleep (stupidly stayed up waay to late yesterday night before I filled my amp script). bad call. I can not type as coherently as I'd like atm.
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brighton
Bluelighter
^ wow great post. made me lol 
BiggDirty01
Bluelighter
I agree with everything you just said but wow you need to tone down the smartass, rude tone you are throwing out there.
I too have had a pharmacy that fills like 10 out of my 20 monthly prescriptions and have been doing so for at least a year. They only scheduled thing I get there is my concerta, and even with that they would forget to keep my doses in stock. This happened with my unscheduled meds as well. My mom's office is across the hallway in the medical building and she refers them tons of her OBGYN patients there.
To me, having to constantly remind this pharmacy, who gets so much business because of me, my family and mom's office. I was frankly offended and had planned to change all my meds over to my local Chain pharmacy this week until (see below lol)
So, I guess I can see both sides of this argument. I've had caring pharmacists at big chain stores make sure to keep my stuff in stock or to find it another of their stores and I've had the mom and pop stores who could not be bothered with customer service.
My point was that it wasn't necessary to lash out at the OP because your experiences have been vastly different. I just ask that in the future we keep this tight knit community as civil as possible because it really is a fantastic part of Bluelight because it offers support, companionship and advice between people who share a common, awful bond : chronic pain.
Side note: I had discovered in july that this pharmacy had billed my insurance $3,500 for refills and medications I never asked for or received. I reported them to the DEA and California Insurance Board and all of a sudden over Labor Day weekend the pharmacy went out of business. Guess karma is a BITCHb
upndnglo
Greenlighter
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2012
- Messages
- 4
I just joined this. Yesterday was a pretty good day for my back. But today, after standing in front of my electric frying pan, frying breaded eggplant, the pain in my upper back between my shoulder blades and in my lower back just above my hips, has brought me to tears. I asked my husband to finish the eggplant and I am now laying in bed. I have taken a total of 30 mg of oxycodone in the form of percocet since early this morning and it is having no effect on my pain. I don't understand it. I hesitate to take more because I really don't think more will take this pain away if it hasn't helped already. Any suggestions?
Coraline
Bluelight Crew
I expierence that too. The only thing that calms it down is relaxing the muscles and taking the strain off the nerves. Laying down will help. Maybe taking a muscle relaxer will help with that. I'm sorry to hear about your painful back and shoulders.
Coraline
Bluelight Crew
I found another cause for my issues my spine is messed up or as the dr said deformed.
This explains a lot. My jaw is also misaligned. I think this causes some of my terrible headaches.
I'm having a epideral site injection to my lower back. From what I hear the treatment could last days to years. I hope years.
They took me off soma and are going to let me chose a muscle relaxer next month. I don't know any that works as good as soma.
I'm on gabapentin and it decreased my need to smoke and take norco. It took my want for it. It's weird. Usually I'm counting hrs till my next dose is due. But it's been 5 hrs since I took it and I don't want it.
Now I know why it's good for wd's.
This explains a lot. My jaw is also misaligned. I think this causes some of my terrible headaches.
I'm having a epideral site injection to my lower back. From what I hear the treatment could last days to years. I hope years.
They took me off soma and are going to let me chose a muscle relaxer next month. I don't know any that works as good as soma.
I'm on gabapentin and it decreased my need to smoke and take norco. It took my want for it. It's weird. Usually I'm counting hrs till my next dose is due. But it's been 5 hrs since I took it and I don't want it.
Now I know why it's good for wd's.
What type of injection Zoey? I have had multiple injections ( >10 ) and many stories about epidurals for degenerate disc disorder (DDD) and sciatica if you have questions. I have never heard of an injection lasting years unless there is something new. Even the rhizotomy I had lasted for < month.
BiggDirty01
Bluelighter
Hey zoey, which muscle relaxers have you tried so far? My experience with just about all the usual muscle relaxers: Baclofen, Soma, Zanaflex, Robaxin, Parafon-forte, and cyclobenzaprine. IME, zanaflex and baclofen are the only other two I care to have RX'd besides soma.
