oxycontin use

[Wannie..]

I am prescribed 3 20 mg oxycontin per day for back and neck injury received in an automobile accident back in 1998.  I only take one of the oxycontin in the morning to help me get out of bed and to function.  I have talked to my doctor about getting something else to take that is cheaper because I don't have insurance and cannot afford this much longer.  He has suggested methadone.  What is methadone and would it be as effective as the oxycontin.  It worries me to take oxycontin for as long as I have?  How is this oxycontin effecting my body?  Am I in trouble, would you say that I am addicted to this drug?  I hurt when this pill wears off but I manage on the 1 per day.  What would happen if I just quit taking this drug?  What kind of symptoms could I expect?

[Navy_mom_of_2]

Hi Wannie,
I'm so sorry to hear about your car accident. I know about your chronic pain though. I had a car accident in the early 90's and now have a bad neck and TMJ's. But I don't think my injuries are as bad as yours. Because I just have to be careful how I turn my head. And I can't chew gum and steak and stuff like that for my TMJ's. Ice and heat work pretty good on my neck. Anyway, I have been taking methadone and hydrocodone(vicodin) together 3-4 times a day. I've been taking them plus a chronic pain/seizure med. called nuerontin. I don't have seizures. I take nuerontin for the pain control quality. This combo of meds I have been taking for about a year. I take them because of a knee and ankle injury I had in 2002. Five surgeries on my knee later and it's still messed up. So I'm taking these meds prescribed by a pain control doctor that my surgeon sent me to last year. This is the way the pain control doc explained it to me. Our bodies (mine and it sounds like yours) are "dependent" on the narcotics. He said dependence and addiction are not the same. I, and sounds like you too, do not take these meds to get high or forget our problems. Junk like that. We take them because we have true pain. The body recognizes that. A person has to have that psychological dependence to be considered addicted. Do you see what I'm trying to say? Addiction is a big concern of mine as well. The fact that you're only on one patch a day tell's me, a lay person who has had some experience with this stuff, you are not addicted. You might be dependent like I am though. My pain control doc said that when the pain get's better (we hope), he will just weed me off the meds. I will not have to go to an addiction place to detox.
Methadone is A LOT cheaper than oxycotin for sure. Does it work as well? It, of course depends on the person. If my combo of methadone and hydrocodone didn't work, then my pain control doc was going to switch me to oxycotin. But the stuff that I take works okay for me. You might want to ask your doc to switch you to methadone and maybe even hydrocodone too and see if it helps you. The methadone alone wasn't strong enough for me. Those two meds are really cheap.
I think if I were you, I wouldn't worry too much about taking one patch a day. If you find that you're having to take more and more to get the same amount of relief from what one patch used to do, then you might have a problem.
I hoped this practically a novel helps you some. I'm sorry I'm not a doctor answering your concerns. Probably one will chime in here and help you out. In the mean time, good luck Wannie.
Sincerely,
Kelly