Soma

[The Golden Slipper]

Hello,

I have a question. Is anyone familiar with the drug Soma. I have had chronic neck pain for over a year.  Yesterday I spoke with my PCP and he wants to prescribe this medication for me.

I am having an MRI done next weekend as he thinks I might have a disc problem or possibly arthritis.  I am in the process of tapering off of fiorinal a barbituate which I have been addicted to for a long time.

I do not want to become addicted to something else now. The doc tells me it is not addictive but I have my doubts.  Does anyone know anything about this drug????

Thanks in advance for the responses

Golden Slipper

[DemiHigh]

Hi, My Husband had a spinal fracture and his Dr. gave him SOMA'S , PERCOSET, XANAX, XANAFLEX and FLEXARIL. He is addicted to the SOMA'S and XANAX.  The SOMA'S cause him to have short term memory loss and he sleeps all the time and he can be standing up using the bathroom and just fall on the floor and sometimes black out. The SOMA'S seem to be nasty little pill's that give you no control over yourself. But I can't say to much about nasty little pill's because 3 years ago i found out i had Endometriosis and the pain was intense, and my Dr. gave me DEMORAL (100 mg ) every 8 hours.  I took it as prescribed, to narrow it down i only took 2 pill's a day. Today i went to my Dr. for a check up  and he ask me if i had been decreasing my dosage like we had talked about, And i was honest and said NO again. for the past 4 months he has been trying to wean  me from the Demoral but i have not cut down at all i have kept the same dosage. And today he gave me 100 pill's and said i had to cut down and wean myself because this is my LAST prescription. I also need some advice here... Has anyone ever been addicted to DEMORAL ? if so how bad are the withdrawls ? and since i only take 2 a day will it be easy for me ? I have went a total of 23 hours without taking Demoral because the last time i took one was at 10PM last night  and i tried to get it out of my head and tried not to take one but i couldn't do it i had to take one at 9;30. But one good thing is that i was also prescribed VALIUM (10mg)2 years ago, and a week before Christmas of this year I ran out of Valium and my Dr. wouldn't give me anymore and i thought i would not survive without them but I DID and i didn't have any withdrawls at all with the Valium i quit cold turkey with no craving for them. So do you think that it will be that easy for the Demoral? I do take the Demoral alot more than i did the Valium. And get this one... my Dr is taking me off Demoral and is wanting to use XANAX to replace the Demoral..... is this not defeating the addiction purpose???????   Here is ya'll some info that may be of interest to those who are taking SOMA'S. And if anyone can help me about Demoral i appreciate it.

Thanks Laura

[sjs56201]

The pain doctors in Minneapolis are really head strong about not perscribing soma - but are willing to give patients "MS-Contin" which is a morphine compound. Can anybody tell me why a pain doctor would switch a new patient that they barely know from Tylenol #3 & Soma to Tylenol #3 & Flexril (which isn't working) and also offer them MS-Contin? This actually makes no sense to me - other than the doctor said that, "Soma is highly addictive, we don't prescibe our patients that, but we could try a morphine compound." I just thought.... what the hell drugs are you on lady? Okay... lets change this girl from being on Soma (350mg/ 6x per day) to a compound of morphine? Not smart! Soma is the only medication I have found that works really well at relieving 80% of back pain in a hurry - I would take 2 at a time with 1 Tylenol #3 and would be fine and pain free for 6 hours. I have had 3 back surgeries & I am only 27 years old. I now have a bunch of metal in my back from a spinal fusion in April. What the heck do you say to a Dr. who is willing to switch your meds and make you feel worse from all the pain your in? Sarah J.

[sjs56201]

I was on Soma for over 4 years and then all of sudden the pain specialist who doesn't even know me took me off of it - just like that- I am a bit angered because the medication was like a God-Send to me. With all the pain I have. The reason Soma works so good is because it produces sedation with-in the spinal cord, essentially depressing the CNS blocking interneural activity/ it is a wonderful medication for people who have had multiple back surgeries or have implants of any kind in the spinal column. I think it is extremely unfair that patients - such as myself - who have never abused Soma are now taking the brunt for the people who do abuse it just to get high. If people become addicted to it because they are in pain and need the medication to function through their pain that is different. I am just talking about the people who take it for the fun of it - and they have no pain at all ever - those are the people I can't stand, because now they have ruined my chances of getting to continue to take a medication that actually worked. SJS