My dad's company is carrying a new device for chronic pain called LaserOneTouch and I am going to be the first patient to try it out and see if his company should carry the product.
Here is the link if anyone wants to take a look:http://www.lasertouchone.com/
mrflowers00
Ex-Bluelighter
within a month when i was 14 i was in a car accident in which i (no seat belt) went through the front windshield neck head back first then about 3 weeks later was on LSD and jumped off a car port 4th story (cause i thought i could fly) into a pine tree thank god for the tree bounce of the branches all the way down and have had seriously painful muscle spasms and get knots in my back shoulders and neck that are like rocks and it hurts so bad the pain medication is not necessary constantly but when i'm more active or have a bad day i NEED it
Coraline
Bluelight Crew
I think they are steroid injections as best as I can tell mixed with some other medications. He talked with a heavy accent so it was hard to follow especially after he said no soma lol!! But I knew that was coming.
That product looks pretty cool. I think it's like a mini tens unit. Very discrete.
As far as muscle relaxers I have had them all from Valium to baclofen. I even tried Xanax. It does work for pain too. But it knocked me on my ass. Idk. The dr did say I would have pain for the rest of my life.
That product looks pretty cool. I think it's like a mini tens unit. Very discrete.
As far as muscle relaxers I have had them all from Valium to baclofen. I even tried Xanax. It does work for pain too. But it knocked me on my ass. Idk. The dr did say I would have pain for the rest of my life.
brighton
Bluelighter
nordkraft
Greenlighter
Hi everyone,
I have a possibly really stupid question. I wear a 20mg Norspan (bupe) patch, I take 200mg Tramadol XR 2x daily, plus IR 50mg's Tramadol and .4mg Subutex for breakthrough pain.
My Pdoc decided that she doesn't like Tramadol anymore (which I think is shit, cause I'm one of those special people they still work for), and says I should only have the bupe. Thing is, she stopped me cold turkey and I have like 2 100mg's left.
I've been taking trams for years, and I just feel like coming off them sucks more ass than other opiods. She didn't feel I'd be in too much discomfort cause of the bupe, but I still think cause of the SNRI effects, I just don't think it's going to be a picnic, or am I fine coming from 600+mg tram to 0 in one day?
I have a possibly really stupid question. I wear a 20mg Norspan (bupe) patch, I take 200mg Tramadol XR 2x daily, plus IR 50mg's Tramadol and .4mg Subutex for breakthrough pain.
My Pdoc decided that she doesn't like Tramadol anymore (which I think is shit, cause I'm one of those special people they still work for), and says I should only have the bupe. Thing is, she stopped me cold turkey and I have like 2 100mg's left.
I've been taking trams for years, and I just feel like coming off them sucks more ass than other opiods. She didn't feel I'd be in too much discomfort cause of the bupe, but I still think cause of the SNRI effects, I just don't think it's going to be a picnic, or am I fine coming from 600+mg tram to 0 in one day?
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DH CONTINUOUSLY
Greenlighter
yeah my doc cut me off 8x50mg ir tram a day cold,i was also on 4x60mg dhc and 4x30mg codiene phos at the time and the bastard took the 30mg codiene and dropped the dhc to 3 a day so i was not a happy camper!! i dont know i found it difficult re sleep and shit so i had to score benzos and what ever else i cud get.im back on them now.2yrs later.i would really talk to ya doc about that if u need them u need them.good luck
DH CONTINUOUSLY
Greenlighter
ive never seen bupe here but isnt it a way stronger opiate than tram?what a doc lol
brighton
Bluelighter
yeah coming off 600mgs a day could be rough, I would recommend using the 200mg you have left in 25-50mg doses when/if the withdrawals are terrible.
that sucks they cut you off! im battling my pm doc trying to keep my pain meds its not much fun
CaveJohnson
Greenlighter
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2012
- Messages
- 29
New member here, hello everyone.
