This is a discussion you need to have with your pain dr. I've had similar problems until I switched to opana. I did cut myself back to half of my recommended amount for a few days. But it didn't help for long. please talk to your dr. Cutting back on methadone can be dangerous.

Good luck Lisa

I stayed on the same dose of narcotics for 9 months ( 50 -100 mg of tramadol per day) by taking " drug holidays". For you it would he much more unsafe than for me, so i agree - you need to see your physician. Switching to different pain meds is an alternative, but i m not sure if it is going to change anythinf because when they change meds they just gice you the equivalent of what you are taking or a little less.
I have known some patients to be put on Suboxone.
I wish you all the best and i hope you feel better!!!

Oh and dont give up on finding the cause!!!
I found a surgeon in Boston who is willing to look at my case and find out why i have pain. Sometimes local doctors do not have to experience or the tools.
I m going to boston medical center this spring.

Hi lucyloo I do agree with them to ask dr about building tolerance. For me sometimes alieve helps and no narcotic is needed. But I am a PRN person not a scheduled dose person regarding pain meds. Those scheduled dose meds are for diabetes and schizophrenia not pain.

It sounds like you are scheduled dose pain meds. Please open to talking with your dr.

Opps lisaloo not lucyloo LOL sorry:-( hugs

Yeah, I am on scheduled pain meds, but I still try to cut back just a bit when I don't have to do much sitting or standing in a day--in order to try to keep my tolerance low. I climbed doses very rapidly in the beginning, then managed to stay on the same dose for a year and a half by cutting back a little on easy days, but now that dose doesn't usually work as well, even with the cutting back a couple times a week. It's a complicated situation because I have not found many doctors who will prescribe methadone (meaning they won't prescribe it to anyone, period), so I have to fly across the country every 3 months to get my prescription. OT, I wonder if with the new laws this means that I will now have to fly once a month to get my prescription--hope not, that would truly suck and be expensive.

Thanks for your advice, though, and Aronia, I hope Boston Medical is able to find something to stop the pain at its source.

Now thats a fricken shame! Just so that you can have some level of relief from pain ... you have to jump through ridiculous HOOPS so that you can have what you SHOULD have- in the first place! It must be such an inconvenience in your life... sorry to hear that...just not right at all.

As far as the medication -- its good that you are thinking about this- I have faced this before when I took pain medication... I didn't like to think about increasing - just another worry. It seemed to be a back and forth thing depending on how I felt basically. On a better day I would think about it ... on the really bad days or hours... I couldn't care less because all I wanted was the relief from the horrible all consuming pain. Nothing else matters at that point. Its like trying to run away doing anything to get away but it follows you everywhere.

If you haven't done this... search (for example) How to potentiate opioid medication... increase effectiveness of pain medication -- (basically the same thing...) I would just mix it up a little-- simplify or more technical - can bring up different info-- (oopps- not trying to tell you how to do a search - LOL - Im pretty confident that you already know how to do that.... ;0) There are some things to do that might be helpful....

Take care

Llady, don't you know it--and the fun doesn't stop after the flight and doctor visit. I then have the pharmacy to deal with (Walgreens carries the lab manufacturer of methadone that works the best for me, so I'm stuck with their even stricter than average rules). Once I find a Walgreens that actually has the amount I need in stock, they then tell me that they have to do a background check on me (each time I need a refill), and it takes 48 hours. So I have to spend days away from home waiting for the background check to be completed. And then sometimes they say that I'm not cleared yet--they have questions for me, such as how come I'm getting a refill 4 months after my last one when my meds were only supposed to last me for 3 months (it's because of the trying to take less on days where I can stay in bed so I don't run out for an extra month or so). Oh, and my pain doctor doesn't take insurance anymore (I don't know why), so I need to pay $100 each time to see him (this is in addition to plane tickets and rental car; luckily I can usually stay with a friend instead of hotel). I am hoping to find a more local doctor who is not afraid to prescribe me the only medicine that has helped me.

Thank you for the suggestion on what wording I can use to search...I will try that. It looks like I'm probably just going to have to increase my dose again, but I'm hoping some trigger point injections will help a bit, so that I can go back to my current dose later.

You might want to talk to your Dr. and see what other Modalities of pain control you could mix in. Most people don't get that the idea behind Pain Management is not to get rid of the pain, as 99% of the time, that's impossible. The goal is to get your pain to a number that you can live with, have a decent quality of life with, deal with on a daily basis.

Having to up your pain meds constantly is not the norm...especially with Methadone. Methadone has an incredibly long half-life and usually works pretty well at the prescribed rate for a long time. If your having to up this med that frequently, it's probably not the med for you.

I think I'd talk to your pain management Dr. about maybe trying something different along with a mixture of other things to help control your pain and keep it at a level that you can live with.

In the 10 years now that I've had to take strong narcotics/opioids daily I've only increased 3 times and that was due to changing long term meds and getting the dosing schedule comparable. I keep my pain at a 4-5 and that allows me to work, take care of my child, home, myself, etc. And if I have flares I have Breakthru meds. My doses are so high as it is, there's no way I'd want them being raised regularly.

Kat