That is why it is important to have a good PM doctor and to have all your scripts filled at the same pharmacy that you trust. Most pharmacies computer cross references all your meds and tells the pharmacist if there is a reaction liely.
I am on oxycotin. It is the only thin that takes my pain away and I know that my body is addicted to it and that I would have to be slowly weaned off of it when I and if I get to stop taking it.
It is worth it to me to be able to function. I am willing to have that done by my PM under his care. You never just stop anything on your own.
As long as you are taking the doses your doctor gives then I don't see a problem. I lnpw it is scaru because I am on a couple other pills for different things and it is always in the back of my mind if something is gonna happen because of mixing it all. I have a good relationship with and trust my pharmacists to keep up on things. Best of luck to you.

Honey,
First of all..... people like Heath Ledger, Michael Jackson, Anna Nicole Smith, etc. were people that abused their medications. They had different Doctor's prescribing them different medications and they did not take the medications to get rid of their pain (for the most part), they took the medications to get high. That is what addicts do!

People in chronic pain in the other hand, go to the same Doctor, get prescribed pain medications by one Doctor ONLY and they go to the same pharmacy and take their medications as directed because we/they DEPEND on those medications to live a semi "normal" life. Do you take your medications to get high? I know the answer is NO.
Do you have 3 or 4 different Doctor's prescribing opiates to you? I am sure that the answer is NO.
Do you have a Doctor that comes to your house to medicate you and that hangs around with you because he wants to be seen with your posse? I know the answer is NO.
Are you taking your medications as directed for your chronic pain? I am sure that the answer is YES.

See, people in CP and people that take medications for pleasure are two different animals! We do not take them to get high and we do not get high because our bodies need the medication to survive. As long as you have one Doctor prescribing the medications and one pharmacy cross referencing your medications you have nothing to worry about. I get angry when spouses, family members and friends get involved on our treatment for chronic pain, and specially I hate the ones that make us feel like we are addicts! The day that one of them walk a mile in my shoes, with my cane or my walker and have to endure the pain that I endure 24/7, 365, is the day that they can say anything that they want, until then as far as I am concern they have NO right to an opinion.
A lot of people in chronic pain are under medicated and under treated just like you say and you are very lucky to have a Doctor that cares enough to keep your pain at a low level. I am on Methadone 40 Mg's a day and Dilaudid for BT pain due to fail back surgery syndrome, radiculopathy on my left leg and now saddle anesthesia, plus I have an spinal cord stimulator, and I'll be darn, if anyone says anything to me about my medications! I take them to survive, not to get high. You need to learn the difference between addiction and necessity, addiction and dependancy. Addicts want medications, people in chronic pain need their medications to survive............

slrow, I am sorry to say this to you, but you are not addicted to your Oxycontin, you need your Oxy, you are dependant on your Oxy to be able to live a normal life.
You are right, you will need your Doctor to ween you off the Oxy when you are no longer in pain, but in the meantime you depend on that medication to be able to "live" a semi-normal life.
There is a HUGE difference between addiction and dependance and I wish that people that are in CP will learn the difference. It will make our lives so much easier....... Peace,

Everyone is afraid of the "addicted" word. I understand.
Mom nagged me everyday to stop my meds until she got cancer and needed them. She had to live it to understand. After that she was very supportive. Sadly, that only lasted about 7 1/2 months.

I was given lots of anything but narcotics by one PM. I could fall asleep while parked at a light. When I was in hospital, they refused to give any of them to me because none were recognized as treatment for pain. I went thru the withdraw. After that I went to a PM who was not afraid of narcotics. THe next surgery, hospital staff recognized that I am a CP patient and made sure I got what I needed without having to call pharmacy and wait and wait and wait.

Feel better,
C

All painkillers should be taken with care.
Painkillers should be taken at the right dosage for your body.
With everything their is a risk for taking painkillers.Taken correctly takes the risk right down.
Painkilers taken by people that they arent prescribe for their are alot of risk.As they take vast amounts each day, the risk gets higher.
Taken correctly while being under guidance from a pain doctor who montoirs everything, risk are down.
Their is a small chance that the body will regect them later in life it does happen, heart attack, stroke will happen.

tipper is absolutely correct, plus the nurses were getting upset with you because if you wait to long [when you are hurting bad] your pain threshold is so high the pain meds will not work. alot of chronic pain sufferers tend to try to hold out to long before taking meds. and that is why they do not help you. You should take them as perscribed and when you have pain. good luck with your new dr.

Amen to that Koilover! There is nothing worst than trying to get a patient to get caught up with their pain! Is like turning off the heat in 30 below weather inside a house for 8 hours and then turn it back on and expect to have the house all toasty and warm in 30 minutes, it just doesn't happen!!

The worst thing that a person in CP can do is wait for their pain levels to get out of control. Is very frustrating for the nurses and for the Doctor's too. We have to stay on top of our pain and take the meds as directed...... this is SO, SO IMPORTANT!!

Hey everyone I did not mean to offend anyone I sometimes just pop in because a few months ago it was hard to vent anything on the boards Ive kept a lot in. When I was in the hospital I was there for a staph infection and strep infection that infected my nerves T-10-S1 and actually got in there from an IUD a form of birth control. I had the infection in my uterus, tubes, and ovaries. I can no longer have children as far as I know at this point. I have gone through A LOT this past year. 2 surgeries and being told it was in my head until I found my pm who was willing to do an MRI. So when I said that I waited I was just scared in the hospital at that point the drs and nurses didnt know that my nerves were infected it actually took 6 months to figure out and they just thought it was the infection. Im very sorry if I offended anyone. I do only go to one dr and one pharmacist who also has neuropathy. And I make sure to take them exactly like Im supposed to any problems and I call my dr. Like this past week he tried to move me up on my fentanyl and it was not pretty waaaaayyyy to much medication for me. But tonight I guess I have just been reflecting on everything. I was at the primary family dr on thursday for my flu bug and dehydration he actually told me that apart from having a temp and being really icky I looked just so much better than he has ever seen me since all this started. I think myself lucky to have even found the cause of my pain. pelvic pain its hard for them to get it right especially when you go through the exploratory surgery and apart from some scar tissue nothing was wrong.

