"Managing Pain Without Opioids- Changing Patient Perceptions"

[MaryB]

10 years on pain meds... I lowered my dose myself, find no need to increase it to where I am a zombie sleeping constantly. I live with high pain levels despite the narcotics... as I mentioned I take enough to dull the pain so I can get moving and so I can sleep. I have 10 extra percocet a month for breakthrough issues like the last 3 days where i was having bad nerve pain in my right foot from a pinched nerve... I like to be able to sorta sleep at night and having your foot feel like someone was stabbing 2 wires with 240 volts into it every 10 minutes means no sleep at all. The percocet adds some anti inflammatory to take the swelling down on that nerve.

I looked into medical pot... not on my budget!!! Would cost me $500 a month plus MN strips your gun rights so no thanks!

[GregLaROCHE]

Opioids never seemed to help me that much. For short term pain, when I had a hip replacement, Ice was by far the best. I’ve suffered with arthritis for years and Celebrex works miracles for me. If I forget to take it one morning, I sure know it. It used to be controversial, but I think now it is more accepted. I’ve been taking it for fifteen years and I swear by it. It also is great for hangovers!

[tmax64]

I worked for the Army for 32+ years as a Pharmacy Technician so I'll chime in with my 2 cents worth. I truly feel for the folks with chronic pain issues because over the last 5-10 years the government do-gooders have made opioids out to be the devil incarnate. There was some over-prescribing years ago but now the pendulum has swung too far the other way. All the "just as good or better than" is kind of like the "tastes like …". You compare to the standard. There are some people who need long term pain relief. If you can't fix the problem then you have to treat the symptoms. There are also people who need more than 1 week of pain medication after an orthopedic surgery or other procedure. Not being able to use/prescribe the best option available is stupid and another step towards what a "socialized medicine" program would look like in the US. Government dictating what you can take/not take, do/not do instead of the Dr.-patient relationship determining what is best.

[white eagle]

This subject was alluded to in another thread, but I thought it deserves its own.

The fact that opioid use appears to be leading to users being less tolerant of pain, and I wondered how long it would take to move into practice. I open my company E mail this morning and there it is, a seminar on moving away from opioids for long term pain management!

I wonder how this is going to be received by the public? What do some of you who are on pain management think? What have you seen happen in family or friends who have been on long term opioid pain management?

aint going to happen for me
without pain meds I can not move, literally
I am one of the unlucky few that metal replacement joint surgery
has not made my life better
2 knee's and one hip not to mention degenerative back issue
no brace for that

[Abert Rim]

I had just had my third lumbar fusion six weeks ago. Got off the hydrocodone light ahead of schedule, as I tend to view acetominophen as the antichrist.
Brother keeps urging me to consider medical marijuana or the CBD extracts, but I am reluctant for two reasons: the science is still sketchy, with most of the evidence anecdotal; and the ****able federal component would jeopardize my carry permit and C&R license at the very least.
So at this point when the leg lights up, all I can do is sit, stretch, grin and bear it.
Those with much more severe chronic pain than I have have my complete sympathy. It really grinds on quality of life and mental health over time.

[KenH]

Seriously - you hit 80 and your life expectancy is 5 years or less.. Who cares about addiction if it helps you to cope.

Better words were never spoken!!!

[truckjohn]

See - so many of these posts hit on the exact thing.

Pain relief and Addiction are two different things and need to be treated separately.

Addiction is horrible. The toll it takes on both the addict and his family is terrible. So let's open the door to better addiction treatment. For example - most heroine addiction treatment is handled by hospitals and lasts 3-5 days. Yet it takes a YEAR for a heroine addict to get to the point where they can usually cope.... Why is this an issue? Money. Simple as that... Cost! Who pays - if it's the family with deep pockets, they get the treatment they need.... If it's unreimbursed hospital bills - they get 3-5 days and send them home.... If the fellow dies at home - it's not on the hospital's watch.....

[Thundarstick]

Here's an indication of where this is going. I picked up our local paper today and there's a lengthy article about a Cookeville TN man who was addicted to opioids. After reading the whole article, the addict told how he had no idea that PRESCRIPTION drugs could be so addictive, and most of the blame was laid on the Dr. for over prescription of opioids! The Dr. was indicted for over prescription as well.

What do you think is going to happen when the MDs are too scared of criminal prosecution to prescribe potentially addictive pain killers? I'm betting that they stop prescribing them!

Basically these seminars are going to teach the medical community how to "just say no" to pain sufferers!

[MaryB]

Many docs already are, local cops are interfering and demanding they cut prescriptions back too...

[bmortell]

there's supposedly some drugs that are good for opioid addiction like ibogaine and some other psychoactive's for other types of addiction, but there all schedule 1 just like everything else.

[MrWolf]

Many docs already are, local cops are interfering and demanding they cut prescriptions back too...

I am required to drive 45 minutes each way every month to see a pain management doc so I can have my prescription. Really is a joke and we both know it based upon my history. There for maybe 20 mins. Problem is after sitting for 30 minutes it becomes painful. Actually I see a pharmacy guy then doc/pa. Called insurance company yesterday as we were looking into other formulations. Gave them four choices and all were either outright denied or they would only issue seven days worth. They also grade you on your supposed overdose probability or something like that. Really is a joke on folks who really need the meds vs being told to just take an aspirin and ignore it.

