Pain Is Driving Me Crazy, Any Thoughts?

[dav_marine72]

Hi Everyone,

I have been in back and leg pain for 14 years. The last six years have been the worst. I have been on opiates since 2006. I had a 3 level L3-S1 fusion in 2009 which ended up making my pain worse. I have been on 30 mg oxycodone x 3 a day and oxycontin 40 mg x 3 a day for quite a while. I switch to 60 mg morphine x 2 a day sometimes in place of the oxycontin. I am at the point where I am getting almost no pain relief. I tried methadone and it worked awesome. Then in a few days my asthma went crazy. I tried this on 5 different trials with the same result. The pain is so bad now my life just sucks. I can't remember not being in pain and I can't imagine going through life like this. I'm 37 and have been in pain since I was 22. I still go to an civilan pain clinic so all the options are available for me. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks.

FYI I also take 1mg of ativan x 3 a day, 2 10mg buspar x 4 a day, 200mg zoloft 1 x a day.

[john999]

Do you see a psychiatrist? Probably the opiates don't work anymore because you have become tolerant to the dose. These pain doctors are afraid you will OD and they will get sued.

[dav_marine72]

Yes I see a shrink at the VA. He prescibes me the zoloft, ativan, and buspar. I actually see my pain doc in a week. He's pretty cool about uping the doses. I don't know about this time considering how high I'm starting to get.

[john999]

Maybe you need to go inside the pain clinic and let them take you down from your doses while being monitored. The VA is responsible for your dependence on opiates. It is hard as hell to take youself down while you hurt, and are sitting at home thinking about it. I am in somewhat the same situation. The idiots at the VA just say to get PT. The VA addicts us and then wants to wash their hands.

[dav_marine72]

You think stepping down so I can get relief from the opiates again is the best bet?

[john999]

If the VA won't increase your dose it is probably the only way to get relief when your body winds down to the lower dose. My VA is so worried about accidental OD that they want to step me down from the lousey 6 oxycodones I take a day which does not help me anymore. My VA does not give oxycontin unless you have cancer. I tried the morphine and it turned my colon into concrete. The methadone made me itch like crazy. That is their whole bag of tricks. The VA worries about addiction, but the quality of life of people in pain is secondary. You got to believe there must be alternative treatments for pain besides opiates that have been around for 4000 years.

But, yes, stepping down very gradually is probably the answer.