I'm a pain management patient myself so this thread seemed like a good place to stop in. I'll give a quick run down of my PM history:
I've been on opiates of some kind on and off since I was a kid, first time I remember was at age 8 being given morphine because I had a kidney stone. I had a second one two years later as well.
The chronic pain began with my knees when I was diagnosed with patellofemoral disorder. Basically my knee caps are not in the right place and hurt constantly, and have destroyed the cartilage in both knees. Hard shocks to the leg from running or landing hard are horrible, and even sitting still and not moving it causes pain. I had lateral release surgery on my left knee and it failed, so I'm just stuck with the pain.
Hurt my shoulder probably 7 years ago and it got worse and worse over time. I was finally diagnosed with Thoracic Outlet Syndrome in 2009 after years of injections and epidurals and shit that didn't work at all. Something is cutting off my nerves and blood flow to my arm, causing constant pain and hypersensitivity in my left arm.
I have lower back pain that was always there and probably a result of lifting things for jobs for years, and since a month ago it's gotten really bad. It's now constant and travels down my leg but the doctor doesn't think it's a nerve issue.
Besides all that there's assorted pains and issues like gastrointestinal stuff, heartburn, turf toe, headaches, etc.
I was in a Pain Management clinic that was sketchy probably in 2006 or so. One day I was told they were taking no new patients and was "strongly advised" to go to another clinic. I still think they got caught doing something wrong, because it was strange as hell.
I was referred to another place at a hospital and it was a pain clinic/sports medicine place. I had a jerk of a doctor but he did listen to me, and I was on MS Contin 15mg 3x Daily. This eventually became 30mg 3x Daily and even 60mg 3xdaily.
When my tolerance got so I wanted to lower my dose, I was switched to Fentanyl. I ended up so violently ill that I drove myself to the ER and they said it was just a standard illness. I still think I either had a bad reaction to the Fentanyl or it was withdrawal from the morphine, even though that's not supposed to happen.
Lost my insurance in 2010 and weaned myself off the morphine (I had a stockpile of extra pills from days I would take 2 and not 3) and the withdrawal was pretty easy.
I took morphine off and on while I was uninsured when I could find it, and when my pain was at it's worst. Luckily I knew other people in chronic pain that took pity on me. I got insurance back thanks to my girlfriend and a domestic partnership document, so I'm grateful for that.
As of a month ago I got back into pain management with my primary and am back on Morphine 15mg 3x daily. It's the Watson ABG blue pills, and that information may be important.
(tl;dr start here)
Either my tolerance is permanent, or the pills are different because the 15mg morphine is like tylenol to me. I get some pain relief, but I'm going to say 30% out of 100% most times, and only if I take 2 together is it like 50%.
I know a lot of pharm. companies reformulated pills to deter abuse, but this is generic morphine sulfate and seems the same as ever. I'm going to talk to the doctor about it, and see if he'll up the dosage. I would ask about switching to something else, but all the stories about no pain relief from Opana and Oxycontin and such scares me.
Does anyone have any insight on this?
I'm a pain management patient myself so this thread seemed like a good place to stop in. I'll give a quick run down of my PM history:
I've been on opiates of some kind on and off since I was a kid, first time I remember was at age 8 being given morphine because I had a kidney stone. I had a second one two years later as well.
The chronic pain began with my knees when I was diagnosed with patellofemoral disorder. Basically my knee caps are not in the right place and hurt constantly, and have destroyed the cartilage in both knees. Hard shocks to the leg from running or landing hard are horrible, and even sitting still and not moving it causes pain. I had lateral release surgery on my left knee and it failed, so I'm just stuck with the pain.
Hurt my shoulder probably 7 years ago and it got worse and worse over time. I was finally diagnosed with Thoracic Outlet Syndrome in 2009 after years of injections and epidurals and shit that didn't work at all. Something is cutting off my nerves and blood flow to my arm, causing constant pain and hypersensitivity in my left arm.
