Opioids Need to take pills as scripted, Taking too many. Thoughts, Ideas, Please Help?

Hi,
I am a chronic pain patient who also has a history of meth use which Dr.'s know about. I just had fusion with hardware put in at 3 levels in June. So, I know I am blessed at this point to still being able to get 90 Lortab 5's, scripted to take 1-2 every 6 to 8 hours, when I actually get pain relief taking by 2 every 4 hours.(They are trying to wean me down, but I have many other back issues and need to be referred to pain management after they get through watching me on recovery in January.)

I need to learn how to bide my time, do the wait, whatever I can do to make my pills go further. I have also just started taking generic Neurontin, the big white scored tablets, and Zanaflex.

Any thoughts and or ideas welcome? You never know when even an off the wall thought people have may be the best thing to try and actually have work.

Thanks Y'all

Well, as someone who has gone through 3 fusions in the last 18 months and a history of drug abuse, I recommend setting up a system either with a friend or family member who can dispose your pills to you in a daily fashion, or you can even ask your pharmacy to do that as I've heard of several people getting their pharmacy to dispense.

Neurontin wasn't strong enough for me and I am now on Lyrica 600mg/day. Zanaflex is a great medicine for spasms and if it stops being effective, you might want to look into things like Robaxin, Flexeril and maybe Skelaxin. Soma is not an option for people like us with a history of abuse as in combination with taking too many pain pills can easily cause an OD or nodding in and out of consciousness.

Hit me up if you wanna chat, nobody gets the seriousness and difficulty in recuperating from a fusion and to not overdo your rehab as that got me into my 2nd and 3rd fusions.

Mike

Boy, I can relate to this.

The first thing I do is divide them up into portions for each week...just keeping a better idea of how many I am taking helps me budget them out. Giving them to a trusted friend or family member to dispense works as well, but the hard core addict that I am, I find myself still coming up with scams to get them back early And since so many of my friends are pain management patients as well, it isn't easy to find people I trust completely.

Good luck to you with your pain management! Take care of yourself!

C.

I really do feel for people like you. People who picked up an opiate habit by being in real pain and getting actual prescribed medications.. You end up with the same disease but you got there not selfishly just wanting to get high like most addicts, but from having actual pain.. That's a real shame.

Only thing I can tell you is that try to exert some serious will power before you fall too far down the rabbit hole. You know deep down how many pills you need to simply take away the pain, and if you choose to take more despite that fact, well then you are developing a problem and are on a bad path. But the pain issue complicates things... Like I said. It's a real shame.

Good luck.

To the above poster...I think there needs to be some distinction between psychological addiction and physical dependence...they are two completely different things. Many if not most true chronic pain patients are physically dependent on opioid medications, but not necessarily "addicted" or have the disease of addiction as you mentioned above. It does happen sometimes, however, and it sucks when it does.

To the OP .... I was struck when reading your post by the fact that you are probably undermedicated. It bodes well that you are able to get any relief at all from 5 mg lortab after a spinal fusion. I know you said you are lucky to get what you have due to past issues, but is there any possibility at all that your doctor would prescribe something stronger, maybe at a smaller quantity? In a perfect world your past meth issues should not interfere with your treatment for pain you are having now,but we all know that pain management is a very imperfect, arbitrary world.

If you cannot get anything else and have to stick to stretching 90 lortabs, I have tried several things before. The most successful was getting a person I trusted to hold my meds. The way we worked it is that I would get a days worth in the morning so I could decide how to dose myself. Also, I would always have an emergency dose that I could get to while he was at work just in case.

One other thing is that someone posted on here a while ago a medication dispenser thingy that dispensed your meds for you that seemed really neat. Maybe you could search for that?

I know also that you mentioned neurontin and zanaflex....for me ( I have similar back issues) adding a strong NSAID like meloxicam (mobic) really helped cut my pain. You could also ask for tramadol....docs are way more cool with prescribing this. Just some thoughts. Good luck to you! I have been down your road before!

Marijuana is the best for synergizing with opioids for more pain relief, but you probably get drug tested so that is out of the option

You can try immodiun which can be found over the counter and this guy named cane says it helps with physical pain even though it doesn't have much affect (effect?) On the CNS

Thanks everyone for all your thoughts, I feel like I am undermedicated as well, my surgeon is going to be watching me til January and giving my scripts. I am assuming, and will also be asking him to transfer me to their pain management clinic in January. Hopefully, my needs can be better addressed there, if not, I will be doing my research on any pain docs in other areas