switching from methadone to oxycontin

[adamos777]

Just found out from my MRI that I have 2mm bulging disks between each vertebrae in my lumbar spine, severe arthropathy between L4& L5, and L5-S1 with an annular tear between L5-S1 greater towards the left. Narrowing in the neural foraminal left and right. I'm going to a better pain specialist in the morning. The guy I was seeing before had me on methadone and I'm not going to take it anymore. I've heard horrible things about it and I'm wondering if the oxycontn mixture will work and help me et completely away from this Hitler drug. Also, what is an annular tear?? in fact, please help me understand my MRI if possible.

[Tuckamore]

Hi Adamos,

Welcome to MedHelps' Pain Management Forum. I am sorry that you are having issues with your pain medication. Actually methadone is one of the safest opiates available when taken as directed. It's gotten some bad press of late but often they are not telling the entire story. They use attention grabbing headlines because it sells better.  But we all have our own preferences and what works for one doesn't necessarily work for another.

An "annular tear" describes the area that the disc is torn, annular refers to a tear into the outer annulus of the disc space.  

Atrophy is the partial or complete wasting away of a part of the body. An example would be when you have a fracture in your leg and it is casted for months. The muscle will begin to atrophy due to lack of use. In that instances the muscle can return to normal function with PT and usage. There are many things that can cause atrophy to a body part.

Neural is defined as having to do with nerve cells or relating to a nerve or the nervous system. Foramina is the plural of foramen and is defined as a natural opening.  While a foramen is usually through bone, there can be a foramen through other types of tissues. Narrowing or stenosis is most likely caused by a protrusion into your spinal canal.

I hope this has been helpful and that your appointment with your new physician went well. I will look forward to your next post. Take care and please keep in touch.
Tuck

[Mollyrae]

Hello adamos and welcome to the Pain Forum.

I agree with Nick in the respect that you should not use that term for Methadone. I'm not exactly sure what you mean by an Oxycontin mixture? Yes, Oxycontin is a very good and effective pain reliever and I also think Methadone is as well. The difference between the two is one will give you the euphoric effect and the other does not. I feel that the Methadone is probably a better drug for relieving pain but that's my opinion. I do know that the Methadone is a natural drug rather than the Oxy that is synthetic.
Like Nick said, Be honest and don't ask the Doctor for a specific drug. Let him do the prescribing. I'm sure that you will both come to the conclusion on what is right for you.

As for the annular tear, I'm sure that if you google it, you will get some great information. Please take care,
Mollyrae

[nick30]

Please try not to refer to methadone as a hitler drug. yes it was originally produced by the germans(along with some other popular painkillers)but it provieds excellent relief to many people who probably don't need to feel bad about being on thier medication by having it linked to the nazi party .
oxycontin is in some ways a similar drug. both of them have similar side effects. you will probably have withdrawal symptoms from the methadone, which you would also have from the oxycontin. unfortunately ALL strong opiates are now being demonised for various reasons and it isn't helpful to think of methadone in political terms.
I think seeing as you are seeing a pain doc tomorrow it would be best to be honest with him and follow his advice without any false negatives being applied to any particular drugs. you should be concerned with pain relief, and limiting your options by branding certain medications that way will not be helpful to you.
best of luck, look fwd to seeing how your appt goes.

Nick.