******!

[farmbif]

as far as the weed thing--my previous anesthesiologist pain specialist was going to and sending associates to California and Colorado when weed was legal there and other doctors were putting on seminars about weed and pain treatment. I was at wits end with the double edged sword of the pill thing, for more than 20 years I had been prescribed almost 900mg morphine a day, and spoke to my Harvard educated doctor at length many times about options and he encouraged me too go to one of the states where weed is legal and give it a try well I did and it doesn't really kill pain. but I spent a couple months out of state and did use it to quit all the pills and I was completely with nothing for a year or so, no weed, no pills, nada, nothing, occasional some ginseng I dig out back. my physical ability severely limited. I gained about 35 pounds, go out back to cut a few trees for firewood and in short order in such crippling pain end up on my back laying in the mud for hours till I can crawl back to the house. no way to live, so now I just get my two little percocets a day for and take it when I need it the most.
as others have posted I'm not the only 1/2 cripple on here. but I just do what I can when I can. if you have to deal with such issues you understand if not its hard to imagine. just like I can't tell any of the vets what the battle field is like I wouldn't even think to try because its not my experience.

[35isit]

I'm no more injured than any of the rest of the responders. I fell out of a tree 6 years and 9 months ago. I destroyed my L3 vertebrae. I refused most pain pills while doing rehab in a rehabilitation hospital. I only took them when I absolutely couldn't stand the pain. They gave me enough strong pain pills to take 4 a day for 30 days. One year later I had 3 left. I still wake up at least twice a night in agony. I'm in agony constantly and only take occasional Ibuprofen when the pain gets too bad. I don't want to be an addict like my uncle I watched die when I was about 12 from an overdose. That was 50 years ago now. This is not a new phenomenon. Or my sister-in-law who begs money from my wife. Both because of chronic pain.

So I live with with the pain. I still shoot silhouette and trap. Plus I work everyday. I have a loving and understanding wife and friends who support me in everything I do.

[Battis]

frkelly74, I'm sorry to hear of your Dad's passing. At least he was comfortable.

As posted before, the so called opiate drug problem is similar to gun ownership: a few who misuse the drugs ruin it for everyone else who follow the rules.

[MaryB]

Except that it is now known that long term use of opiates actually increases pain - they are good for and used for breakthrough pain and this is an appropriate use. Chronic pain requires other approaches that are not being used - including lifestyle changes and learning different mental focuses to work around pain. Debilitating pain is the problem - and there really is no good approach to debilitating pain.

As a long term chronic pain sufferer I can tell you the pain meds DO WORK still. Started taking them in 2008 for my trashed spine and shoulders and knees and hip and wrists... I occasionally have to wait for the pharmacy to get them back in(they are now limited to what they can have on hand) and no meds for 2-3 days = horrible pain spikes.

[MaryB]

This is not true. My primary care doctor prescribed the Norco's when I went to him even before I got the CAT Scan that showed my kidney stone and the Urologist refilled them when I went to his office. I never went to a pain management specialist. You need to go to the pain management specialist if you have chronic pain as opposed to acute pain. They don't worry so much if you are only going to need pain meds for a few weeks or a month or so. If you are going to be in pain for the rest of your life they want you to consider alternative treatments for your pain. If you are going to be taking opioids or opiates for the rest of your life you will become addicted, you will develop a tolerance for the drugs and will need higher and higher dosages to get relief.

Tim

Been there done that for chronic pain(spine/shoulders/knees/hip/wrists...). Did the back injections, some made it worse, most did nothing, did the steroid injection int he joints, very temporary relief for 2-3 weeks and they can only do those injections so many times before tendon damage starts to add up. Did the PT(heck I still do the back stretching, have to or I can't move)... the physical damage in my joints is to far along for any of it to work...

[Jniedbalski]

Are doctor just quit giving out pain meds. I went in and they said no more your only getting 20 pills and when you run out you run out. They said I might get addicted to them. Well I have been taking them for 12 years. They where wanting everybody to start going to there pain clinic they set up. Said that they will put me on the drug that they give heron drug users I Said no. I have a ruptured and herniated discs in my lower back nerve damage from that also scoliosis. Diabetic nerve pain and bone on bone in my knees. Not counting severe arthritis. My wife has lupus and was diagnosed with Juvenal arthritis. She also has been on pain meds over ten years. They did the same to her. Last January she was in a wreck with a lady running a stop sign. The hospital gave her a 5 mg pill only and would not give her more. She had 7 top teeth broken off at the gun line and fractured her face and jaw and bone stuck in her nose from her gum line. She is still pulling slivers of bone from her gums. They would not give her any pain meds at all. I told them that she has been on 10 mg Norco for over 8 years for her lupus and they told me to have her take Tylenol and walked out. Are family doc just said to keep taking the ultram the only thing he can give us and said take Tylenol. They will not give out any pin meds here at all. The dentist use to give them out a few for getting teeth pulled. They also said take Tylenol we can’t give out pain meds any more. She has had over 8 surgeries and 10 teeth pulled and no pain meds just Tylenol.

[farmbif]

wow that's awful the way they are treating you and your wife. i wish, pray for answers to it all. I have a close friend that keeps telling me I should move to South Africa because qualudes are legal there.. I think not. a bunch of people that go to a specialist I was seeing were having morphine pumps surgically implanted when the powers that be started making the most serious cutbacks about 5 years ago.

[mickbr]

Im in the camp of staying off pain meds as much as possible. Sometimes you cant deal without them, but I worry about the clout the Pharm companies have marketing their stuff to docs these days. They have half the population hooked on something or other now, pain meds, pysch meds, kids are even on meds these days. Someone pinch me, is life that much tougher now than it was in the 70's and 80's?

All the injuries and medical discharges I saw over the years in the army, what made the biggest difference to a good outcome was positivity and getting as close to your fighting weight or 'young man size' as you could. A routine of whatever physical exercise you could manage. Whether it was running, walking, or even just squeezing a tennis ball if thats all you could do, the difference between people who did this, and people who took the 'beached whale approach' was night and day, even for spinal injuries. My theory is there are a range of hormonal rewards for being physically active, hardwired by god or mother nature( whoever you prefer) to make the task of chasing game and fighting tooth and nail less terrifying. Flood the body with as many of those hormones as you can.