Painful Dilema

[wannaquit]

I've injured my neck somehow.  It's not a crick like I first thought.  I can literally run my finger down my spinal chord in my neck and feel a "missing" or out of place vertibrate.  I can't turn my head, can't move around well...my husband's been great, rubbing my neck every hour or two, but even that's starting to hurt because he's done so much rubbing that I'm bruised!  I've been in serious pain for 2 days.

Here's my question.  I've been tapering off of Darvocet for one week now.  I'm down from 8-10 a day to 4 a day with no withdrawals and the cravings have been greatly reduced.  I don't want to use this pain as an excuse to take more Darvos. and go back to square one, but ibuprofen is NOT helping.

Is it safe for me to take Flexeril to at least get some sleep?  The ONLY thing keeping me awake is the pain.  I can't get comfortable.  The pressure in my neck is absolute torture.  I've been given the advice when trying to recover from an addiction to never get hungry, angry, lonely or tired because then you start seeking relief from your D.O.C.  I'm tired.  Worn out.  And to be 100% honest, I have NEVER had any sort of tendency to abuse muscle relaxers.  They just make me very groggy.  I have an RX back from last year that is still almost full.

Sorry, not trying to ramble, just trying to answer any questions beforehand and give all the information that I think may be pertinent.

So, is it considered a step backward if I take a Flexeril to sleep tonight?  Should I just grin and bear it?  I've had 4 Darvocets spread out over the course of the day, and will not be taking any more.  Don't want to.  But I need to do something.  I will be going to a chiropracter tomorrow, but I refuse to go to the ER because I'm afraid that if they offered me a shot of something narcotic I may not be strong enough to refuse, so I don't want to put myself in that situation at all.

Anybody got any suggestions?

[avisg]

Wanna, I am sorry you are in pain . I am very proud of you for taking the fexril instead so more pain meds. Your mind and body has a way of messing with you when you are trying to go off meds and quite a while after you stop taking them.
  The fexril is fine I hope it will help you get some rest . Try moist heat for it as well . post often let us know how you are.

[Savas]

I'm not sure what flexeril is...when I've hurt myself during my taper, I generally stay at the dose I'm at until the injury is healed enough, or if I'm still uncomfortable from the last drop, I'd go back to the dose before I dropped from (hasn't happened luckily).
Don't make your taper an ironclad thing, you should run it, not it run you. Be honest about what your body is telling you.

At the same time, there are other options than medications for this problem. You could look into going to a chiropractor, for example. Be aggressive in non-med treatment of it. You may come up with a solution that fixes the problem that has nothing to do with med's.

[FLaddict]

Of course you can take Flexiril.. its not addicting.. its chemically similiar to Elavil which is a tricyclic anti depressant.  you will be fine, you should get into a chiropractor though for the neck, mine has helped me alot with my neck pain.

[NautyOne]

I would not go to the chiro.  I would see your doc.  because from what you describe....it may be something more serious than what a chiro can do for you.  Your still taking the darvocet, it's not like you have nothing ......don't make excuses to take more.....see your doctor first ...........I had a horrible concussion and I was in terrible pain, but at least I had something so don't let your mind f*** with you.  Stick to your taper, unless your doc says otherwise.

Nauty.........

[wannaquit]

okee dokee. thanks guys.  taking a flexeril and off to bed.  Will see my chiro tomorrow and I'll let you guys know.  Thanks for the support.

Nauty, I'm not making excuses.  I'm going out of my way NOT to disrupt my taper schedule because I refuse to undo the progress I've made.  I was just making sure that a flexeril wouldn't do any damage.  I think it's a muscle relaxer.  My chiropracter is trustworty.  He's helped me in the past without meds.  He does xrays no charge to make sure he's not doing more harm than good, and he's quick to send me to a different doctor if it's more than a simple misalignment.

Thanks for the concern, support, and advice!

Night.  I'll check in tomorrow.

[wait2long]

NautyOne is right...a chiropracter may not even touch you if you have an injury that is visible...go to the doctors first and get some clearence to go to the chiropracter

[NautyOne]

I just have a thing about chiros.  I have a very unstable cervical spine and although I never let the chiro adjust me......except for once ........he used this gun like thing I believe he called a stimulator which seemed so harmless.  Yeah, I tried to drive home and could barely hold the steering wheel, and almost past out in the shower and puked my guts out......it was bizarre.  i went back only for the traction and massage......one day he did convince me to crack my back......I think he was a perv and just wanted to lay on top of me.....he was cute, so I let him.....lol.  And, It was horribly painful, and he basically told me that I was full of **** and that it didn't hurt.  Needless to say .......I never went back.  My Orthopedic told me that any Chiropractic with any sense would know better than to touch me at all.  I hate even the mention of chiros  but so many people swear by them--even my husband, so what can I say.

Nauty Hates Chiros.....................

[wannaquit]

I have complete trust in my chiro.  He's a little old Vietnamese guy who's been treating me for 5 years.  He's not the kind who tells you to keep coming back every week or two either.  You have a problem, you go see him, he looks at you and if he can't see what's wrong he xrays, and if he can fix it he does.

He fixed it.  I don't know how the man does it.  He said "what hurts"?  I said "my neck".  He said "let me see".  I laid down.  He took a 5 second look at my neck and put his hand right on the spot that hurt and said "here"?  I said, "yeah".  He said "relax" ...and he fixed it.  Within 4 hours I was moving my head without pain, just soreness.  Today, I can barely tell that anything was wrong at all...just a little muscle soreness.

Yehaa!!  Also down to one Darvocet every 6.5 hours.