Pain killer alternatives

[broom]

I'm a computer programmer.
I have tendenitis on both forarms,
Ehler Danlos (mild), and a history
of drug addiction.  The drugs
were from age 13-18, and I've been
clean about 20 years (rehab, NA, AA).

I live on Viox for my arms, 50MG a day.
I'm still in a lot of pain, and I can only
code for an hour or 2 before I can't
type anymore.

What are my alternative drugs?  Anaprox
and familiy rip holes through my stomach,
and real opiates are off limits.  I see
Ultram, but it seems like some kind off
opiate cross-over that I should stay away
from.

[cindi]

JB, sorry to hear about the angina, I hope everything is ok with you....question for patrick...Is it me or did someone get rid of the thread regarding adipex and phentermine?  does this (deleting questions) happen alot?  hope everyone is doing well   love to all     cindi

[J.B. to Brian and Vicky]

I know you are expecting an answer from Spook but I just wanted to tell you this.  Last Wednesday I had a stress test which required me to walk on a treadmill.  I had to stay on the machine until my pulse rate went up to 145 bpm.  After 4 minutes I had only gone from 90 to 120 bpm so they sped the machine up to where I was almost running. At seven minutes I finally reached the target rate and the test was stopped.  I was higher than a kite and felt great!  Don't endorphines cause the "joggers high"?  Anyway, my legs were not hurting and I felt pretty good for about twenty minutes.  The next day, my knees had swollen and I could hardly walk.  Yesterday, I jogged for about ten minutes and got that same buzz again.  I'm getting ready to do it again this morning.  It's either endorphines or lack of oxygen to the brain but I like it!  J.B.
P.S. the stress test was done to check my heart because I've been having angina pains lately.

[PS >>>>Annie]

Just wanted to tell you that I think your enthusiasm is great.  I wish that I could jog.  Maybe once the healing process is over and now that the plate is out, I will be able to.  I have a question for you.  Why does the swelling occur??  That has been happening to me.  When I walk around, the center of my leg swells like a balloon, and it's very painful.  I was just curious.  Sorry to interupt here, but it's always nice to hear from you.

Love,
Annie

[Thomas02]

Sorry to hear about the angina pains. Maybe they'll give you some of that sublingual morphine for it (now that's a party!). Both Dan and spook have mentioned the possibility of permanently compromising your brain's ability to manufacture endorphins, no matter how far you run. That's my concern. If there's a test, I'd sure like to at least rule it out. Good to hear from you JB. Enjoy your jog and I hope your angina leaves you alone.

[Thomas02]

ok spook, you brought it on yourself: #7 -I've been basically on rx opioids non-stop for 30 years (AND i DO MEAN NON-STOP). How do I determine if I have a permanent endorphin deficit and what do I do about it if I do?

[Hbush]

Both my husband and I are detoxing together right now. He has been taking Oxytcontin (240mg/day) for 6 months, but  has been on all the levels of bup you can get plus Lortab, Stadol, and the slew of anti depressants out there. So, as his dosage wentup, so did mine. I finally had to admit to him (1.5 years ago) that I was an addict and stealing his pills. We got to be very desperate with this drug. Finally, I found a wonderful doctor who is helping us both detox and neither of us are having any withdrawl symptons AT ALL. And believe me, I detoxed on my own once and it wasn not fun. Here is the combination of drugs we are taking:

Buprenex - this is the main thing. We both started at 4 shots a day. I am down to 1 and he is still at 3. He was addicted for much longer than I and also has Fibromyalgia.

Catapress (Clonodine) - This is actually a blood pressure med but works for some reason although I only take half at a time as I fall asleep otherwise!

Valium - for the anxiety that comes with withdrawl

Flexeril - I was also hooked on Some (which increases the effects of the oxy) so Doc gave me some lesser strenght muscle relaxers.

It is the best move I have made in my life because I feel that Oxycontin was ruining my life. I have gained 35 pounds, I never want to do anything unless I am high and I woke up each morning feeling like a truck just ran over me until I got my fix (eventually hubby just started splitting his stuff with me cuz I neeeded it).

We are not out of the woods yet, but I have not had an Oxy for over a week now and no cravings. What I am afraid of is that these detox meds give me a little buzz (more tiredness) and that I can handle being "straight" all the time. Of course, my husband is afraid of the pain coming back. But he is goint to see a new pain mgmt spec soon.

Wish us luck!