I have lower back pain that was always there and probably a result of lifting things for jobs for years, and since a month ago it's gotten really bad. It's now constant and travels down my leg but the doctor doesn't think it's a nerve issue.
Besides all that there's assorted pains and issues like gastrointestinal stuff, heartburn, turf toe, headaches, etc.
I was in a Pain Management clinic that was sketchy probably in 2006 or so. One day I was told they were taking no new patients and was "strongly advised" to go to another clinic. I still think they got caught doing something wrong, because it was strange as hell.
I was referred to another place at a hospital and it was a pain clinic/sports medicine place. I had a jerk of a doctor but he did listen to me, and I was on MS Contin 15mg 3x Daily. This eventually became 30mg 3x Daily and even 60mg 3xdaily.
When my tolerance got so I wanted to lower my dose, I was switched to Fentanyl. I ended up so violently ill that I drove myself to the ER and they said it was just a standard illness. I still think I either had a bad reaction to the Fentanyl or it was withdrawal from the morphine, even though that's not supposed to happen.
Lost my insurance in 2010 and weaned myself off the morphine (I had a stockpile of extra pills from days I would take 2 and not 3) and the withdrawal was pretty easy.
I took morphine off and on while I was uninsured when I could find it, and when my pain was at it's worst. Luckily I knew other people in chronic pain that took pity on me. I got insurance back thanks to my girlfriend and a domestic partnership document, so I'm grateful for that.
As of a month ago I got back into pain management with my primary and am back on Morphine 15mg 3x daily. It's the Watson ABG blue pills, and that information may be important.
(tl;dr start here)
Either my tolerance is permanent, or the pills are different because the 15mg morphine is like tylenol to me. I get some pain relief, but I'm going to say 30% out of 100% most times, and only if I take 2 together is it like 50%.
I know a lot of pharm. companies reformulated pills to deter abuse, but this is generic morphine sulfate and seems the same as ever. I'm going to talk to the doctor about it, and see if he'll up the dosage. I would ask about switching to something else, but all the stories about no pain relief from Opana and Oxycontin and such scares me.
Does anyone have any insight on this?
Thanatos
Bluelighter
Does anyone have experience with cortisone shots exarcerbating joint pain?
Coraline
Bluelight Crew
Yes. I have decreased pain in my sacral/ hip area but new pain in my sacral area with electric shocks going to my tail bone.
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First, I am sorry to hear about the lengthy series of complications you have endured. Living in pain that long? That's close to hell on earth. It's been ten years for me and I get so frustrated and depressed because I simply cannot do the things I used to. I was an athlete through High School into College, found a good career and worked as long as I possibly could in horrible pain. Some days I would have to have taxi come and wheelchair me out to his car. I worked at a hospital. Then he would have to help me up the steps to my door. That was it, end of career, hello SSD.
To your situation, sorry this is about you not me but we are all in the same fucked up boat so to speak. You have been on pain meds for a loooong time. I do not believe in permanent tolerance. I think you are under medicated. Morphine ER 15's are about as strong as Tylenol to some. I assume you take them as you should and swallow them. That is the problem with morpine. It has an extremely low bioavailability (BA) when used in any way other than IV and I doubt you want to go there (IV). Morphine's oral bioavailabilty is around 20-35%. Oxycodone has an oral bioavailabilty of around 80%. Bioavailability plays a large role in medication management.
I was started on oral morphine nearly 7 years ago. I thought, my God, morphine. They must think I am in deep shit. I found out pretty quickly that it didn't do squat for me and I was completely opiate naive at the time. Maybe they are starting you low to see if you truly need something more and it sounds like you do. I will let the doctors to the rest. I could roll out a bunch of different meds and combinations but your doc is going to have the final say.
That is about it. Is your primary doc a pain specialist? That combination doesn't exist in my neck of the woods.
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