I have been on Methadone for 2 years now, and it works wonderfully for me! It is good for not only mechanical pain, but also for nerve pain, so I think that it will be good for you. Ask your Doc and see if he will do this for you. Take care and keep me posted.
Hugs,
Tipper

just started methodone today. like you i was on oxycotin cr but i was most recently on morphine cr. i also use percoset for breakthrough pain. my pain is basically uncontrolled after almost 3 years and two failed back surgeries. i am fused from L4-S1.
i have been on disability from work since june. just got declared long term disabled this week.
how do you deal with this relentless pain day to day?
what do you do about depression and feelings of despondency?
what keeps you from jumping off the nearest tall building?

Methadone worked wonderfully for me! It worked so well for the pain, and it doesn't give you that "high" feeling you get with oxy. If I was going to be on pain meds for a long time, as I'm not sure right now so I'm sticking with morphine, it would be my number one choice! I got used to oxy too fast so I was on a high dose which made me look like a stoner half the time. Plus, I just HATE feeling that crap (don't know how people w/o pain can say they like the feeling).

For breakthrough I was on dilaudid, which also worked extremely well. It was a good combination for me. Plus you wouldn't need to worry about how much tylenol you're taking. My mom switched to methadone as well and she's been doing so good. She hasn't need nearly as much breakthrough meds.

Keep us posted on how you're doing!
Jolene

Thanks, everyone. I'm relieved to hear that some of you are getting relief from methadone. I'm a little more relaxed about changing now.

I work at a healthcare clinic, and I see more people coming in that are taking Methadone for chronic pain and then have oxycodone for breakthrough pain. Although the risk of dependency is still there,it seems as though it is not as high as other opiates (its stickier to your neurotransmitters therefore you don't need to take as much because it lingers longer. Is your insurance no longer covering it because of the new laws and that fact that there is no generic Oxycontin anymore? I see a lot of patients frustrated with that, especially the patients who really need the meeds because they are not able to get what they need because of the abusers crushing up the high dosage
pills and overdosing.

Methadone worked wonders for me for years, although skipping even one dose was a horrible experience.

I had to stop taking it cold turkey due to problems with my doc and not finding a new one that would prescribe it and went through two agonizing months of withdrawal. I probably should have been hospitalized but as a single mom I didn't see that as an option. It caused massive anxiety attacks daily/hourly. A few years later they prescribed it to me again and I took it for one month. My brain seemed to remember the drug and the anxiety and I was again non-functioning for that month and a few weeks after I stopped taking it again.

My advice to anyone taking Methadone -- when the decision is made to discontinue the drug, wean off very slowly under physician assistance. Do not allow anyone to make you go cold turkey.

I have been on 120o mg. Methadone for years and years...I also take 30 mg. Oxycodone 5 times daily for the bt pain. Methadone is good for pain but bad if you want to stop. It's worse then heroin. but it's cheap....360 pills are only about $58. Luckily my insurance pays for them both....it is a good pain med...