We must help ourselves

[h8dea]

I have been on pain killers for many years now. I am 34 years old and was born with rheumatoid arthritis. my bones are that of a 60 year old. I can barely walk and this month I will be going in for a dangerous knee/hip replacement surgery. Though at this point I am looking forward to it b/c at least I will get painkillers that will work.
All I know is this. I stood idly by as they took more and more rights from smokers. I mean why is it all or nothing, why couldn't the government choose to let people open smoking bars and have non-smoking bars...well whatever, whats done is done, but NOT THIS TIME.
These OPANA ER's and the ilk of long acting drugs do NOT WORK!!!!!! We all know this, why else would we be trying everything under the sun to break them down. In the old days you took the pills and you got good pain relief, hey, great, at least it was working. I mean, I have pain in every single joint in my body. If it bends it hurts. Its like fire. These pills do not even touch my pain and I get dope sick as well. my saving grace is the 60 pills I get of roxys. But I go through those in a week. But as we all know, unless you an afford a script doc, and I can't, YOU WILL NEVER NEVER NEVER get just short release pills even though they take the pain away bar none.
So help me help us. Where do I start. Should I petition the pharmaceutical companies, state Representatives, the DEA??....We gotta do something b/c otherwise our lives are gonna be shit if we don't. I can't take being in this type of pain. I mean, I should also point out that some people have higher tolerances than others. My mother is very sensitive to any medication. She has been on percs for years and she can still catch a buzz. Me, I down 80mg of roxys and I'm barely pain free. I have the same trouble with all drugs. i have been on medication my whole life and I am just not sensitive to it.
So what to do we do, where can we start ?
yours truly
-h8

 

[Tommyboy]

I know somebody that just got his knee replaced and they don't really prescribe painkillers after the first month. He actually said he felt no pain after the first two weeks despite not being able to bend his knee much which is still an ongoing issue that is being worked on with rehabilitation a few times a week. The whole point of a knee replacement is that you are no longer supposed to feel pain in your knees after it, so it shouldn't warrant pain meds.

As far as doctors prescribing practices go, unfortunately it seems as though they have gone from one extreme to the other, meaning they used to dish out a lot of pain meds easily to people that may have not needed that much, but are now not even prescribing enough to legit pain patients. I doubt that anything we do will change this, so all you can do is go to a pain clinic and adhere to their strict guidelines if you are going to continually get prescribed the pain meds you need.

 

[weekend addiction]

Basically society is afraid of junkies not under-medicated pain patients. However the line between the two can get really blurry if a patient goes long enough without proper treatment.

 

[BeachBum4u]

I too have been a long-term pain patient and I've seen things change so much it's crazy. I have to honestly say I "get it" but also, there must be a better way. You're right, I used to be on OxyContin and they worked great, then they changed them and they were pure (plastic) shit. Then new docs put me on Opana ER and they worked pretty well, not great. Then they change those too. I think these folks are chasing me around sometimes! I don't know what the answer is but just say, I use my meds very creatively to get the most out of them and I kind of feel like I've been pushed into a corner in doing so. Like you, I don't know what the answer is but there's been too much pressure on drug companies to make these shit (tamper resistant) drugs, I really can't see where enough momentum can be attained to turn the tide the other direction. Sorry to say!

 

[Pilll_head]

I agree with above comments. The abuse problem is considered by the Alphabet Gang to be a much worse concern than chronic pain sufferers not getting adequate pain relief. My personal experience is that different doctors have different philosophies as far as what to give to who, but nowadays their hands are pretty tied.

As far as treatment options, if you are on Opana ER plus Roxy on a daily basis you are nearly maxed out. My only other suggestion would be fentanyl.