DrugBuyers.Com: OPIATE USAGE FOR PAIN MANAGEMENT!!

Do to several non curable Chronic Pain causing illness's, I have been prescribed everything from Tylenol 3 to Fentanyl, to Meperdine (intramuscular) and back to Fentanyl Patches.

I truely believe that what is prescribed and what is necessary to conrtol your pain level depends on various elements. The illness itself, length of illness, tolerence and the effects of different medications on the individual person, are the main elements. Usually the more advanced an illness gets, the stronger the medication needs to be. Not always though. Some people get very lucky and low doses work longer.

Currently I am using the Fentanyl 100 Patch and found it to be my personal miracle. I also use Roxicodone Liquid for break through pain. Typically whenever the more often the need for the break through medication, there is a need for adjustment to the maintenance medication. In my situation, whenever I need break through medication more than three doses per day, the adjustment to the maintenance medication id needed. They need to be adjusted accordingly. They work together to control pain levels. It is often referred to as a "cocktail".

At first, I was moving up in doses and medications very quickly until I realized I was only getting myself into serious trouble with tolerance. I was under the impression that the medication was supposed to make me pain free. Not true at all.

I needed to get my pain at a manageable level. The problem was that I was moving up too quickly and I knew in no time I was going to be in a place where I was out of options.

Another concern was future surgeries and possible accidents and the possible need for Acute Pain Relief, which is much more common that Chronic Pain Relief. The higher my tollerence rose the less effect the medications were having and this is very serious for a person who will live with chronic pain the rest of their life. You need to kind of think ahead and realize if you take so much of this medication now, where will I go ten years from now.

I am 38. My doctors have all expressed the idea of a Fentanyl pump to me as my next option. I am very leery of that because it takes the control out of my hands and the room for increase in years to come becomes less and less.

I made a complete turn around and weened backwards to find a tollerable level of pain, a level I could live with.

Oxycontin was the medication I was taking at the time I realized I needed to step back and really plan this out better. I had gone from 20mgs 2x a day to 80mgs 3x a day in 6 months. I have very compassionate and wonderful doctors but unfortunately my pain specialist is more concerned with the present than the future. I explained my concerns and he said I was absolutely correct but he still didn't want me to suffer unnecessarily. But, he said he would help me ween down and start again, at a slower pace. We quickly weened the dosage of the oxycotin and within three weeks I was off the oxycotin and using the Fentanyl. I do also use Actiq for emergency use. I used to use the Meperdine for emergency use but I do not like injectables. They are not easy to transport and they don't last as long as the Actiq.

So, my advice to you, based on the last 17 years of suffering from chronic pain and experience wwith pain medication would be to look at the big picture. If indeed you are in a situation where you will be on pain medication for the rest of your life, think small and concentrate on tollerable pain as apposed to "pain free". "Pain Free" is rarely, if not, never obtainable with Chronic pain.

Chronic pain is pain that is not going to ever go away. Chronic Pain is a result of an incurable illness. So, you need a management plan.

Unfortunately, with the state of the Health Care System in the US, too many people are forced to medicate themselves because they are unable to find appropriate treatment. It is a very serious situation and the politicians need to stay the hell out of it, or go to medical school and learn about what they are preaching about.

By holding treatment back from people in chronic pain, they are putting peoples lives in jeopardy. They are forcing people to resort to using whatever they can get to manage their pain and that is something no one should ever have to do. By using inappropriate medication to try and manage chronic pain, you end up having to use it incorrectly, because it will not work at all using it as prescribed. For example, Vicoden and Norco are meant to be taken as needed. What does that mean to a chronic pain sufferer? It means every day and very often. Those medications are just not capable of doing the job that people need them to do.

If you are left to work at treating your chronic pain by yourself, of course you need to do what you need to do to get through the day. But, don't ever give up the search for the treatment you deserve. Don't give up or you will be left in a horrible situation when you get to that point where you are using all the ammunition you can get to fight the pain and it isn't doing anything at all. And, that day will come.

Treating Chronic Pain is a life long, ever changing process and without the assistance of a Pain specialist, it is not a battle that can be won.

I hope I didn't carry on too much. Just another Friday night in bed...

All the Best,

B.