methadone used for chronic pain suffering

i would like to know if methadone is as good or even a better  treatment for chronic pain than morphine or oxycontin

[Pauly Boy]

Unless your provider comes up with a very good reason for you to use Methadone, stay away from it!!! Much of what bustinout spoke to revealed a few of the problems involved with using Methadone as a pain reliever. Their are many other drugs that do not have the down side to them that Methadone does. Depending upon your condition, the severity of your problem, will all go into what the docs will prescribe for you. They have made miles and miles of progress when it comes to analgesia and pain management. Many conditions can be treated without the use of addictive drugs as stangshelly alluded to. If you had an acute issue and were only on drugs for a short time, that a different matter. With a chronic condition that also has a severe level of pain to it, take some time and look into different ways you can be helped, you might be pleasantly surprised. Not all the times does the stronger narcotic give you the best way to treat a particular pain. This also varies from person to person: what works for me doesn't always work for you. Many times they'll use a certain group of drugs for a while, you'll build a tolerance to them, they'll change your script over to another family of pain killers, in order to keep your tolerance/ addictive level to the drugs at a lower level. It gives your body a chance to recover from the tolerance it has worked up to. The one thing you do not want to use if you have HepC is anything with acetominophen in it. It makes the liver work overtime, and we don't need that.  Good luck with your search and your journey. Sometimes the best thing you can do is to find the right professionals, many of them just are not educated enough when it comes to chronic pain issues. Well, keep the faith, good hunting!!!      Pauly

[fresnoborn]

i really can't answer that. i know of people that have used methadoe for pain and i know others that use the other ones. i am sure there will be someone coming along that can help you with that question. i think if it were me i would probably talk to my pharmacist and the doc that is prescribing them to you. just my thought on the subject.

[jamicmcg]

i know what you mean but before i breach this subject with my doc i would like to be prepaired with pros and cons to the subject and not appear to be seeking drugs as so many others do , at least around here in wva pain killers is a drug of choice an so a very touchy subject with medical practitioners

[bustingout]

I have taken methadone and morphine both for severe lower back pain. They worked for me for pain about the same. One draw back with the methadone is, hold on to your seat when you have to come off of it. One of the roughest times in my life. Methadone has a 1/2 life line. Which means it stays in your system much longer after you have taken it. It also is very bad on the calcuim in your body. I strongly suggest you take a calcuim supplement while taking methadone. I've seen lots of people lose some of their teeth while taking it. It didn't happen to me, thank goodness. Don't get me wrong it is great for pain. But the percustions after taking are unreal.

[stangshelly]

methadonia.. watch it, special on hbo..very intersting, as to oxycotin i refer to it as hillbilly herion its synthetic and my hubby went bonkers on it, morphine now avinza is a much better substitute for chronic pain, also biofeedback if you want to try it.

[Kalio1]

That was really well said and so true Pauly. It is often a blend of drugs that works, and each patient has to work to find the right combo. Narcotics aren't always the best pain relievers.

[NYgirl]

Pauly Boy and I can completely agree here...if you aren't on methadone or suboxone for HEROIN or NARCOTIC - DONT DO IT.

There are plenty of painpills that are not nearly addictive and a lot that are not even narcotic that you can use.

Getting off methadone is HARDER than getting off heroin so......it's not really a wise choice at ALL.

[jennkPA]

I agree with Pauly completely.  I was on methadone for a few years to kick a heroin habit, and it worked wonders for me in terms of allowing me to live my life and get it back together before I had to deal with the pain of withdrawal. I would highly recommend it to any one in a similar situation.  

But NYgirl is right--methadone is harder to get off of than heroin so be very wary of the withdraws.  It took me two weeks to be functional again and that was after a very, very slow detox, I mean like one milligram every week or two, and I still felt it.  So please be careful and gather info on all your options first.