SIX months I put up with debilitating pain touching my lower right side or my back and feet. And it put a super strain between hubby and I we cannot enjoy sex like we used to it is really painful for me and before we found out what the cause was I scared him a lot we would get to a point and suddenly knives so sharp and I would kick him or push him away and just scream. I have read a lot of books on chronic pain this past year my dr even suggested that the type of person I am I would be great at nursing or helping others with my type of pain because not only could I help others when I go through school and understand my condition more but I could help myself. I have a lot of blame, guilt you know I was the one who decided on the IUD and I cannot really explain anything to my family. My dad doesnt believe in medication not even aspirin and he has severe back pain from jumping out of helicopters and planes even one helicopter crash. he was a screamin eagle lol. He told me that he would rather have me smoke weed before I took any other medicaiton.

I guess with the flu and everything the withdrawls just really scared me I mean one second you are freezing and shaking the next you put that blanket on and you are burning up. But my primary was able to help me keep my meds down so Im doing better a bit there.

I have learned a lot from everyone here on the site and I send everyone lots of hugs I cant pop in here enough for you guys and I should. I didnt mean to offend its just i was really scared the other day I have never gone through something like that. And Im scared of just being on the meds Im on I never wanted them in the first place dr told me a month or two and now its a year. Im scared to think of how the weaning process will go. But I am very faithfull and do everything like Im supposed to. And I was able to work this month with the first graders sumemer school you know but I just want that day where Im not feeling so tired and in pain all the time. I want it soo bad and you guys are what I have the only people I know who can understand I cannot talk to ANYONE about this in my family they dont understand that I do this for NORMAL we cant even have that. My sister freaked one night because of the show DR. G. well dr G had this patient who died from hitting her head in the shower i believe and it happend because she was on one pain med and had breakthrough meds and antidepressants. Well that night her pain medication want working and she took more like 1 or 2 and was found dead the next morning. Just a very fine line but anyways my family will tell me these types of stories all the time so I just feel like Ive done something wrong and its like Im being punished No one in my family sees me for me its my pain adn what Im on even if I try to stear the conversation away it goes right back to my neuropathy.

Oh better sorry I will read more books I will try to work things out just do what I need to for me do everything I need to to function. God Bless you guys and I hope that I havent offended any one I hate confrontration and its been a hard month for me I um got separated so really reflecting prolly why this is so long. Big hugs you guys I may not know you all in real life but you are the only ones I can talk to about this.

Sweetie,
You didn't offend me at all and as a nurse practioner myself, now on social security disability due to fail back surgery syndrome and intractable pain; I think that you would be a wonderful nurse too.

I am very passionate when people compared what happens to the "Hollywood types" that are addicted to drugs because they have the $$$ to pay for many Doctor's to write many scripts for different medications and they ply of the common patient that lives in chronic and/or intractable pain every single day.
There is NO comparison! They do not belong in the same sentence as someone that has MS, Endometriosis, RA, Migraines and so many other conditions that cause chronic pain.
So that is why I react like I do, but I was not offended. My intent is to educate.
I want chronic pain sufferers to know that they are not addicts if they are taking their medication as directed, they don't run out of medication ahead of time, they don't go Doctor shopping and they don't go to the streets to try to get their meds when their prescribe ones are gone. If they are following the Doctor's orders, then there is NO addiction.
Addiction occurs when we violate any of the rules that I just posted above, and if you think that you have become addicted to your pain medications (not you Megan, anyone in general), then is time to have a talk with your Doctor, with lots of honesty and go for rehab.

I wish everyone a good nite and to you Megan lot;s of luck in nursing school ;-)

BTW Megan one last thing....... Please go into the internet and Google the following: " The Intractable Pain Patient's Handbook For Survival", written by Dr. Forrest Tennant.
It will teach you about chronic and/or intractable pain, and since you like to read about chronic pain, this is one manual that you need to read and have!
Tipper

oh honey you did not offend anyone and we were not trying to sound judgemental or defensive. We are just trying to tell you the difference between addiction and depdancy. I just wanted to reassure you that you are perscribed the meds for a reason. And you should never "make" yourself suffer when it could be controlled somewhat. I hope you find a regiment with the new dr. that works for you. good luck honey and please do not think you have upset or offended anyone.

Hello Friends ~

Megan, you did not offend me..I think those of us with CP grow pretty thick skins!

I could not agree with tipper more! Her post was almost exactly what I would have written (well put Tipper *Kudos*!!), she makes the distinction between the celebs and we CP sufferers. You should arm yourself with as much information about the meds you are prescribed, ask your doctors and pharmacists questions, read information about your condition/meds and confer with other CP people as much as possible. The one thing you have to remember is that opiates are breathing suppressors so that your breathing is going to be more shallow when you are on an opiate regime. Unfortunately, because the celebs are searching for that so called 'legal high', they mix or take more opiates then they are prescribed and their breathing just stops, that is what occurred with Anna Nicole.'

Take your prescriptions in the amounts prescribed at the times prescribed, keep all your doctors appointments and you should be fine!

Crafty