What do you do for chronic pain after you're Norco free?

[NinTai]

Hello!  I'm currently 10 days into getting myself free from the NORCO I've been on them for 2 years.  I've had two spinal surgires in 4 years, last one resulting in a triple fusion C4-7.  I also have severe arthritus in my lumbar spine with buldging disks pinching on nerves on both sides of my legs.  I'm only 36 and the future has more surgeries in store for me - but I'm an eternal optimist and know that I need to make the best of my situation.  

So, here's my situation:  My doctors had me on all kinds of pain meds and I was able to wean myself off of everything but the Norco.  At the time I didn't realize that was the one I should have weaned off - I thought that was the least damaging over the morphine patch.  Now two years later I still have severe pain - live with it daily - but realized a few months ago I was also starting to live refill to refill.  Trips had to be planned out to include how many pills I could take a day and if there was a local place I could refill if need be.  I talked to my doctors about getting off them but they all said I still needed them for pain so I shouldn't think about it.  Well, I'm gonna have pain with or without them so I decided to see how tolerable the pain is without them and see if I could just use them for the peak days.  

I'm now on my 10th day of weaning off.  I started by cutting my dose in half every day until I was taking 1 pill, half a pill and now no pills.  I started withdrawls right before Christmas and I'm still going through it.  Before all this I already had RLS, so yes my RLS is out of control right now!  The nerve pain from my neck is nearly unbarble, but I'm dealing with it.  My back is KILLING me, I know that it hurts during withdrawls so I'm not sure if it's just the withdrawls making it out of control or my back problems - but WOW it hurts!   Sleeping, what's that?  The trips to the bathroom are always exciting!!  Still, I'm pressing ahead.  My boyfriend thinks I'm irriatable but doesn't realize how much I'm holding back!  He keeps telling me I should just take a pill and I keep telling him I want to give this a go.  

Here's my question - I know I'm going to have to take something for pain eventually.  I'm strong minded but not THAT strong!  I talked to my pain mngmt doc about a non-narcotic and he said he wanted to put me on Tramadol.  Well, I did a little reading here and see that might not be the best idea either!  So, what do you recommend I do?  I still have plenty of Norco at my disposal but I seriously want to just take it when I need it and not have to take it on low pain days to combat withdrawls.  So will I have to deal with withdrawls everytime I take it or will I be okay if I can get to a point where I take it only on bad days?  Any advise is really appreciated!!

PS - Thank you for this forum.  You're the reason I'm doing this.  I never thought of myself as an addict until I came here and now I realize the pain meds had me... regardless of whether I was taking them for legit reasons or not!!

[NinTai]

Thank you 10356 for the info on RLS, I'm more than willing to give it a try!

[10356]

One more thing :) RLS seeing as you have had it all your life I do not know if this product would help Hyland restful legs or a similar product works well enough I noticed a difference.. wd intensify rls.. in my journal I have an entry dealing with rls it is through diet I have listed the things to eat that help relive the symptom... For a long time Dr. would not even recognize it as real :( If you click on my 10356 it will take you to my profile scroll down on the left, journal entry RLS

[NinTai]

Thank you for responding lesa!  I usually only took 8 a day max, sometimes more if the pain was horrible.  On good days I would take less but still needed to take them or I would start to feel withdrawls.  I think what scared me is that when my pain peaked I could go through a bottle of 80 in 10 days.  My perscription says 1 to 2 every 6 hours but no more than 8 a day.  My mother was a drug addict so I'm always afraid that will happen to me.  I don't drink alcohol and I quit smoking 16 years ago and never picked up another one.  I want to have a clear mind again and am willing to live with an acceptable level of pain.  I just know that my condition is only going to get worse with time so I want to try to combat this now.  I'll work on going the 30 days you recommend and get this stuff out of my system.  I'd like to only take them for really bad days and get healthy again.  Thanks again!

[10356]

Congrats on the 10 days I know how difficult wd is... Your hubby be patient :) In the beginning my hubby would do the same thing take a pill.. He did not understand the misery of getting dope sick if you are late taking a pill..But in my case it was many pills :(  He had his knee replaced and was taking 1 a day then more after surgery, we went through wd together this last time.. He now has a better idea :)  I wish you well in finding a path that you are comfortable with...

[10356]

Hi and welcome to the forum.. I myself em a drug addict.. I have no doubts :) You did not state how many you were taking a day. If you were taking more then you should have or was taking them for any other reason besides pain then you may be a drug addict..I do not think so as you have them at your disposal..... If you were taking as prescribed this 2 yr. you are building a tolerance.. I do not think opiates are good for long term pain for this very reason..I believe you had become physically dependent all do who use them for a period of time... As for what you are going through it is normal for all the sore spots to be amplified with pain.. General rule of thumb give it 30 days and see if it has simmered down try alternative pain management acupuncture massage so on.. Pain meds can be used when needed for severe pain my hubby can do that then walk away for a few days I can not... You will be able to use them when in pain the trick is now that your body and brain had a dependency it will recognize the drug..Do not take any for 30 days you want it gone out of your system.. If taken for a few weeks in a row guaranteed wd if you take 1 a day you will still go through wd. You need to space them out like somebody takes a aspirin every once in awhile..  It is difficult to balance the need for pain relief and not getting dependent.. I hope this has helped some.. I wish you well. lesa