Chronic Pain Management, Surgeries, Legitimate Opiate Use

[elevenism]

I wondered how many of the rest of you go to a pain clinic.
I thought maybe we could discuss issues relating to treatment and share our thoughts...compare notes and whatnot.

I got in a wreck in 2011 where my old buddy joey, god rest his soul, crashed the car drunk. I was hurt pretty bad.
Then, not to long after that, i unassed the highway at about 80 miles an hour and flipped the van about 5 times. It was me and my wife's first date, believe it or not.
The second wreck was fucking death defying. I still can't believe we're alive.
And then there was the part where my cousin tried to kill me last year. He fucking kicked me in the back while i was passed out on the ground, knowing my back was fucked and wearing steel toed boots, no less.

I got morphine from this asshole dr who accused me of faking the whole thing. I finally got an MRI to shut him up, and he referred me to a pain clinic.
I've since had two rounds of facet blocks.
I have also had two days of microsurgery for a total of 8 rhizotomies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhizotomy).
And good god those things fucking hurt!

The surgery helped some, but my back still hurts.
I am prescribed 6 10 mg hydrocodones a day, which used to seem like a whole lot.
But i've built up a tolerance to them. I go to the dr tomorrow. I feel like i need a stronger medicine now, but it scares the shit out of me.
He likes to prescribe fentanyl patches, but if i get dependent on those, well, the withdrawals are worse than heroin.
Maybe a little more vicodin would work.

I used to love taking vicodin for fun, which adds another level of complication to all of this.

So is anyone else in this boat?

[Baphomette]

I wondered how many of the rest of you go to a pain clinic.
I thought maybe we could discuss issues relating to treatment and share our thoughts...compare notes and whatnot.

I got in a wreck in 2011 where my old buddy joey, god rest his soul, crashed the car drunk. I was hurt pretty bad.
Then, not to long after that, i unassed the highway at about 80 miles an hour and flipped the van about 5 times. It was me and my wife's first date, believe it or not.
The second wreck was fucking death defying. I still can't believe we're alive.
And then there was the part where my cousin tried to kill me last year. He fucking kicked me in the back while i was passed out on the ground, knowing my back was fucked and wearing steel toed boots, no less.

I got morphine from this asshole dr who accused me of faking the whole thing. I finally got an MRI to shut him up, and he referred me to a pain clinic.
I've since had two rounds of facet blocks.
I have also had two days of microsurgery for a total of 8 rhizotomies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhizotomy).
And good god those things fucking hurt!

The surgery helped some, but my back still hurts.
I am prescribed 6 10 mg hydrocodones a day, which used to seem like a whole lot.
But i've built up a tolerance to them. I go to the dr tomorrow. I feel like i need a stronger medicine now, but it scares the shit out of me.
He likes to prescribe fentanyl patches, but if i get dependent on those, well, the withdrawals are worse than heroin.
Maybe a little more vicodin would work.

I used to love taking vicodin for fun, which adds another level of complication to all of this.

So is anyone else in this boat?

Like I mentioned in another thread, the DEA is cracking down HARD on opiate scripts. "Pain clinics" (and I'm using quotations b/c we all know what most of 'em really are) are getting shut down right and left and a lot of people have been cut-off without notice. My mom & pop pharmacy will not fill fentanyl scripts unless they're written by an oncologist and even chain pharmacies like CVS are switching tactics when it comes to meds like oxycodone and hydrocodone. Why do I know all this? Because a couple of my friends have recently been slapped in the face by reality and forced to kick cold turkey. Not pretty.

And given the fact that your bi-polar disorder is being treated through pharmacological management, I strongly discourage taking stronger pain meds. I know I sound like a parrot but seriously, dude - it's virtually impossible to get a handle on your disorder unless you cut out excessive use of the opiates. I believe you once mentioned that you've tried acupuncture. How long ago was that and how long did you get it? And have you looked into other non-med treatments?

[allegro]

Here are the new Federal rules:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidkroll/2014/08/22/what-you-need-to-know-about-new-restrictions-on-hydrocodone-combinations/

[Baphomette]

Here are the new Federal rules:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidkroll/2014/08/22/what-you-need-to-know-about-new-restrictions-on-hydrocodone-combinations/
The thing that sucks that's great about having a PharmD as a brother? You get to be bored by informed about everything related to pharmaceuticals.

