life in pain sucks and so do the docs trying to manage it!

i was in a very bad car accident in 2002 which left me severely disabled and always in extreme pain and after no success with all types of therapy they put me on opiates.
Fast foward 10years and also had major surgery.had c3,c4,c5,c6,c7,t1and t2 removed and cleaned out basically my whole anatomy and replaced it with metal screws rods and fused together.i also have damage in l1,l2,l3,l4,l5,s1,and s2.well after time went on my tolerance for meds grew and grew and grew.my pain doctor refuses to raise my meds after 3 docs left i got stuck with this lady doctor that reduced my oxycodone from 720mg a day to 480mg a day and raised my fentanyl patches from 275mic an hour every other day to 400micrograms an hour changed every other day.thats 480 roxis a month and 60 100microgram gel patches a month along with flexeral 10mg 3 times a day and neurontin 800mg 3 times a day.
seems like alot but my pain level varys from a 8-10 everyday.1 being no pain 10 the highest.i dont know what tio do anymore.i went to multiple consults with other docs and they wont even touch my meds.im at my wits end with this i9 want to die i cant take it anymore.this is no life i never leave the house unless going to a doc.i live in ny you would think i can find someone to help me.please if anybody has any advice it would be appreciated.i also take for mental health 1mg of klonopin 3 times a day.60mg of cymbalta once a day and for sleep 300mg of trazadone and 75-100mg of seroquel before bed you would think i would be pain free and messed up and im neither im suffering to the point of suicide.please if anyone knows a good doc in the tri state area please help!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Holy shit!! that is ALOT of meds!!! I dont have any advice but do wish you all the best!

 

My husband takes neurontin and hydrocodone and has found that taking them separately works better than together - like take one and wait an hour and half or two hours before taking the other. Also, take the medication then eat - with both of those. He's found that food interacts with them and makes them work better.

What about a Morphine pump? Is that an option? Also, don't the use Methadone for pain relief.

 

methadone worked the best for me for pain relief i was on it for 8 years but when my doc left noone else would prescribe it.
i did a trial with the pump and it didnt help at all.when i go to the hospital for pain when it gets unbearable they give 8mg iv morphine plus all my meds and it doesnt help that much.they give it to me every 2 hours the morphine.
ive just about given up.this is no life,i do have a consult at one of the best pain management places in the city.but the soonest consult was the end of april.they supposely deal with people on high meds.its so far away though,just sucks

 

I wonder if you can be sedated, fast detox'd and then start the process all over again. Sounds like your almost at the end of your marathon.

 

i don't know much about CPP, but have you tried using marijuana in combination with the opiates for pain management?

 

i get drug tested otherwise thats what id be doing.it does help and sucks i would get kicked out for failing a drug test for something that helps my pain.
i doubt it will become legal in new york
there is a possibility that my doc will let me try actiq instead my oxycodone

 

I feel your pain. I was going to post something similar. In my case I am on about 100 mg of percecet a day, which I know isn't much to a lot of people here. Been through cortisone shots, facet blocks and radio frequency ablasion. The cortisone makes me horribly sick but I still do them in desperate hope that it will work. On top of back and neck pain I get horrific migraine headaches nearly daily. My whole life has become about being in pain or doing things to mitigate pain. Sorry I don't have any answers for you. Looking for answers myself. But I can sympathies with you. I have herd about methadone being used for pain. Does that really work any better than percecet? I have tried every non narcotic pain med there is. I just want to get back to a somewhat normal life.

 

This post is like ten months old, but....

It sounds like OP should actually try for some success with other therapy, and try to play things to keep tolerance down.... they can't just raise your dose forever.

 

Methadone works great for pain. I've tried it myself. It's very potent and long-lasting. The downside is that if you get hooked on that, the wd's last about a month.

 

Yea I know. I prob should have created a new thread. I was going to post in the health section of the forum. But seems all the pm folks post here. I also didn't mean to take away from op. Just thought it would be good to post similar thoughts/questions to an existing thread.

 

Yes I know that it is more addictive than the percecet. One of the things that would make me cautious about trying it for pm. The current medication and pt regiment I am on now just doesn't work. Pain level at best is 7 of ten. Most of my day is spent in the 8 to 10 range. Thank you for the feedback. I see my doc next week. Is there anything you found to be helpful. Obviously my pain management doc is not managing my pain very well. As some people know the time you spend in the office with the doc consists of 3 to 5 min discussion. I would like to have a strategy to direct the discussion with my doc.

