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I did the route of everything else before using Soma. Personally, I don't find it addictive (went three full days without any and didn't feel a thing....well, except tense.) In fact, I can't even find it in the DEA's med schedule. It's considered low end, partly because it is an older med, and partly because it is really, really, really hard to get hooked on it. Sometimes I think the older meds are better than all this new stuff they are prescribing by the bucketful! (That stuff can devolop dependencies in under a week in some cases.)

You will eventually develop a tolerance but it seems to take quite some time, (years even), for that to happen. Can't say that about a lot of the 'modern' meds they are prescribing now.

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I am in total agreement with the above post and poster. The "older" meds I take are soma (for "lesser" pain,level 6-8) and chloral hydrate (for insomnia).

I've taken each on a daily basis for months (though never concurrently), never built a tolerance, abruptly stopped and never experienced w/d symptoms of any kind.

Many years ago, chloral hydrate came in green gel-pill form. I had refills left but couldn't find a pharmacy that had any.

A few years ago while speaking to a friend (who happens to be a pharmacist and owns two pharmacies but not locally, maybe 25 minutes away) I mentioned "whatever happened to chloral hydrate" and he advised me that the liquid form has been available all along and if I couldn't find a local pharmacy that carries it, he'd be happy to fill a script.

I called around and found only one local pharmacy (a CVS but this is the only local CVS that orders/stocks it) that carries the liquid so I got a script and have been using them since.

Many doctors are reluctant to prescribe this drug (mine isn't thank goodness, probably because he is "older") and I have no idea why - it works, there are no side effects, no tolerance and no withdrawel!

A friend of mine takes it also, but getting his Dr to prescribe was and still is like pulling teeth. He commented to my friend that if he could find a pharmacy that still carries it, then it must be in an area where many elderly people who have been taking the med for years reside - which is true, as is the area where my pharmacist friend's pharmacies are located!!

I wholeheartedly feel the older meds are better than the newer ones.

Does anyone know of an "older" pain med for the very severe (9-10) days? I've tried Vioxx, Flexeril, Amytriptaline(sp) and Neurontin to no avail and I'd love to stop taking hydro.

I've been on it less than a year, and though it does take the edge off and sometimes a bit more, I don't like it (not my idea of fun and hard to believe it's a recreational drug of choice- YUCK) plus the thought of w/d terrifies me!

Thanks to anyone who has ideas