[allegro]

Heh, I only know because I had a few oral surgeries around that time and my dentist kept telling me they'd have to give me a written Rx for Vicodyn because docs couldn't call it in after 10-7, she was acting like it was going to be some huge thing she was going to have to remember. I didn't even fill it, I took ibuprofen heh.

[elevenism]

oh yeah, hydrocodone is a schedule 2 narcotic now.
i have to pick up a triplicate prescription...it happened oct 6.

edit: btw, i think that this is utter horse shit...people with legitimate pain are going to just do heroin, which is unfortunately what i would do if i wasn't able to go to this clinic. Also, the clinic i use isn't a "rogue" pain clinic...it's a surgical center where they prescribe pain medicine. i know how a lot of pain clinics are, but this one is not like that...the drs here actually try to "fix" things physically.

i'm not going to get on anything stronger...i've been on things that were stronger and the withdrawals were awful.

i AM having more surgeries asap.. :/


btw allegro and Miss Baphomette , when i said "this" is utter horse shit, i didn't mean what you two were saying...i luvz both of you...i meant the fact that hydrocodone is now schedule 2

[sa_nick]

Yeah, I'm kinda in the same boat. I wasn't nearly as unfortunate as you though, man. That sounds rough.


I fucked up my back a couple years ago and after 10 months got surgery. I'd slipped/herniated 3 discs and along with the back pain had all the nerve shit. Even now parts of my right leg are still numb from nerve damage. I was in hospital for 10 days then had a few months of physical rehab. It still hurts everyday but I can't be fucked trying to deal with doctors to get the shit I need, nothing but the strong stuff helps and the government cut me off cold turkey back when I was on them. That caused crazy withdrawl and months of depression. This is what I'd have in 1 day back before the surgery...


Lyrica 1x300mg
Celebrex 2x200mg
Oxycodone 100-200mg in 20mg capsuals
Oxycontin 3x80mg
Diazapam 6x10mg
Fentanyl 200 microgram patch (lasts 3 days)


The whole experience sucked and I was super depressed but the drug messed with my mind enough that I remember parts of it fondly, especially movies and tv shows i watch while bed ridden. At the time it felt like I rarely got real euphoria or anything from any of the meds, even with all that oxy, but I dunno, maybe I did. Even now, more than 18 months since I stopped taking all the drugs I still miss it.


Side note: One night soon after my meds were cut off I was reading Phil Hartman's wiki page and learning for the first time exactly how he died (I live in Australia and had just turned 12 when he died) and holy fuck I just lost it. I just went and sat on the edge of my bed and cried for 2 hours.

[elevenism]

This is what I'd have in 1 day back before the surgery..


Lyrica 1x300mg
Celebrex 2x200mg
Oxycodone 100-200mg in 20mg capsuals
Oxycontin 3x80mg
Diazapam 6x10mg
Fentanyl 200 microgram patch (lasts 3 days)



Wow, yes, that is a LOT of medicine.
My mom has been on fent for about 10 years. Recently through some paperwork jumblefuck, she started having to pay cash for them.
Thirty of the 75 microgram per hour cost about $1000.
and the withdrawals from all of that stuff you mentioned?
Good GOD, how did that feel?!?!?

[sa_nick]

Holy fuck... $1000? Damn. I'm lucky I'm in Australia and covered by the PBS. I think the Lyrica was the only medication of mine not covered by it, so everything I got was capped at just over $6 (I think $6 got me 10x200 microgram patches? enough for a month). Just after I stopped taking the Lyrica it became covered by the PBS too and went from $180/month to $6.10 or whatever. That was lame timing.

But yeah, those withdrawals... It might be that the whole experience kinda changed me and my mindset, but it really feels like the withdrawal was the bit that was so bad I'm still more depressed today because of it.

Physically I was lucky, i think? Is there usually any pain/cramps associated with it? Maybe it just wasn't noticable because I no longer had meds and my back and nerves were causing constant pain anyway.

I did have a couple weeks supply left when the govt cut me off cold turkey so I was able to ration stuff a bit. That helped. A few days into being med free I had a good mates wedding to go to. I skipped the ceremony because of the pain/discomfort and just went to the reception which was at his parents place and pretty relaxed. That was the first time I'd ever had anxiety attack and since then they've become an occasional occurrence.

Oh, sidenote, that cocktail of drugs + weed fucking floored me. I think it was mostly the Lyrica doing it. Visual hallucinations when I closed my eyes, drowsiness, general incoherentness... I was just out of it.