 

Well, don't get me wrong. If you're a chronic pain patient taking opiods long-term you're going to become addicted, that goes without saying. And if Methadone works for you, that's great. You'll be fine as long as you have an uninterrupted supply of it. But doctors can be funny. And sometimes they retire or move on, that's just a fact of life. And suddenly you have a new doctor who has a completely different philosophy about pain management. I know a guy who had 3rd degree burns over a third of his body, who was being treated at the VA. About 4 months after his injury he ended up with a new doctor for some reason, and she cut his meds from Oxycodone down to Hydrocodone, and he only got the Hydro's because he practically begged for them. She told him she didn't believe in pain, that it is all in your head. This guy was still getting skin grafts. He had big areas of raw skin, and his wound care routine was taking him hours a day. And the bitch told him with a straight face that pain was all in your head. Anyway, I got off track but the point is you could become dependent on Methadone and end up with a new doctor or your present doctor could suddenly change his mind, and you're screwed.

 

So you're saying..... that psychotropics should not be controlled by a perscription system, and we should combat drug abuse by teaching personal responsibility?

Impossible, teaching personal responsibility whilst respecting freedom would send the kids the wrong message :willy_nilly:

 

Yes hypnodude you understand what I am talking about. If something as extream as methadone would work I might consider taking it. Actually the only reason I mentioned it at allow was someone above said it controled his pain. I heard the same thing from a girl at pt. But you never know what the doctors will do on any given day. As you pointed out it is easy to end up screwed for no medical reason. Some of these doctors act very irresponsible imo. Like your friend who was cut off just because his doc retired. I have seen very horrific things happen wich is why one must be careful. But at the same time I don't know what to do. The meds I take don't work anymore. Part of that is tollerance but most is my condition is degenerative and has been worse for some time. So I don't know what to do. I have had a rough time with pm doctors not with medication oddly but with procedures. These doctors are not honest at all with these pain management shots. I even got a second opinion and was told the worst that is likely to happen was that the shots would not work but that wasn't the worst that could happen. anyone else have negitive effects with cortisone.

 

I feel for you, bro, and I wish I had the answer, but I don't. But there are other options available, such as Fentanyl patches combined with pills for breakthrough pain. That might be something to check into. Or try to convince your doctor to increase your dosage on the grounds that you have a degenerative condition and your tolerance for opiods has increased. And the fact is it will continue to increase, and you'll be taking ever increasing dosages as time goes by. But that's just what chronic pain patients have to deal with. Methadone isn't commonly prescribed for pain control. In some cases of severe pain it is though. I know someone who gets it prescribed, and he needs it. But coming off of it can be a bitch. With something like Hydrocodone, 7-10 days and it's over. With Methadone it can last a month. Hypnodude, lol. That's not bad, actually. Maybe I'll use that somewhere else. Maybe on my next account on this mafia game I'm playing. I get killed on there about every 2 months, lol. Hypnodude...yeah.

 

Thanks again. There is def a lot to think about. These kind of injuries and conditions are frustrating. People who suffer like this do become desprate and there are people ready to take advantage of people in chronic pain. I purchased those megnetic pads in hopes of getting some releif. Didn't work all. I have herd of doctors swearing they could cure chronic pain by putting people in an mri for 20 min acess week. Now I have had multiple mri and ct scans and I do not see how that could help with pain. Then ofcourse there are the injections that pain management docs do which are a crap shoot. Work for some and don't for others. Most people don't understand that by the time you get to higher level meds you have exausted non medication options. I know that in terms of medication there are a lot of options with traditional meds I havent tried yet. I have just been getting frustrated of late. I used to be so active and now just going to the store is acess major chor. Like the OP I am tired of not being able to do anything I used to do.

 

welcome to my world. combat veteran that cant smoke weed and join the work force. but I can put my life on the line for a faggot flag and oil.

 

MRI's for pain control? Wow. And be careful with the steroid injections, a lot of people are coming down with meningitis. Thousands of vials at a pharmaceutical company called NECC at Boston were sent out contaminated. This is scary because it's new. There's nothing in medical literature that deals with it. The company issued a recall for basically everything in their inventory, but be careful anyway. By new, I don't mean meningitis, but this type of fungal meningitis.

 

I've told my pain doc a long time ago, "No shots". Seemed to piss him off, I think they are doing this because they make more money from the facet injections than they get trying to help people. I also told the guy "No opiates either". That really blew his mind.