[Lloyd Smale]

I took them daily for about 8 years. Finally just had enough of living in a haze and not being able to do a bowl movement and went to my doctor and told him no more. He gaves me what is basically prescription strength advil and Tylenol 3 for when it gets bad. Yes I suffer, No they don't take the pain away but I can at least function and live my life. I can drive to town without worrying about driving under the influence or what would happened if I killed someone on the road. Like it or not its not going to get better no matter how much you disagree. About every hospital or doctors office I go to now has signs about then not giving out narcotics or strickly limiting them. If I were you and was taking them daily id be looking right now and trying different things right now before you show up for your script one month and they say no more. Because that day is coming and its not far off. Ive had 6 back operations a hip replacement and an ankle replacement and am scheduled right now for the other hip. So im not talking without experience. there is other things on the market. New drugs and new stimulators. I had a spinal stimulator for about 12 years it got tired and wouldn't hold a charge so they removed it. The company asked me if I wanted another one and I told them it didn't help all that much (it did help some though) He said that they've came along ways since mine and work much better so maybe that's a route some of you should consider.

[C.F.Plinker]

He gaves me what is basically prescription strength advil and Tylenol 3 for when it gets bad.

FWIW Tylenol No. 3 has a half grain of codeine in it. That is what the "No.3" means.

[MrWolf]

I've tried alternatives such as bio feedback, electrical stimulators which cause me migraines, shots but am allergic to the carrier they use in cortisone, etc.. My pain pills do not cause a haze as I only take enough to function. Surgery has been ruled out by numerous docs due to the severity and extent. Gotten to where I am looking into alternatives such as stem cell. If they could just fix the sitting part at least I could travel some.

[MaryB]

I took them daily for about 8 years. Finally just had enough of living in a haze and not being able to do a bowl movement and went to my doctor and told him no more. He gaves me what is basically prescription strength advil and Tylenol 3 for when it gets bad. Yes I suffer, No they don't take the pain away but I can at least function and live my life. I can drive to town without worrying about driving under the influence or what would happened if I killed someone on the road. Like it or not its not going to get better no matter how much you disagree. About every hospital or doctors office I go to now has signs about then not giving out narcotics or strickly limiting them. If I were you and was taking them daily id be looking right now and trying different things right now before you show up for your script one month and they say no more. Because that day is coming and its not far off. Ive had 6 back operations a hip replacement and an ankle replacement and am scheduled right now for the other hip. So im not talking without experience. there is other things on the market. New drugs and new stimulators. I had a spinal stimulator for about 12 years it got tired and wouldn't hold a charge so they removed it. The company asked me if I wanted another one and I told them it didn't help all that much (it did help some though) He said that they've came along ways since mine and work much better so maybe that's a route some of you should consider.

They tried to implant a tens unit in my spine. They can't get the leads past the bone spurs and into the right spots... my spine is slowly self fusing... a very painful process and nothing they can fix...

[375supermag]

Hi...
I have suffered from back pain from a work accident back in the '90s. I ran a receiving docks and the loading dock leveler fell and my lift truck and I fell into the gap between thedock and the truck.
I had to be helped off the lift truck because I was in so much pain I couldn't move. I was off work for over a week...the emergency room doctor said my lower lumbar vertebra were compressed and that I would probably have back pain the rest of my life. He gave me some pain meds and stretching exercises to relieve the pain.
I still to this day have back pain on a regular basis and I do the stretching exercises when the pain becomes debilitating. I use Advil for relief...no more than two a day. I usually take them first thing in the morning. No prescription pain relievers.
I have also had cancer three times with major surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
Surgery has restricted how high I can lift my arms to the point that some days I can't raise them over my head.
After salivary gland cancer surgery, when they sent me home for about a four month recovery, I was prescribed liquid morphine for the pain to be injected into my feeding tube. After three days, I couldn't take the way it made me feel mentally and poured it down the drain.

That was seven years ago and the only pain pills I take is Advil. I prefer a clear mind and manage to deal with the pain. Chemo and radiation after affects are not much fun either but I have no interest in opiods or medical marijuana.

I manage to go hunting, do yard work and whatever else I want. Sometimes the next day is spent on a vibrating heating pad and I can't always move very well or quickly but it's better than having my mind numbed by drugs.

[Lloyd Smale]

mary im not recommending them here because mine didn't do much for me. But I did hear that they have new ones that don't need leads. they inplant a transmitter like I had done and the probes are wireless. Ive got a buddy who had the same set up as me for his lower back. He also has a broken neck which was his real problem and they could never put one in his neck because its just to easy to create new problems when dealing with the neck. He said his pain doc told him this new one was really created for those kinds of situations. They can be put anywhere and its a lot less invasive surgery.

They tried to implant a tens unit in my spine. They can't get the leads past the bone spurs and into the right spots... my spine is slowly self fusing... a very painful process and nothing they can fix...

[samari46]

I'd like to thank the member who suggested Gluocosamine. Been taking 2000mg daily and today I spent the better part of the afternoon cleaning up all the junk that had accumulated out back of the rear patio. Difference was noticeable from my last marathon cleaning out under the car port. Acid test is when I get up in the am for a doctor's appointment. Frank

[Lloyd Smale]

yup around here too

Many docs already are, local cops are interfering and demanding they cut prescriptions back too...

[Geezer in NH]

All due to the war on drugs and the fun using junkies. END THE DRUG WAR NOW!